Is there a definitive definition, or is it kinda sorta?? I've been trying to research how to prepare a CD master for duplication (or replication, but at my numbers, it's duplication). I thought I had the last one set up so, when played, the album title and song title would scroll on any machine that provided that service. But, no, It just provides a generic "Track 1" and maybe an "Unknown Album" or something like that.
In my reading I'm getting the impression there are two possibilities:
1. Embedding the information somehow directly into the master (whatever a master is)
2. Pulling the information from the internet (but how does it get there??)
I've found instructions in a few different places, but they always assume I know something or that I'm taking it to a professional mastering engineer. I'm the kind of person who--if I was taking a computer class, you can't start with "Okay, first turn your computer on." No, you have to start with, "Look in front of you. You'll see a device with a blank screen and a keyboard. Look at the keyboard. In the far upper left there's a rectangular button. Press that button."
In other words, I can follow instructions, but they need to be COMPLETE instructions.
To summarize, my questions are:
1. What exactly is mastering? I'd like to know, but not if it's too complicated. In that case, just say, "It's too complicated."
2. How do I embed metadata on my master so it scrolls on the players when the CD is played?
3. How do I make the metadata available for players that need to pull it from the internet?
4. Oh yeah, I want to make sure I have the ISRC codes in the right places, too.