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Dear community,

I have a question regarding Metadata preservation during burning .wav files with metadata (edited in foobar2009) onto a cd.

I produced some music in FL Studio 11 and I have exported my projects to .wav files.
I intended to make a couple physical copies of this project and therefore I wanted to edit the metadata of my .wav files, so people could see the info about each song when they play it in their car or on their pc as well (in their CD/DVD-ROMs). Then I found out that one does not simply edit metadata of .wav files, so I read some info about it on the INTERNET. Some folks said that if I download foobar2009, I will be able to somehow edit the metadata of my .wav files.

So I did it and I then I used AnyBurn software to burn those edited .wav files on a cd. But when I put it in my CD-ROM and the Windows Media Player (WMP) or iTunes open, in the list it says only:

Track01
Track02

and so on.

Since this was kinda strange to me, because I do not really understand this subject as I would like to, I decided to check out a few original audio CDs I had at home.

First I tried 2 CDs made by some local (Prague, Czech Republic) artists. In the WMP's list there was only Track01, Track02.. and so on as well as with the CD I made.

Then I inserted Eminem's Encore which I found in my drawer. When the WMP opened, the list actually was made of "Name of the Artist - Name of the song" pattern.

Conclusion:

I do not know in which format or with what software was the Eminem's - Encore burned/exported.

If any of you guys could help me, I would be really thankful.

Thanks in advance for any answer.

Hi, Libertae,

As far as I know, audio CDs do not include metadata. Maybe your WMP is automatically searching for the album info on the Internet. That could be why it doesn't show your own CD info (or local artists) but does recognize Eminem's one.
The only way I personally know of showing the track info on a car CD player (for example) is introducing a MP3 CD, not an audio one.

Hope that helps!

JulioMambo wrote:
As far as I know, audio CDs do not include metadata.

Actually yes they can - if you use the MPEG3 codec you can use the ID3 metadata container with a Compact Disc. As far as i'm aware, ID3 doesn't work for wave files.

Apparently Audacity can handle metadata input for wave files. Although iTunes is not equipped to decode and display the metadata input it seems, some other devices might be able to present the right data, e.g. a car stereo (you would have to test this out). If you try to add metadata for a wave in quicktime and then save the file, the metadata will disappear upon export; i'm guessing this is because the container can't be decoded, so the data turns into excess nonsense in the file. Audacity it appears have a sophisticated data coding scheme:

In current Audacity, all seven default tags in Metadata Editor can be exported in WAV files.
Metadata in WAV files is exported as both RIFF LIST INFO tags and ID3 tags.
Many player programs cannot read LIST INFO tags, but applications that can read ID3 tags in WAV files will be able to read the ID3 tags instead.

Here are the nine tags that are supported as LIST INFO tags.
Artist (IART)
Title (INAM) - called "Track Title" in Metadata Editor
Product (IPRD) - called "Album Title" in Metadata Editor
Track Number (ITRK) (not specified in the original RIFF standard but players supporting LIST INFO tags often support it)
Date Created (ICRD) - called "Year" in Metadata Editor
Genre (IGNR)
Comments (ICMT)
Copyright (ICOP)
Software (ISFT)

Non-default LIST INFO tags (other than "Copyright" and "Software") are not supported.
Non-default ID3 tags can be exported but they all use the generic "TXXX" frame so may not be seen by all players.
Some players or applications that support WAV metadata may use an alternative de facto "standard" promoted by Broadcast Software International (BSI) in addition to or instead of ID3 tags. The BSI scheme includes an explicit IALB INFO tag for "Album" whereas the RIFF standard has to use the IPRD (Product) or related tags for "Album". You can view a comparison of BSI and ID3 tags here.


Retrieved from http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/WAV#Metadata