CTDB EAC Plugin

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CUETools Database Plugin for EAC

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The popular CD Ripper Exact Audio Copy (EAC), starting with version 1.0 beta 2, supports data processing plugins, and now there is a plugin that enables CTDB support.

This plugin verifies your rips against CTDB database, and submits new CDs to it.

It can also serve as a metadata plugin, providing access to MusicBrainz, Discogs and FreeDB metadata via CTDB. CTDB replicates MusicBrainz database hourly, Discogs and FreeDB - monthly. In addition to direct discid search, it supports the same fuzzy search algorithm as MusicBrainz, and also uses it for Discogs and FreeDB data, increasing the chance that correct metadata will be found.

Requirements

Plugin versions 2.1.6 or higher are supported in EAC V1.0 beta 5 or higher.

Plugin versions through 2.1.5 are supported in EAC V1.0 beta 2 through EAC V1.0 beta 4.

Installation

EAC V1.1 includes the CTDB plugin version 2.1.6; just leave it enabled when you install EAC.

Otherwise, to install or update it, just unpack all files from the archive (or copy from \CUETools_2.1.x\interop\EAC\) into the folder where you have EAC.exe (overwriting any existing files).

Usage

Metadata Options

At the end of the ripping process, if the rip was for the whole disc, then the plugin automatically processes the rip. There is no user interaction. The plug-in contacts CTDB for verification of the rip, and, if the disc is new to CTDB, it is submitted to the database. The results are then appended to the log.

If you want to use the metadata portion of the plug-in, you must enable it in EAC's Metadata Options (F12). There you can select the plugin as the metadata provider. The options that can be configured are

Metadata search mode:

  • Extensive: searches all available databases in all available ways. Can take a lot of time.
  • Default: tries to find an exact match in MusicBrainz, if not found - does a fuzzy search in MusicBrainz and Discogs, plus normal search in Freedb, if still no luck - resorts to fuzzy search in Freedb.
  • Fast: does not try fuzzy search
Metadata Icons

Covers search mode (plugin version 2.1.4 and above):

  • Large: Include larger than thumbnail size images (if available).
  • Small: Thumbnail size images (about 150px to 250px).
  • None: None

Once the plugin is selected as the metadata provider, it becomes the source of CD artist/title/etc. information obtained via Alt+G (Database > Get CD Information From...) or automatically upon insertion of an unknown CD, if so configured under EAC Options (F9) > General.

Known issues

  • The CUETools Database (CTDB) was modified after plugin version 2.1.3 was written so it cannot access some of the newer database features.
  • CTDB accepts the recovery record portion of a submission when the plugin reports the rip quality as 100%, but since EAC (V1.0 beta 2 through V1.0 beta 4) doesn't report suspicious positions to the plugin, the quality may be reported to CTDB as 100% when it is actually less than that. This causes CTDB to wrongly accept a recovery record which could be used to "repair" future rips to match the bad rip.[1] It is recommended to avoid doing a repair when the CTDB confidence is 1/x.
  • When copying selected tracks instead of an image, CTDB plugin doesn't process a CD if it has a HTOA (i.e. when first track does not start at 0:00:00). This issue was fixed in version 2.1.4.
  • The metadata plugin doesn't support lyrics and cannot submit metadata.
  • The EAC V1.0 beta 2 and EAC V1.0 beta 3 installers had difficulty detecting if the .NET Framework 3.5 was enabled in Windows 8. If you have trouble running the CTDB plugin in Windows 8, please check the prerequisites.
  • Due to changes in the EAC plugin handler, plugin versions through 2.1.5 are not recognized in EAC V1.0 beta 5 or higher and plugin versions 2.1.6 or higher may produce undesirable results in EAC V1.0 beta 2 through EAC V1.0 beta 4.

Links

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