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OK, but why?
Authored by: dheeraj on Oct 29, '02 07:16:09PM

Not meant to flame at all, but . . . what's the point of this? The only benefit of FreeDB that I'm aware of is political -- it's 'free."

Aside from that, I've found CDDB has a lot more obscure stuff in its database (radio-only CD singles; indie-label EPs; etc.) than FreeDB, and FreeDB lets all kinds of illiterates submit track listings. Granted, I'm a little anal about how my titles appear, but I find myself having to correct spellings, capitalizations, etc. a LOT more often with FreeDB stuff than I do with CDDB. Not to mention that their uptime leaves something to be desired.

Again, not meant to flame . . . if I'm missing some major benefit that FreeDB offers, please clue me in.



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FreeDB population
Authored by: brainsik on Sep 21, '03 01:31:39PM

I have found that the FreeDB has a much higher population of non-mainstream music listings than gracenote/cddb.

The reason I found this article today is because the CD I got last night, K. K. Null & Disc (nullsonic), is in the FreeDB and not the gracenote/cddb.



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OK, but why?
Authored by: al451 on Jan 17, '04 05:57:43PM

(a) CDDB used to be a freely-available, public service that anyone could use and update. Then the service's operator stole the content and started suing people who were using it. FreeDB operates under a license that makes that impossible.

(b) When FreeDB gets an entry wrong, you can get it fixed. When CDDB gets it wrong, you can't. Enough said.

The quality of CDDB's listings for the CDs that I have is generally much, much worse than FreeDB's. Others' experience may vary.



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