Darel

Here's probably the most pointless question ever posted here but it's eating me alive.

We just bought out '14 E350 about 3 weeks ago. Our MBrace trial is not yet active and at the time of this "realization" there was no way for the car to connect to the interwebs.

I was loading my CDs onto the hard drive, and I put in AC/DC's Who Made Who.

This CD, the actual one I stuck in my car, was one of the very first CDs I ever got, when my parents bought me my first CD player in 1987. This disc is 30 years old.

When it comes up on the "select by cover" screen or the disc is playing, the screen displays the album cover.

How?

This disc was printed before any disc-encoded video media was available. There was no DVD, not even LaserDisc and this point (OK maybe LaserDisc was in its' infancy but certianly not commercially available).

There's no logical reason for the album cover art to have been encoded on a CD from 30 years ago because at the time there would have been no way to view it. My Commodore 64 was still running 5-1/4" floppies and a tape drive.

To me, seeing this album cover displayed was like finding an Egyptian mummy with an iPhone.

So how's it work? I totally get newer CDs. That's a no-brainer. But this one has me confused.

blegthbloo

I was going to suggest maybe they loaded image files onto the CD into some kind of standard template... but even JPEG has only been around since 1992... so I have no clue. That's interesting though. I think there's some ultimate music register on the internet somewhere with all the metadata for all the songs, so maybe it pulls from there, even if there's no MBrace subscription active? Maybe the data transfer is tied to the radio (which is free, obviously). Or maybe it's aliens.

Back to the first suggestion, if you load the CD into your computer (not the Commodore, but something from this century), is there an image file in there among the song files?

Darel

Good question, I didn't think of that. Nope, only 9 tracks. It would HAVE to show up as some sort of file, right?

I also have quite a few CDs, far newer, that don't show an album cover and in fact some I can't even get to display a name unless I do it manually (Folder 001 / Album 001).

tresean1

Maybe, even though MBrace is not active, the car still maintains some type of "connection" to the World Wide Web. Which leads me to believe the price they charge you for MBrace is pure profit and a matter of "flipping a switch" on their end...since the hardware and software are already present and ready.

tresean1

I was gonna suggest loading a different CD, but you beat me to it. And I am not sure your PC would necessarily display all files, especially if the file is in an unreadable format. Maybe the album art is in a format only dedicated (non-computer) CD players can decode?

blegthbloo

The image (even if it's not jpg) could still be hidden in the metadata of the files themselves, and I think that's how it is/was how they do it. I remember when I used to copy CDs for use on my iPod, the ones that came from an album had their covers loaded up when played, but other songs "borrowed" from the internet may not have that information. Others that came from legit albums were like you describe, without any metadata whatsoever. So that could just be at the discretion of the record label or distributing company or any of the hands those files pass through on their way to you.

Darel

I would think it'd still show up as some sort of file on the computer, no? Even if it was unreadable?

Oddly, one of the discs that doesn't display a cover or even a name or track list is brand new, the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. Figured something that new and "promotional" would have all kinds of crap on it. And...if the car WERE backdoor-connected to the interwebs somehow, wouldn't it be more likely to find something that recent?

I think Brian Johnson is an alien!

tresean1

Well I know my newer CDs don't have any of the artist or track data on it, like the older ones do. I think they discontinued that. Cost savings?

Perhaps CDs as old as yours did in fact have that data from the beginning?

apg231

When we got our first Mac with iTunes I immediately ripped all my CD's (most of which I bought back in the mid 80's) and the cover art, album title and song list were all there. Have no clue how.

If if you ask me it's Aliens, it's always the Aliens

2MERKS

Maybe because of AC/DC! Put some KISS in it'll start right up! Lol

MBSebas87

always!

Egonvdv

did you load other AC/DC songs? - maybe you loaded a song from that album separately
(a downloaded mp3 for example) which did have the album art?

Or d id you hook up an external hardrive which had the album art on it?

Egonvdv

ITunes downloads it for you, though usually you have to authorise it first

hyperion667

This is interesting because I still use CD's, (haha I know) burned and store bought.....and the ones I bought years ago, mostly don't have any graphics associated with them.......which is a bummer haha, as I like to see the art.


Guess it goes to show the corners cut in the music industry? Not giving us as much......I used to love to go home after buying new CD's and putting them in my computer to see the 'enhanced' features

thephantom

There's a Gracenote database loaded in the system. It checks against your media and display the proper album art.

davidjohnbamber

^ X2

Darel

A-ha! That would also explain why my newest CD doesn't display the art - it wasn't there in 2014.

So....what's a Gracenote database?

tresean1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracenote
It provides music recognition technologies that compare digital music files to a worldwide database of music information, enabling digital audio devices to identify the songs.

Darel

Looks like it's not aliens after all.

hyperion667

Darn no aliens