ISRC codes and other problems

[seek]

I have this really odd international client and he has provided ISRC codes for his masters and I am having some trouble getting them to stick. Does any body have any experience with this?

I have Toast 10 but i have read all over the internet that while it says it supports ISRC codes that it actually does not.

Plus i noticed that filling out track names in Toast does not transfer on disk or in Itunes. I know in Itunes i need to submit tracks but can anyone do an official walk through?

Last but not least the record label is requesting that the masters be sent off in .NRG format as well as hi res wav. To my understanding .NRG is a proprietary disk burning file (Nero, PC only).

Headache and a half. Please help!

[daeron80]

If they insist on the .nrg thing, you'll need a Windows machine with the full version of Nero on it, I think. That will allow you to enter ISRC codes, too. You could send the files to someone who can do it.

It might be easiest to send the dup house a data CD with WAV files on it (named with numbers to be sure they come out in the right order, e.g. 01LoveMe, 02BigHit, etc.) and let them assemble the actual master and put in the ISRC codes.

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by seek

I have this really odd international client and he has provided ISRC codes for his masters and I am having some trouble getting them to stick. Does any body have any experience with this?

I have Toast 10 but i have read all over the internet that while it says it supports ISRC codes that it actually does not.

Plus i noticed that filling out track names in Toast does not transfer on disk or in Itunes. I know in Itunes i need to submit tracks but can anyone do an official walk through?

Last but not least the record label is requesting that the masters be sent off in .NRG format as well as hi res wav. To my understanding .NRG is a proprietary disk burning file (Nero, PC only).

Headache and a half. Please help!

I would say you should get some proper software like Bias Peak or Waveburner for inserting your ISRC codes. Toast won't do it (as you found out).

You could use Bootcamp or a virtualization software package to be able to run Windows on your Mac and use Nero. Virtualization may have problems burning CD's, but Bootcamp shouldn't.

iTunes (and many other software packages) get track names via the CDDB database (aka Gracenote). Once your final, master CD is done and you're absolutely, positively sure that all tracks are in the right order and the right length and have the ISRC, UPC and whatever other data embedded, put the CD in the drive and launch iTunes. When the CD comes up, go and 'Get Info' on each of the track names and change all the info - name, artist, year, etc, etc. then go to Advanced>Submit CD Track Names.

Done.

It's VERY important that the track names be exactly correct and that the length of the tracks is exactly the same as the commercial CD. If you mess up with the name or the track length changes, it can cause all kinds of problems with what 'officially' is used when people put the CD in the drive and it's a real pain to get sorted.

[pasanta]

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

I would say you should get some proper software like Bias Peak or Waveburner for inserting your ISRC codes. Toast won't do it (as you found out).

Jam (Roxio) was a simple option also. Don't know if its still supported or not.

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

You could use Bootcamp or a virtualization software package to be able to run Windows on your Mac and use Nero. Virtualization may have problems burning CD's, but Bootcamp shouldn't.

If you care to get into the partition a drive and the bootcamp thing, this works just fine. I use Samplitude on a Bootcamp partition. Nero is fine also if you simply want to make a disc with no editing or advanced eatures. It's the most stable "PC" I've ever had. Even of the one I built.

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

iTunes (and many other software packages) get track names via the CDDB database (aka Gracenote). Once your final, master CD is done and you're absolutely, positively sure that all tracks are in the right order and the right length and have the ISRC, UPC and whatever other data embedded, put the CD in the drive and launch iTunes. When the CD comes up, go and 'Get Info' on each of the track names and change all the info - name, artist, year, etc, etc. then go to Advanced>Submit CD Track Names.

Done.

It's VERY important that the track names be exactly correct and that the length of the tracks is exactly the same as the commercial CD. If you mess up with the name or the track length changes, it can cause all kinds of problems with what 'officially' is used when people put the CD in the drive and it's a real pain to get sorted.

I might add that there doesn't seem to be any specific amount of time it takes to be entered into the database. The computer you use to submit to the database will continue to show the info even inserting the disc later. But go to another computer that will need to search for the data, like a customer or client inserting a replicated copy into iTunes, it may or may not show up if only a short time later. I've had them show up mere minutes later and yet in other instances, weeks later still not show to someone inserting the cd........then one day, poof. There it is. So don't panic if a short time later after submitting it to the database someone tells you iTunes isn't finding the info. A month, check into it. A week, I wouldn't panic.

This also does NOT include it being displayed in Windows Media Player. THAT is a whole different thing I haven't had time to explore.

[jrtme]

You can put ISRC codes in toast when you burn it.

Who is saying you can't.

How do I know?

I do it all the time.

[The Dougfather]

I certainly have the option to enter ISRC codes in Toast 10.

You do need to have the 'show advanced audio mastering settings' ticked under the audio prefs.

Plus i noticed that filling out track names in Toast does not transfer on disk or in Itunes

iTunes dials out to the gracenote CD database to get CD track info, it doesn't read the data off the disk.

When you double click a track in Toast you can enter track name, disc title etc. Provided you have 'Add CD-Text' ticked you will see the info a CD player that is capable of reading CD text.

I currently export playlists from peak in to Toast just to get the CD text to work correctly, Toast is great for this, peak isn't.

[seek]

Thanks to everyone who replied! Great information.

I suppose I still have some noodling around to do as I expected.

Good looking out everybody!

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by The Dougfather

I certainly have the option to enter ISRC codes in Toast 10.

Interesting - the last time I tried it (awhile ago, admittedly), it came up blank when using the Terminal command 'drutil subchannel' to read the ISRC codes after entering them and burning the CD from Toast.

I didn't investigate it too much, as I wasn't terribly concerned with using Toast anyways.

Good to know it actually works, though!