Abstract: A method for identifying the contents of a compact disc manipulating a received table of contents (TOC) identifier associated with the compact disc. The method parses portions of the TOC comprising a series of numbers corresponding to track offsets for each track of the compact disc. The method further determines the first number from the series of numbers, subtracts the first number from each number in the series of numbers to form an altered series of numbers, and concatenates the altered series of numbers to form an altered string that comprises the altered TOC identifier. The altered TOC identifier may then be compared to a plurality of canonical TOC identifiers to identify the contents of the compact disc. Another method generates a generic TOC identifier for a plurality of compact discs known to contain the same data.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described that greatly enhance a user's experience when playing media content that does not include a table of contents (e.g. MP3 and WMA files), herein referred to as TOC-less media content. One or more databases, managed by a server, maintain metadata associated with various media. When a user requests metadata associated with TOC-less media content, search criteria is extracted from the file containing the TOC-less media content, and a metadata search is performed. Sets of metadata that may be associated with the metadata are then returned for display to the user. A user may select one of the returned results to be associated with the TOC-less media content, revise the search criteria and execute another search, or manually enter metadata that is to be associated with the TOC-less media content.