Blogger started asking for donations, which made me think about other free services we take for granted. For example, who types in all that “CDDB” track information that tells my computer what CD I’m playing, and how do they pay for it? That’s a company called “Gracenote” and they make money a few different ways. They allow owners of certain CDs to unlock extra tracks to reward buying CDs. They sell advertising on their site.
They also run Billboard-like charts of most played CDs. To do this, they have to know about what CDs you’re playing not just the first time you play them, but every time. Doing this sometimes involves collecting your email address. They pledge not to do anything bad with it, but I thought you should know.