Frequently Asked Questions

1. New Website Changes


2. About Gracenote.

3. Registration, Error Messages, and Updates.

A. When registering or using an application for the first time, I get an error. B. Device updates, including car navigation systems.

4. Gracenote's Web Site Search.

5. How do I submit CDs to Gracenote?

1. New Website Changes

A. Why did Gracenote update the Web site?
We've done a full re-write of the web site to make it easier to find information, to speed the search, and to add some great new Music Search Tool features.

B. What are these Music Maps?
The Music Popularity Map is an interactive Flash application that provides updated Top 10 Artists and Top 10 Albums from around the world.

C. What is the Elite 100?
The Elite 100 is the all time most looked-up CDs in the Gracenote service, updated as massively popular new CDs stampede onto the list.

D. Is the Gracenote Web site accessible for the visually impaired?
Making the changes to make this fully compliant for our visually impaired users is a top priority here, and should be complete during the next two weeks. Thank you for your patience as we complete the work, and know that this website will be soon be better than the old one.

E. Where's the Advanced Search?
Yes, we know you loved the Advanced Search, and we did too, so we're working on bringing it back. Because of the major re-write on our search, we've had to move the Advanced Search to the second batch of feature updates. We'll be adding it back to the site just as soon as we have other work completed. We expect to have it back in action soon.

F. Where's the Software and Hardware Developer Section?
We are continuing the re-write of the Developer Zone. In the meantime your old links should work, and as always if you're a commercial developer and wish to reach our sales team, please write to gracenotelicensing@gracenote.com and include as much detail as possible about your company, including your location, and what products you're interested in licensing.

G. Where are the Web forms for the Content Partner Program, Internships, Jobs?
All of our forms are being revised. Please use the email address at each of these areas until we have the new forms up and running, and include helpful information, so that we can reply well. Thank you for your interest in working with us.

H. Is there a full list of Licensed Software Applications?
While we've improved our product pages for devices, the Software pages are still being revised. We're glad you want products that work with our service, and we're working to update links to many of our developer's web sites. These links will allow you to find more information about software applications that use our service, or to download or purchase software from our licensed developers. We'll have this information available to you soon, so check back over the next few weeks as we continue to update the site.


2. About Gracenote.

A. What is Gracenote?
The Gracenote Media Recognition Service is an Internet-based service that we license to software and hardware developers for use in their CD players, CD burners, MP3 players and encoders, catalogers, jukeboxes, cell phones, car audio systems, and home media center applications (among others). The service allows these developers to display artist, title, tracklists, and other music-related information automatically and instantly in their applications.

For example, when you insert a music CD in your computer, the software player application on your computer uses our service to first identify the CD, and then display the artist, title, tracklist, and other information. Most commercial music CDs do not contain any of this information on the CD itself.



B. How does the Gracenote Recognition service work?
Gracenote is primarily a music recognition service; the search engine on this Web site is just a view into one part of our database.

As a recognition service, we work with software and hardware developers from all over the world, and when they license and develop with the right code, we enable their applications to access our database and recognition services. On most commercial music compact discs, there is no disc title, artist, track title, credits, or other information that a player running on your computer can extract and display for you.

Because this information is generally not on the CD itself, without such a database these applications could only display text such as "Untitled" or "Track 1, Track 2." However, a licensed application can lookup the CD in the database and return the title and track information to the application for display by the time you hear the first notes of the album.



C. What products work with Gracenote?
On our Powered by Gracenote pages, http://www.gracenote.com/powered_by_gracenote/, you can review many of the licensed applications that have been created and are now available to the public.

Some applications are freeware, some are shareware and others are commercial, depending on the developer and their functionality. The download links will take you through links to the developer's own Web site for more information about, or to download, an application. For while we provide the database of music information, we do not build these applications that use our service.



D. Why should I register my application?
Licensed applications use the Gracenote Music Recognition Service to display artist, title, track, credit, and other information. This service is free. The first time you play a CD you may be asked to register with Gracenote to use this service. If you're not asked to register, it means your application does the registration for you. If you are having trouble with your application's registration, please review FAQ Section 2.

E. What are Gracenote's privacy protections?
Here's a link to our Privacy Policy http://www.gracenote.com/company_info/privacy/, which is divided into two sections. One section refers covers the Web site, and the second section is about using the recognition service. You can find a link to all of the Privacy information on the bottom of each Web page. If you have further questions, please write to GracenotePrivacy@gracenote.com.


3. Registration, Error Messages, and Updates.

A. When registering or using an application for the first time, I get an error.

1. Common Error Messages: Open Socket Fail, CDDB Server Cannot Be Found, Bad Syntax, CDDB Error: HTTP Processing Error, Internal Error: Unsupported Compression Scheme, Decompression Failed. Registration is only done through the software application itself and should occur when you first play a CD. We recommend the following three tactics that may help you if registration is not working.

