What is the number (UFID?) on each music cd?

[Jeff Mitchell]

Larry Alkoff wrote:
> On every music cd is a is a text string printed on the jewel case and 
> usually also on the cd itself.
> 
> For example, I have two cds by the group Steppenwolf marked:
> Steppenwolf    Born to be Wild        MCAD-31020    and
> Steppenwolf    The Second        MCAD-31021
> 
> Both cds were produced by MCA Records which I believe explains the MCAD 
> part.
> Both cds were in a series which I believe is related to the consecutive 
> numbers.

These are manufacturer-specific part numbers.

> My questions:
> 
> 1.  Are these text strings the UFID field in the id3v2 specification?

No, the UFID field is specified as a field to be used by applications
for storing unique file identifiers.  Note that this is not album
identifiers, or even song identifiers, but rather specific file identifiers.

> 2.  Can Amarok access the field for reading or writing?

Yes, and can do some really great stuff with it (although the IDs have
nothing to do with the part number above).  See
http://amarok.kde.org/blog/archives/771-Amarok-File-Tracking.html

> I am in the process of purchasing and ripping cds to mp3.
> When I shop for new cds I carry a list of my currently owned cds
> and that number will help me to avoid duplicates.

Unfortunately, this won't help.  However, we have a few new proposals
that may appear in Amarok 2.0.x or 2.1 (I hope to see both, as they work
differently and thus are complimentary) that would help in this regard,
by performing song identification in your music library.  (Rather, it
would help you figure out what files you already have that are the
same...so perhaps it won't help you out after all...)

--Jeff