# How do I copy the Table of contents of one CD to another? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292 "2004-08-17T20:27:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/1 "2004-08-17T20:27:01Z")
Thanks to help I received in a previous thread here, I was able to fill in the table of contents for my CDs. These are CDs of a Spanish language course which I will be studying at home. Rather than risk screwing up the original CDs wih my computer ineptitude, I made copies of the 13 disks, and on these, I typed in the information for each track. Well, it worked out perfectly and the copies are in such wonderful shape. I´ll use them when I get rolling on the course. But just as before, the store bought Originals have no information in the Table of Contents, or in the Media Library. I´d like to fix this, if for no other reason than for the sake of completeness. So… Is there some way I can copy the Table of Contents from say the Disk One copy and paste it to the Table of Contents of the Disk One original? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/2 "2004-08-17T23:00:26Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > Is there some way I can copy the Table of Contents from say the Disk One copy and paste it to the Table of Contents of the Disk One Original? Only if is a recordabe disc and has not been ‘closed,’ as would be expected on a commercial product. I suspect you wamt to do the impossible! Original disc are made by an entirely different process from recordable discs. The data cannot be altered. It can be damaged by mishandling of the disc however. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/3 "2004-08-17T23:29:27Z")
I wondered about that, so… I just this minute inputted data for the first Track on the second original CD. I then shut down Media Player and ejected the CD. I put the CD back in and when Media Player came up, there was the info I had just typed in, and there was no damage to the CD. So, can you think of a way I can somehow cut and paste the Table of Contents from the CD 2 copy to the CD 2 original? ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/4 "2004-08-17T23:32:56Z")
What I was trying to say in the post above is, if I can manually enter data in the Table of Contents, Track by Track, can I do the whole thing - the entire Table of Contents - in some kind of a cut and paste operation? ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/5 "2004-08-18T00:25:07Z")
If you’re trying to copy data, even a table of contents, onto a CD that you purchased at a store with data already on it, you are probably going to find that this is impossible. For one thing, store purchased CD-ROMs are pressed, not burned, and cannot be left open for future writing. Even if they could, they don’t employ the same dye-darkening technique that CD burners use, they actually press pits into the disc itself before coating it with reflective material, and no home CD writer does that. In short, you cannot copy anything at all to a CD-ROM. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/6 "2004-08-18T00:41:47Z")
I believe I know what the OP is talking about. Media Player can uniquely identify an audio CD and allow you to enter track information. This info is stored on the computer not the disk. The “identifier” on the originals and copies are different. The Windows 3.1 CD Player had the same feature, but the data was stored in a flat ini file. Media Player, I’m pretty sure, uses the registry. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/7 "2004-08-18T01:19:35Z")
> [@Jeff Lodoen](#): > > I believe I know what the OP is talking about. Media Player can uniquely identify an audio CD and allow you to enter track information. This info is stored on the computer not the disk. The “identifier” on the originals and copies are different. > > The Windows 3.1 CD Player had the same feature, but the data was stored in a flat ini file. Media Player, I’m pretty sure, uses the registry. in both locales - Now Playing and Media Player, here´s how things look Lección 9 Vocabulario del tema Los meses y las estaciones del año 1:40 Track 2 1:42 Track 3 2:05 etc. all the way down to Track 39 1:07 I typed in the “Lección 9 Vocabulario, del tema…” The CD - even the original - allows this. The times for each track are already there. I go to each track and right click the “Track number”, select Edit and then input the data, hit Enter and go on to do the same thing in the next Track. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/8 "2004-08-18T01:22:24Z")
Ooops. It should read… In both locales Now playing and Media **Library** Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/9 "2004-08-18T02:04:56Z")
> [@Antiochus](#): > > Ooops. It should read… > In both locales Now playing and Media **Library** Sorry. Just to be sure the data is on the CD and not just in the Media Player play list files, try to read the data on another computer. The vendor may be using recordable media. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/10 "2004-08-18T02:08:54Z")
To the OP: I was a bit confused by the the phrase “table of contents”, which has a specific meaning for CDs. The TOC is the list of tracks, which tells a CD player where each track starts and stops, so an audio CD with no TOC would be unplayable. But if I understand this correctly, you just want to have the track names appear when you play the disc. There’s another way to do it. You can copy the CD and type the track names in as CD Text, using a program like Nero. It’s more complicated than typing them into Windows Media Player, but the names will show up on any computer you put the disc in, as well as CD and DVD players that support CD Text. > [@Jeff Lodoen](#): > > I believe I know what the OP is talking about. Media Player can uniquely identify an audio CD and allow you to enter track information. This info is stored on the computer not the disk. The “identifier” on the originals and copies are different. That’s weird… all those CD identifying programs work (or used to work) by hashing the disc length and track lengths, so a copied CD should appear the same as the original. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lodoen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b3f665/32.png) [@Jeff\_Lodoen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lodoen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/11 "2004-08-18T03:35:33Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > That’s weird… all those CD identifying programs work (or used to work) by hashing the disc length and track lengths, so a copied CD should appear the same as the original. Yeah that’s how CDDB does it. Might depend on how the was copied. If the length’s differ at all it’ll “look” different. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/12 "2004-08-18T15:19:04Z")
Although I will try it, I sort of doubt that checking the disks on a different computer will cause any positive results. The reason is this: The first CD of the 7-disk Textbook set comes from the mfr. with all the TOC Tracks - and the same for Media Library. I can read these just as easily as the stuff I inputted on the remaining 6 CDs. (I didn´t mention this in previous posts because I was afraid of supplying TMI.) So it would seem to me that the mfr wouldn´t use one code on the first disk and another - invisible to my computer - on the rest. How about this as a wild thought. (I´m such a computer stoop I´m truly embarrassed to suggest solutions to computer knowldgeables like you folks.) Suppose I copy the **cloned** CD 2 to Media Library. All the info goes to my HD, right? I eject this CD, go into Explorer, find the Media Library folder and copy the Track “titles” there. Then I put the Original CD 2 in the drive and in Windows Media Player (or wherever else you suggest) I try to paste the stuff to the the TOC of the original CD. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-copy-the-table-of-contents-of-one-cd-to-another/260292/13 "2004-08-18T18:21:09Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > Just to be sure the data is on the CD and not just in the Media Player play list files, try to read the data on another computer. The vendor may be using recordable media. I think you’re right. I took the original number 2 CD and copied it to a blank disk. Keep in mind that the TOC and Media Library on the original are blank - at least there no titles in either. What do I find in the copy I just made? TOC and Media Library complete with all the titless. I´ll have to try my daughter´s computer some time this week. My computer shows ém on the copies, but not on the originals!! Another thing. On the original CD 1, there were some typos - no accent over the o in the word Lección that repeats a number of times in the TOC, and “diferencias” was lacking the n. I fixed all these maybe yesterday. When I checked out the CD 1 original just now, the corrections didn´t keep. All the accents over the o´s were gone and diferencias was again missing the n. I give up. No big deal, though. All these are just minor, but rather puzzling glitches which I won´t lose any sleep over. Thanks to all of you for trying to help.