1. Go to this page and follow the directions: http://www.gracenote.com/developer/update/. This will update Gracenote's registration. Registration, after making the update, does not request username or other personal details. It requires only an acceptance of our specific terms of use. We recommend that you try this first, even if you have the latest registration.

2. It's possible that firewalls, pop-up blockers, or parental-control software may block your software's access to our service. If you have any of these tools installed, they should be able to set to allow access to our service. The URL that your software is trying to reach at http://service.cddb.com, and you need to give access to the Web server port 80.

3. Proxy settings on the software you're using need to match your computer. There's usually a proxy setting pre-set in the software options. If you installed a proxy on your computer it should include instructions with the information you need to fill in. If you're not using a proxy, check that the software settings show that you don't require a proxy. Save any changes and restart the software.

If none of these suggestions work, contact your software developer for updates or help. You can usually find the appropriate links to their help information in "About" or "Help" sections on the software application.


2. Error 110/12 User Quota Exceeded.
This error occurs when the software developer has exceeded their user limit with our company. It does not have anything to do with you or your use of the service. You might contact the software developer directly, as they should have details, updates, or fixes for you. You can usually find a link to their Web site to the "About" or "Help" menus in the software.

3. Error 130/74 (ClientId expired).
This error most commonly occurs when the software developer for your product has decided to stop licensing access to our service. You'll need to contact your software developer for details, updates, or fixes.

If the developer is no longer selling or providing support for your product, you can look at other licensed applications on our Powered by Gracenote pages. Tell us your platform (Windows/Mac/Linux). Some applications are free, some are shareware, and some are commercial, and the download links will take you to the developer's own Web site for more details or a link to download the application.

http://www.gracenote.com/powered_by_gracenote/software/


B. Device updates, including car navigation systems.

1. Updates provided only through your device developer.
With different devices, each hardware developer probably uses a different way of providing updates for customers. There are a variety of reasons why developers need to do this (different methods to update, sizes of database, and frequency of updates). We recommend you write to the company who built your device and ask for help. They built the product, and they can tell you how they're providing updates for you.

For car navigation system updates, the car company or your local dealer should be able to help you.

2. Pioneer DEH–P90HDD.
Pioneer provides the device's updates from their Web site. To update the Gracenote information for unit model DEH-P90HDD, go to the Pioneer site, and use the memory stick that comes with the unit:

http://www.pioneer.co.jp/car/hdd/download/index-e.html



3. Sony MEX–1HD.
Sony set this device up so that once you register your Sony MEX-1HD unit with Sony, you'll get the upgrade for free. Try to register the unit with Sony on their Web site or by the mail-in card, and we're told they will automatically send you the upgrade for free. Their help telephone number in the United States is: 1-800-222-SONY (800-222-7669). You can also go to Sony.net and search by country or region to locate support.


4. Gracenote's Web Site Search.

A. Are these CDs for sale? Can I buy, listen, download these titles I see?
While Gracenote recognizes music, we don't sell CDs, MP3s, or have streaming audio. The information about the CDs on the Gracenote Web site search results page is all the information we have. Much of the information in our database is initially submitted by users and we do not know where you might be able to buy individual CDs.

While we don't sell any music, we have links to sellers (such as Amazon or iTunes).


B. I submitted a CD listing, but I don't see it on your search results.
It's great that you're submitting a CD listing. Within about 48 hours the submission information should be generally available to identify the CD to other people who put the CD into their CD ROMs and use a Gracenote licensed player.

The Web site search engine is a view (like a snapshot) of the most requested CDs in the service updated every few weeks. For example, as a CD is requested more often from various people and moves up in popularity, it will be added to an update and will then show up on the Web site search.


C. I see the right track listing on your Web site, but my CD is not recognized.
Different pressings of a CD sometimes have different identifying characteristics, and these identifiers are what the database queries for matches. In this case, a site search by title can bring up the CD, but putting the CD into a player may not find an actual match (matching TOCs). If this happens to you, you can fix this problem by submitting the information for your CD, thereby allowing all of those people who have your pressing to also get a match when they put the CD in their players. Please review the Submit area of the FAQ if you need help submitting the information.

D. I found a typo on your Web site search, how can I fix it?
It's great that you're helping us keep the information clean. You can write to our support with both the incorrect information and the corrections. The more details you provide us, such as your source for the correction, the easier it is for us to verify these details and fix the problems.

E. Why am I having problems with Web site search results?
The Web site search engine is a simple view of the most requested CDs in the service, and it's updated every few weeks. As CDs are requested from various people and move up in popularity, they will be added to an update and will then show up on the Web site search. This situation is an example of how you could find a CD recognized when you play it in your software application before you find it listed in our search results.

