cda. compared to wav.

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Spider

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hi all , just wondering how i convert my wav. files to cda. files?? i notice comercial cds are in this format yet when i burn my own music its always wav. files ...Is there much difference between the two?? also is there a program i can use to play cda files ?? i know my cd player does , but ive copied some to my harddrive and i was wondering what would play or even recognize these ?? the reason i had to copie them to the harddrive is that i only have my burner installed so i have to burn discs this way , never tried it though. What program could i use to create the cd ..?? i tried adaptec cd creator but it doesnt recognize them , it does of the cd , just not of the hard drive ... any ideas??
cheers all...
spider
 
If you look at the file size of a .cda file, you'll see it 1K. The .cda files are just headers for the track on audio CD's. A wave file is the actual data.

- gaffa
 
Adaptec EZ-CD Creator will recognize the files on a regular audio CD, it just handles it a little differently from the way it creates one directly from .wav files. You create a "disc image" file from the audio CD and then burn this to CDR as many times as you want. The applet is called CD Copier. If you had a CD-ROM drive as well as a burner you could burn a disc to disc copy and bypass your HD entirely, but this is not as reliable as creating the image first.
You can also get what's called a "ripper" program that does the conversion from audio CD to .wav files explicitly, but I haven't been too satisfied with the quality of the few freebie ones I've tried. Pops & Clicks are the problem.
Maybe the CD Copier Applet wasn't included with your version? Mine is ver 3.5a.
 
Adaptec EZ-CD should create audio CD's no problem. When you launch the program, you are on the "Audio" tab layout, not "Data" tab layout? Sounds to me like your burning a data disk, which will not play in a consumer CD player. Also, don't use re-writables for audio.
 
maybe i slightly quoted the problem wrong , but cheers all. Heres the scenario .. A while ago i removed the cd rom , leaving just the burner . I dont really need to copy cds , only create them from the hard drive. I was having trouble with my burner at the time and was trying different things to fix it , even freeing up the ide slots.. I can burn wav. files to disc no problems , i use cd creator for this. I also use audiograbber to rip songs to the hard drive for comparisons .. But what ive tried to do is just copy what appears to be the entire contents of a cd (this is just by select all/ copy) to the hard drive , it seems to do it .. but there all cda files so when i go to create the disc using easy cd creator , the program searches for wav. files and does not recognize the cda. files i am trying to burn.. see what i mean .. Looks like the problem im having is like the doc said , i need to burn the disc image to the hard drive .. does this sound right?? I have direct cd , but i think this is only good for two cd roms... any ideas..??
anyway , cheers all...
spider
 
hey just had a brain storm , figured it out in ez cd creator ... Extract to file .... sound about right ? well it works anyway , cheers for that though ...
 
err...

Just a clarification.
CDA files do not actually exist on a CD-Audio disc.
They are simply "dummy" files that Windows creates and put into memory whenever you put in a CD-Audio disc, just so it can handle the CD a bit better.
The point is, the CDA files aren't actually on the disc... they are simply pointers, which will tell CD-Audio-playing programs where to look on the disc for certain tracks.
Normal CD Players do not use CDA files at all.
 
hey cheers das , but where are the audio files then ?? i mean i know their there but how come i cant see them? i mean if i explore the cd i only find the cda files .. is this a copyright thing ??
 
Nope... there are no actual "files".
After all, CD Players are not PC's. They cannot read PC-formatted files.
CD-Audio CD's conform to a certain format, which is basically like a streaming WAV. However, it is NOT a normal WAV file that you can just open.
It has to be this special format, otherwise the CD Player would have to load the entire song into memory before it could play it.

The files are NOT THERE. The information is there, but they are not files.

Think of CD's like phonograph records, if that helps. They don't have files, just the little bumps that represent audio information as it passes along the point where it picks it up (needle/laser).
 
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