I've read some older posts, dating back quite a few months, but it appears this problem was never solved. So... has anyone found a solution regarding how to burn songs by various artists from iTunes to a CD and get Gracenote to recognize the music? I really don't have the time to burn a hundred CDs with 5-6 songs on each one, sorted by artist. I'd prefer to burn CDs of 20+ songs, load it to the HDD, and have Gracenote recognize the songs. Any advice?

 

I've burned CDs from iTunes on my Mac and had them ripped to the HDD on the TL and get the track/artist info. In iTunes I select disk Format "Audio CD" and check the box that says "Include CD Text".
They sound pretty good, but you are loosing quality - would be better (if you have it) to load the original store bought CD and rip that to the HDD - or listen from your iPod.

 

I think the key is to have "CD text" checked when burning the audio CD.

 

I'll be doing this over the weekend to load up the HDD on my new TL. I'll have to see how it goes.

 

Okay, I've been tinkering a bit and here's what I've found....

I created an audio CD via iTunes containing a mix of different artists.
I used a CD-RW (Memorex, 12X, 700MB, 80min)
Settings on iTunes during burn...Max speed, Audio CD, checked Insert CD text

Popped the disc into the car and was successfully able to rip the songs to the HDD (but not recognized by Gracenote)

One minor glitch. All the songs have the album title of the playlist name from iTunes. And all the songs have the genre listed as Other.

So here's a potential solution for you MagooG3.
In iTunes create playlist that is the name of the artist's album, fill it with the songs from that album, then burn as above. Use one CR-RW over and over so you don't have to waste dozens and dozens of CD-R's (unless of course you want them as an audio backup). Haven't yet found a way for Gracenote to recognize the albums of multiple artists. My sense is that Gracenote is picking up this info from the name given to the disc (which for a commercial CD would be its album name).

I shall keep tinkering.

 

yeah, you have to either add the info on your computer, or add the info in your car.....either way, its not as easy as ripping the original CD.

 

Thanks for the advice -- still sounds cumbersome, albeit cheaper than wasting a bunch of CD-R's. Using the "original CD" isn't an option for me (posted by others in this thread), as I haven't bought a CD in years -- I just download the songs I like from iTunes. Looks like no one has really found a way to work around this yet, so it will be months until I can fully populate my HDD...

 

Probably much easier to buy a refurbished iPod and plug it in to the usb port.

 

The only downside to an iPod in the USB port, if your music collection is large, is the slow scroll and navigation.

 

If you set up your MP3 devices with playlists, the scrolling will be much easier than just throwing in 5,000 songs. Spend the time on your computer organizing them, to save time in the TL.