Gracenote (previously known as CDDB - CD Database))

This is the system by which the artist and track details of a music CD are recognised by a computer when placed into the CD/DVD drive of a computer attached to the internet.

It is used by I-Tunes and Windows Media Player amongst others.

It is not to be confused with CD-Text which is artist and track details that are added during the burning process to a small data track on the CD itself and used to display artist and track details on compatible car stereo players and home hifi systems

Gracenote works in a different way altogether. Your album is registered with their database at which time their software analyzes the disc for the number of tracks, track lengths, and other information unique to your album. It then creates a fingerprint from this and stores it in its database. Should your album be placed into a drive in any computer subsequently that is attached to the internet, it will automatically search for a match to the CD from its database and then display the track details etc etc. (So long as the media software being used to play back the CD is one that utilises Gracenote, such as i-tunes, Windows Media Player etc etc.

Registering your album with gracenote is simple - you can use any standard CD burning software programme that is licensed by Gracenote or many other applications

More information from

http://www.gracenote.com/company_info/FAQ/FAQs/