Question about multiple FLAC files with no CUE sheet, structure reconstruction possible? Options

[James_Richards]

After reading through many posts and making it to page 56 out of the 74 in the FLAC area for threads,I cannot find the answer I'm looking for, or I'm just too dumb to realize the answer is right under my nose;

I got into archiving my music pretty early on. I still have some original CDs with no scratches and never played. Now I built a media center and have several favorites still in FLAc format on my drive...and I want to rebuild the CD. Fire destroyed some things and theft and general carelessness through the years and I did not include the CUE file for some reason.

Is there a way to almost reconstruct the CD so when I go to say grandma's house I can pop it into her computer and WMP will know what the CD is? Or pop it into EAC and have it come back and tell me what the CD is? I noticed my drive can use CD TEXT...should I use that incase I totally hosed a few archives?

This is my first post here, and if this has bveen answered before, please direct me to the post and I'll read to my heart's contentment.

By the way, everyone here rocks! if it weren't for this forum I would have a hard time keeping a clean, well controled music collection!

[greynol]

56 out of 74, you should be commended. Problem is you're looking in (and posting to) the wrong forum.

This is the one you want, and after I finish answering your question, that is where I'm going to move it.

You don't need a cue sheed to reconstruct the original disc's structure provided the first track starts at the standard location of 2 seconds. If it starts farther in like 2 seconds and 32, 33, 37, 50 or some other number of frames, you're going going to get the same TOC. Freedb (what EAC uses) is usually able to identify a disc with a different but similar TOC. I'm not so sure about WMP but I remember it being extremely picky with imperfect CD-Rs when I last used it several years ago.

If your CD-Rs have CD-TEXT and your drive can read them, then you should have no problem with EAC. I don't think WMP can do CD-TEXT unless there's some type of third-party add-on.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 24 2008, 09:15

[James_Richards]

And you had to send me to a thread space with more than twice the amount of pages I enjoy your repsonses and posts. No BS of any sort.

So... Just ensure it starts 2 seconds in and a handful of frames... Sounds easy enough, I can test on a few junk CDRs then.

Another question similar to this and I probably already know the answer...any way to search Freedb for the needed info? Like a giant CUE repository or where people post that kind of info? I know it's reaching, but I just want to ensure I can restore what I had (Some missing albums are irreplacable without paying an arm and a leg on eBay and other places).

Thank you for the redirection though. I'll read as much as I can.

This post has been edited by James_Richards: Dec 24 2008, 09:21

[greynol]

Thanks for the compliment. Although I have little tolerance for BS, I'm trying to be nicer about it. After all, I make mistakes too!

You can search either site directly:
http://www.freedb.org/
http://www.freedb2.org/

...or here's a tool that can serve as a front-end:
http://cuemaster.host.sk/
Note that it always adds a pregap line to the first track and the time is always 2 seconds greater than what the typical burning programs use (burrrn/EAC/Nero).

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 24 2008, 09:46

[James_Richards]

That is close to what I am looking for. And since the pressing I'm trying to rebuild was so limited, I don't have to sift through so many results. One had 86 different entries for the same album!

I honiestly thought this stuff did nto exist. Then again, my brother, two years younger than me can be driving, hear a song that noone knows the srtist or title, he hits a few buttons on his phone, places it up next to a speaker, waites, hits a couple more buttons and it tells him what he needs to know...

I thought I was a geek, keeping up with this stuff. Oh well. Anyway, I have even more info to read, thank you again greynol. You have been very helpful.

[skamp]

MusicBrainz has more detailed CD TOCs (example: Think Tank from Blur).

[greynol]

Although it's great to offer additional alternatives, the more detailed information in MusicBrainz doesn't buy you anything. If gaps were handled in the standard or default way, the only information needed is the size of the pregap before the first track which either database provides.

The only thing MusicBrainz may(?) add is information about a data track. Without data that is the correct size and the means to position it precisely on the copy, you're not going to get the same TOC anyway.

This post has been edited by greynol: Dec 24 2008, 20:12

[skamp]

There's a greasemonkey script for making cue sheets out of musicbrainz entries. You can google for it.