Reasons to keep tags CDDB disc ID, Raw CD TOC, ISRC, etc.

[randym]

The ripper includes options for creating tags for CDDB disc ID, Raw CD TOC, ISRC, UPC, and Checksum. I have a couple of questions about these tags.

1. I assume the checksum is computed by the ripper and facilitates checking that the file has not changed since originally ripped. What type of checksum is it? (I understand there are several types of checksums.) What application would facilitate checking the integrity of a large music collection periodically using the checksum?

2. With regard to the other tags, one application that appeals to me is to create a unique key tag for each track to facilitate backing up tags separately from music files. (That way one could back up the music files only once and the tags could be backed up repeatedly as they change.) Which of the above tags would best serve this purpose? My guess is CDDB.

Incidentally, does anyone know of an application that would facilitate this backup strategy. I recently investigated a shareware program tag backup and restore, but it doesn’t do lyrics well.

3. Are there other reasons to maintain these tags?

Thanks,
Randy

[LtData]

Re: Reasons to keep tags CDDB disc ID, Raw CD TOC, ISRC, etc.

I know one reason the Raw CD TOC is written to the file: in the future, AccurateRip will be able to compare existing files to the AccurateRip database.

I would assume the ISRC and UPC are written to help CD lookups with tools that support it. This is probably the same reason the CDDB disc ID is written.

As for the checksum, this is probably to help people that re-rip a file later and want to see if the checksum is the same.

[Spoon]

Re: Reasons to keep tags CDDB disc ID, Raw CD TOC, ISRC, etc.

For a unique identification, you are best wrting the accuraterip result, that accuraterip disc id is much better than cddb id which has many collisions.