CD Text has _never_ been part of the Red Book spec (though title sets were part of CD+G). That's why Sadie and Sonic were never in a big hurry to add it. Currently there are at least TWO methods for doing this task, although the main one we're familiar with is compatable with the other in glass mastering (Sony used (uses?) a text file in the DDP set to get it done, while the other approach is "yellow book" tagging).
CD Text is largely unsupported, outside the world of car stereo and more recently DVD players, which are generally not connected to the net. The vast majority of discs replicated DON'T use it, for a number of reasons, but most artists confuse CD Text with CDDB/Gracenote lookup. The fact is iTunes et al cannot read CD Text at all! Frequently people gripe to the ME when they insert a CD Text-included CD, and it returns the wrong file names because CDDB has a disc with the same timings already in it! The other problem is it doesn't support a full ascii character set, nor does it recognize subtleties like capitalization, which is increasingly important as band names and sont titles mirror text-messages. So, even what it does do, it doesn't do completely or very well.
As time goes on and purely digital files become the norm, CD Text will be even less useful than it is today. Metadata in files is richer, and more foolproof in practice. Computers, MP3 players, car stereos and DVD players can already read and display this metadata, and unlike CD Text it actually IS a standard, and supports a full ascii character set.
My least favorite phone call in any given month is explaining all the above to clients who paid for CD Text and are disappointed by how worthless it is. Increasingly even car players and newer DVD players are relying on metadata and even networks. Generally speaking it's a waste of time and money, and a source of endless irritation, whining and complaint by people who have no idea what it is or how it works. Sometimes the client gives you a mispelled titles, and his/her bandmate (who wrote the songs) freaks out when the other guy refuses to cop to his error, and the project becomes a big clusterfvck. All that, for something that fewer than 1 in 10 players can see today, and fewer still will read tomorrow! Sheesh!
At any rate, your assumptions are backwards. Your ME was likely using a real mastering system, not Toast or Jam, and until recently real mastering systems didn't support CD Text, because mastering systems follow the spec by design. CD Text always been a kludge and remains a kludge today, existing mostly in the consumer/prosumer realm, as a means of managing the proliferation of cheapo CD-Rs and burners built into every computer sold. New versions of the major mastering DAWs support it, but lots of guys aren't keen to dump otherwise productive investments to support something as goofy and useless as CD-Text. It's a matter of customer demand though, and if your customers demand it, you have to offer it.
Glad to see you're doing it right in the end!
-d-
