CDex: How To Add Genres To The List
CDex's list before adding new genres
CDex's list after adding new genres
While trying to rip a CD the other day I noticed that Breakcore was not on the list of pre-approved listening genres. Although it may indeed be an acquired taste I found it a bit insulting that it wasn’t on the list. Being a pull down list I wasn’t able to type a new genre directly into the field. Surely there was a way to add new genres to the list I thought.
Some quick Google searches didn’t reveal a method for adding new genres but it did reveal that a file called CDexGenres.txt resides in the program’s local CDDB directory. I anxiously opened the file to find that it was empty. I concluded that the program itself comes stocked with the default genres and this file was for new additions.
Unfortunately I had no way of knowing what format the program expected to see these new genre additions in. Again I queried the all-knowing Google. Only this time I used a special operator in my syntax to find any other copies of CDexGenres.txt that might be lingering around.
Having discovered a copy of the file that was not empty I was able to determine the correct formatting. Here’s how to add new genres to the list in CDex.
- Navigate to CDex’s local CDDB directory. Mine is located at C:\CDex\CDDB\ but yours may be different. You can find the location of yours by opening CDex and navigating to Options->Settings->Local CDDB.
- In the CDDB directory you’ll find CDexGenres.txt. Open the file in a simple text editor (like Notepad). If you double click the file the default Windows action is to open it in Notepad so that should work fine.
- To add a new genre to the list use this format:
Genre Number[tab]Genre Name[tab]Genre Category[return]
It’s also important to note that you must include a Category and you must use tabs, not spaces, between the items. My new genres look like this:
0 Breakcore electronic
1 Dubstep electronic
2 Retard Beats & Farting Sounds misc
- Save the CDexGenres.txt file and restart CDex if it’s already running. You’ll now find the new genres in your list.