CDRevolution Working with CD Text

Introduction

CD Text support was added to CDRevolution in version 1.10.

CD Text is a method for storing information such as the album title, artist and track titles on an audio CD for display on some CD players. CDRevolution copies both the audio and the CD Text from CDs that have CD Text.

Your computer may also display similar information for you, but this information is usually generated from Internet databases rather than from any information on the CD itself.

CDRevolution CD image files store the CD Text so you can archive an audio CD for burning later. For CDs without CD Text you can use CDRevolution to add CD Text when you burn a new copy.

Identifying CDs with CD Text

Some CDs display a standard "Compact Disc Digital Audio Text" logo to show that they contain CD Text. But even if this is not the case for the CD you are using - you can still find out if it contains CD Text by using the CDRevolution Source Information Window.

  1. Open the Source Information Window using the menu Source > Get Info
  2. Drag the CD onto the Source Well on the main CDRevolution window.

The Source Information Window will display Yes or No next to the CD Text: label depending on whether or not the source contains CD Text.

You can use the same method to identify CDRevolution CD Image files with CD Text.

Adding CD Text When Burning

Even if your original source does not have CD Text, you can let CDRevolution add CD Text when you burn a copy.

  1. Choose CDRevolution > Preferences, click Advanced, and then select the option "Automatically retrieve CD information from Internet".
  2. Choose CDRevolution > Preferences, click Disc, and then select the option "Add CD Text to audio CDs".
  3. Add a new source to the Source Well (a CD or an CD image) and burn as normal.

The new CD Text is generated from album information downloaded from the Internet (from the freedb.org CD database).

CD Text Troubleshooting Tips

1) Create a New Image

If you are burning a CDRevolution CD Image created before CDRevolution 1.10 and you are sure the original CD contains CD Text you will need to create a new image. CDRevolution CD Images created before version 1.10 did not store the CD Text from the original CD.

2) Check Your Preferences

If you are adding CD Text to a CD when burning: make sure both the "Automatically retrieve CD information from Internet" and "Add CD Text to audio CDs" preference items are selected.

3) Check Your Internet Connection

Check that your Internet connection is working correctly. When you add CD Text while burning a new CD, the CD Text data is collected from the Internet.

4) Check Your CD Drive

Some older CD drives do not have the capability to burn CD Text. When you use such a drive for burning, CDRevolution will create a regular CD without CD Text. To find out the CD Text writing capabilities of your optical drives open up a terminal window and enter:
drutil info
If a particular drive supports CD Text burning, you should see CDText indicated in the list of CD-Write capabilities.

5) View the CD Text

If you haven't got a CD Player that displays CD Text, you can use the terminal to read the CD Text stored on a CD. Place the CD in your internal drive and enter:
drutil -drive internal cdtext

6) Refresh Your CD Drive's Cache

Your CD Drive may mistake the newly created CD as the original and as a result it may not refresh its cache: try putting a completely different CD into the drive before trying the new CD once again.

7) Bad CD Text

If you create an image from a damaged CD or your CD drive is compromised by dust or dirt, there is a chance that the CD Text in the image file may be corrupt.

Before CDRevolution 1.13 such corruption was likely to cause a burn failure, but now CDRevolution checks the integrity of the CD Text before burning. If the CD Text is corrupt, CDRevolution will burn the CD without the CD Text.