Section 10. Get CD Track Names Manually

10. Get CD Track Names Manually

Before You Begin	See Also
Import a Music CD into iTunes	Submit CD Track Names to the Gracenote Database
	Extract a "Secret Track" into the iTunes Library

If you forgot to connect to the Internet before inserting an audio CD, don't paniceven though it looks like you're stuck with an Untitled CD with tracks unhelpfully labeled Track 01, Track 02, and so on, you're not out of options. A command in iTunes' Advanced menu lets you send a new query to the Gracenote database even after iTunes has given up trying to find the disc's correct track listing. You don't have to painstakingly type in all the track information yourself.

Note

This task describes how to retrieve track names if you haven't yet imported the CD. If you have already imported a CD with generic track names, you can type all the names in manually, or you can import the CD again (making sure that you connect to the Internet first). See Re-Import a Music CD for Improved Quality for the procedure.

Get CD Track Names Manually

Insert an Audio CD

Select an audio CD that you want to add to your iTunes Library. Insert it into the computer's CD drive and close the drive door. Wait for iTunes to populate the CD's track listing; if you don't have an Internet connection, the tracks are given generic names such as Track 01, Track 02, and so on.

Connect to the Internet

You must have an active Internet connection at this point. Kick your teenager off the phone and dial up your modem; or connect your laptop to the local wireless network. Make sure that your connection is active by trying to connect with your browser to a website or two.

Get CD Track Names

Choose Get CD Track Names from the Advanced menu. iTunes makes a fresh attempt to contact the Gracenote database and replace its existing list of generic track names with the correct names from the database.

If you were presented earlier with multiple choices of disc entries, and you picked one whose contents turned out not to be correct, you should be given the same choices again; be sure to pick another disc entry this time around.

Import the CD Tracks

Click Import to copy the music from the CD into your iTunes Library. When you hear the musical chime, eject the CD and switch back to the Library view (click Library in the Source pane) to enjoy your imported music.

Tip

Some CDs simply don't have entries in the Gracenote database. If you can't get track names for your CD no matter what you do, enter all the track names yourself and see Submit CD Track Names to the Gracenote Database to do a good deed for your fellow fans.