6

I recently spent three weeks ripping a large collection of CDs using abcde (Ubuntu 24.04). I've just discovered that none of them ripped with track metadata, so I can't play any of these albums electronically.

When I search the web, I can't find anything for both "abcde" and "metadata," even though I expected this would be a big topic. There's virtually nothing in the abcde documentation for "metadata". Does abcde not rip track number metadata by default? Is there a way to make it?

Can I use abcde or one of the databases it queries to script a way to add track number metadata to all of the files I've just ripped, or am I going to have to spend weeks more doing that manually?

Improve this question
2
  • 6
    Your expectation is misplaced. There is typically no metadata to rip from the (audio) CD. See superuser.com/questions/1025110/… Commented Jun 17, 2025 at 2:19
  • 5
    I would argue that one can perfectly well play an album electronically even if it has no metadata... "Track 4.mp3" is just as playable as anything else. From what I remember I've only ever had one or two "factory-made" CDs which had any CD-Text in the first place (was more common on burned CDs). Commented Jun 17, 2025 at 4:50

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9

Take a look at the man page and /etc/abcde.conf (and/or ~/.abcde.conf, if any).

Apparently the default method is to use MusicBrainz, which requires some modules to be installed for the perl installation in your system. You can take a look at this AUR meta package for reference.

In other words, for Ubuntu you should get these packages:

It seems that at least the latter two are pulled in by abcde in the Ubuntu official repo though. So maybe you should make the program more verbose and see what might have went wrong (e.g. by specifying -V twice).

If you want to use a FreeDB instead, uncomment and change the value in the CDDBMETHOD line in your conf (and maybe also the CDDBURL and HELLOINFO lines; not sure if their default values still work though).

Improve this answer
5
  • 1
    The original FreeDB hasn't been around a while, I don't know if there are any compatible incarnations, although there's a frontend that proxies FreeDB-style requests to MusicBrainz (as everyone updates MusicBrainz anyway). Commented Jun 17, 2025 at 8:59
  • @grawity AFAICT, there is at least gnudb.org, which freedb.org redirects to. (Not sure if the redirection works for actual queries though.) Commented Jun 17, 2025 at 9:03
  • I've looked at the man page. It doesn't mention "metadata" anywhere. I also have all of the packages you mentioned installed, presumably as dependencies when I installed abcde from the repo. abcde was using MusicBrainz to identify albums and track names the entire time, so I don't think its basic functions or access to the database were the problem. Commented Jun 30, 2025 at 12:58
  • @DarienMarks Just realized that your question was really Does abcde not rip track number metadata by default?, after reading your new post. Commented Jun 30, 2025 at 13:01
  • @DarienMarks Actually as per the man page, abcde should very likely include track number in the metadata. See -t and -T for example. It also mentions that the default format for output path/filenames is ${ARTISTFILE}-${ALBUMFILE}/${TRACKNUM}-${TRACKFILE}. Commented Jun 30, 2025 at 13:11
0

The answer to your question is that the CDs probably do not contain any "metadata". While CD Text is a real format, it is not required in the Audio CD spec, and the vast majority of audio CDs are written without it. While my own collection of audio CDs was relatively small for someone who grew up in the 80s and 90s and 00s, of the couple hundred CDs I've owned or possessed that originated from a legit store, only a very small handful ever had actual CD Text written to the discs.

Discs I'd burn my self nearly always had CD Text, but store-bought CDs don't.

All that to say: The problem isn't that abcde is not ripping the metadata, it is that what metadata the disc contains is not Track Title or other information. Even back in CDs heyday, ripping software queried online databases for this information when ripping. For a modular, open source product like abcde, you should make sure it is configured to query whatever online databases are current for track information that it can then append to the ripped track data.

Improve this answer
3
  • I realize I was sloppy with my language. During use, abcde retrieved track data like album names and track titles from its database (MusicBrainz in most cases). The process of querying the database was largely obscured from me, so I mentally lumped the entire process under the "ripping data" umbrella. The question can be better phrased as "How do I get abcde to include track number in the data it retrieves from its database during the process of ripping a CD?" Commented Jul 1, 2025 at 12:03
  • Although in the case of track number it seems trivially easy for abcde to count the tracks as it rips them, so I still wonder why it doesn't do that. Commented Jul 1, 2025 at 12:05
  • I only know the question you've asked, I cannot read your mind. If your question is different and something happens to show you misrepresented it, then EDIT your post and fix that oversight. The number of the track also still isn't "metadata", per se. Commented Jul 1, 2025 at 13:25

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.