Gracenote, Inc., formerly called CDDB (Compact Disc Data Base), is a company that maintains and licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio
compact discs and vinyl records. It provides software and
metadata to businesses that enable their customers to manage and search digital media. Members of the public can also use it alongside software such as EZ Vinyl Converter when recording vinyl records onto iTunes. Gracenote provides its media management technology and global media database of digital entertainment information to the
mobile,
automobile,
portable, home, and
PC markets. Several computer software applications that are capable of playing CDs, such as
Winamp and
iTunes, use Gracenote’s
CDDB technology. Gracenote’s database was originally created from and continues to receive voluntary contributions from users.
In addition to its CD track-identification system, Gracenote operates a digital file identification service which allows digital music files (such as MP3s) to be identified, and a media management service for the generation of playlists, and recommendation of music.
On April 22, 2008,
Sony announced that it would acquire Gracenote for US$260 million. The acquisition was completed on June 2, 2008.
Products
Gracenote offers a number of products including MusicID, Mobile MusicID, Music Enrichment, Discover, Playlist, Playlist Plus, Media VOCS, Classical Music Initiative, and Link. In April 2007, Gracenote launched the first legal lyrics offering in the U.S.
Customers
iTunes and
Sonicstage use Gracenote’s CD track identification services.
In addition, Gracenote provides its products to a number of other services including
- Online services including Yahoo! Music Jukebox, AOL Winamp, and Pandora.;
- Mobile music applications from Samsung
[For more information, see Samsung Music Center: ], Sony Ericsson (TrackID), KDDI (Japan), KTF (Korea), Musicwave (Europe).
See also
Notes and references