F. Do you provide cover art?
We do not currently store cover art in our database. Different applications may display cover art during recognition, but their sources may change over time. If you have questions about the cover art you see during recognition, please contact the developer of your application.

G. Do you limit the number of searches I can do?
Yes, we limit searches to 200 for a simple search, though you can add "genre" search or other modifiers using advanced search to refine the results.


5. How do I submit CDs to Gracenote?

A. How do I submit new CDs to Gracenote?
It would be great to have you submit a new CD to our database. To submit CD information to the Gracenote music recognition service (originally known as CDDB), you need to have the CD in hand, and you need to use a licensed application with an Internet connection. A licensed application is simply a software application built by a developer who is licensed to use our service.

You should find a list of licensed applications at http://www.gracenote.com/powered_by_gracenote/software/. All the applications listed should allow you to submit new CDs. For example, in the Windows platform, Quintessential Player (QCD) is a very popular freeware application and uses our default UI for submissions. You can get QCD at quinnware.com.

When you have a licensed software application installed, place the CD into your CD-ROM drive, and the software will come to our service to try to identify the CD. If the CD is not identified, you will be asked if you'd like to submit the information. To submit the information, type the following information in the required fields then click the #Submit# button:

Artist name
Album name
Track Titles
Year of Release
Genre
Label Name

Once a CD's track listing is in our database, anyone playing that CD in their licensed player will have it recognized by our service. Keep in mind that it often takes up to 48 hours for a new submission to show up in the software application. The Web site search is compiled less frequently than the most queried CDs in our service.



B. How do I submit edits?
Much of the information in the Gracenote Music Recognition Service (originally known as CDDB) was initially submitted by users and there are inconsistencies. If you find a problem with your information using your software application you may be able to fix it. To fix a problem you find, send a copy of the incorrect entry to us from the application.

We have editors working to update and improve information, we count on fans like you to keep our database current and accurate. We encourage you to submit corrections to the database.

To fix a problem you find, please place the CD into your CD ROM drive, find the error and correct it (type over it).  Then with the CD still in the CD ROM drive, submit the CD’s information back to us.  Each application puts this submit in a different place, with iTunes it’s in Advanced, with Quintessential it’s the Okay button.



C. What about record label and publisher submissions?
Please read 5A for basic submission details that work for independent artists and music fans. Then if you're a content owner such as a record label, an audio book or music publisher, a production or recording studio, a CD manufacturer or duplicator and will be submitting several CDs a year, we have a free program you can join called the Content Partner Program. We'll provide your company a custom piece of PC software to use for submissions for both new CDs and edits to existing CDs. Currently, our submit tool only works on the Windows platform. To learn more about the Content Partner Program program, fill out the Web form here:

http://www.gracenote.com/company_info/contentpartner/

We look forward to working with you.



D. What are the submission guidelines?
When you submit information, pay close attention to these characteristics:
1. Spelling
2. Capitalization
3. Abbreviation
4. Release kind (whether the CD is a compilation, a sampler, or a soundtrack)
5. Anthologies (greatest hits, for example)
6. Genres
7. Year
8. Record Label
9. Blank or Mystery Tracks
10. Album and Track Titles
11. Sort Titles, and "The"
12. Artist Name (general)
13. Artist Name (classical)
14. Composer and Songwriter
15. Disc 1, CD 1, Vol. 1
16. First, Last Name, The
17. Credits
18. Notes

E. My CD matched another artist (for example, AC/DC or ABBA), what happened?
CDs created from certain pressings can have identifying characteristics (TOCs) that are very similar, and these are what the database queries for matches. This means that the characteristics of your CD and the one you got results for are very similar. You can fix this problem because it's likely that you have the specific CD at hand (the exact pressing that's bringing up the incorrect information).

The way to fix this is to submit the information for your CD, thereby allowing everyone who has your pressing to get a match with the right information when they put the CD in their players. Please see the FAQ Submit section for more details.



F. How do I fix a problem with Lyrics?

1. If you're a publisher and are interested in more information about joining our Lyrics program, follow the link to the Web form in the Lyrics Partner section.

2. There is a song lyric that has an error in it, can I help fix errors? Absolutely! We would love for you to help us clean up any errors we have in our lyrics service. Please email corrections to LyricsQA@gracenote.com.



G. How do I submit cover art?
There are numerous products in the marketplace use the Gracenote Music Enrichment solution to provide Album Cover Art to end users. All Album Cover Art images delivered by Gracenote are provided by licensed content partners, including industry leaders like Muze®. Gracenote does not take Album Cover Art submissions from end users at this time.

Gracenote powers media recognition and data linking services within Apple’s iTunes application. Gracenote does not provide Apple with Album Cover Art images. If you are trying to submit Album Cover Art to iTunes, you will need to work directly with Apple.

Company Info





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