[abulloch]

What do you all recommend as the best cataloguing program for music CDs?

I want to insert CDs in sequence, have the application read off all the essential data, add it to a central database, then eject the CD and take the next one (ad infinitum, of course), so that I can then search the catalog using whatever info I have (name of piece, composer, performer etc.) and be taken straight to the CD (by title).

I had expected there to be many such programs out there, but the few that I've found so far don't seem to work too well. Many, for example, will give the name of the piece, composer, and separate movements, but not the conductor and orchestra name... (Yes, this is primarily classical music - but not exclusively. Jazz and much popular also included.)

So: what's your favorite catalog program for quick, comprehensive reading and readback?

All recommendations, advice, comments etc. gratefully received.

Anthony

[albloom]

Anthony, I fear you're in for disappointment.

A standard audio CD has no information on it -- what is called metadata. The metadata
you see is (generally) downloaded from the internet data base Gracenote. Open a CD
in Finder, and all you will see is TRACK01, TRACK02, etc. Gracenote is a big data
base and doesn't hold all the metadata you want.

You'll have to add the extra metadata yourself.

To do that, I suggest using iTunes as your data base. In my setup, each playlist is a
CD (most of the time) and is organized by genre, artist, and album. It is searchable by
all the criteria you mention. And you can see the album art in glorious color.

But you must add a lot of material yourself. My principal source of such is allmusic.com
for the metadata and coverdude.com for album art.

The exercise will keep you off the streets.