iTunes tagging ODA

[windytan]

Ticket spun from #72 : We have many Open Data Applications already covered, but "iTunes Tagging" (0xC3B0) does not have any kind of public specification available. Could we implement something by just looking at the messages?

In walczakp/rds-spy-logs, this app can be found on three stations. I assume it has something to do with the current song playing (?), so I attached the name of the song below, according to RadioText.

🇺🇸 WDBO 96.5 (0x5CBC)

• 5CBC - 2019-05-04 00-10-45.spy
• ODA group: 11A
• No song is playing, it's the news and weather
• Message in 3A group:
  • A05C
• No 11A groups

🇺🇸 KFOX (KUFX) (PI 0x4569)

• 4569 - 2020-08-19 20-45-06.spy
• ODA group: 11A
• Message in 3A group:
  • A045
• Song 1: Queen - Another one bites the dust
  • RadioText: "985KFOX / Queen / Another One Bites The Dust"
  • Raw data in 11A group:
    • 0C B3D7 C1B4
• Break between songs (no song playing):
  • RadioText: "985KFOX South Bay's Classic Rock"
  • Raw data in 11A group:
    • 1C B3D7 C1B4
• Song 2: Puddle of Mudd - Blurry
  • RadioText: "985KFOX / Puddle Of Mudd / Blurry"
  • Raw data in 11A group:
    • 0C 93D7 C1B4

🇺🇸 WWKA (0x8FC4)

• 8FC4 - 2019-05-04 21-55-19.spy
• ODA group: 11A
• Message in 3A group:
  • A08F
• Song 1: Zac Brown Band - Toes
  • RadioText: "Toes by Zac Brown Band on Orlando's #1 for New Country"
  • Raw data in 11A group:
    • 0E 936A 3C38
• Song 2: Rascal Flatts - Back To Life
  • RadioText: ""Back To Life by Rascal Flatts on Orlando's #1 for New Country"
  • Raw data in 11A group:
    • 06 9362 3C38

Not much data changes when the song changes. Maybe it does not encode the song identity? Could it be just genre etc information? Or index on the station playlist? Why would this information require so many bits?

Edit: Added RadioText.

Edit 2: Here's a tabulated version that may inspire more reverse engineering ideas:

Call   PI  iTunes tagging  RadioText
─────┬────┬──────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
KUFX │4569│ 0C B3D7 C1B4 │ 985KFOX / Queen / Another One Bites The Dust
     │    │ 1C B3D7 C1B4 │ 985KFOX South Bay's Classic Rock
     │    │ 0C 93D7 C1B4 │ 985KFOX / Puddle Of Mudd / Blurry
WWKA │8FC4│ 0E 936A 3C38 │ Toes by Zac Brown Band on Orlando's #1 for New Country
     │    │ 06 9362 3C38 │ Back To Life by Rascal Flatts on Orlando's #1 for New Country

[windytan]

For reference, 11A ODA groups are processed here, where the right processing function gets called based on ODA ID: groups.cc#L946