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

[Larry Alkoff]

Jeff Mitchell wrote:
> 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


Thanks very much for your reply Jeff.

I found your very interesting article on Amarok File Tracking in the 
Amarok Blog yesterday and hope to be able to read tags without fear of 
changing them soon.  Unfortunately AFT doesn't seem to be a part of my 
Amarok 2.1.4.9.1-0Ubuntu3 for KDE 3.5.9.  Perhaps in the next Ubuntu 
"Intreped Ibex" due out November.

Could you suggest a place I could place the "manufacturer-specific part 
numbers" in some unused tag location?  It certainly seems to identify 
the cd uniquely and I'd like to be able to make a printout containing 
Artist - Album - mspn to help me in purchasing.

Thanks for your excellent work.

Larry.