playing audio CDs on my computer

[dobro]

I want to be able to compare what I'm recording and mixing to other people's CDs. So I tried listening to an audio CD on my computer today, listening through the headphones (the computer speakers are disconnected). Nothing. I got this message:

Windows cannot find PROGRAM.
This program is needed for opening files of type 'Audio CD'.

Anybody got any ideas?

 

[Emeric]

Maybe you don't have cd-player installed. Go to add remove programs in control panal, windows setup, multimedia, select details. Is cd-player checkmarked? If not, check it, and hit ok. You will need your Win9x CD.

 

[dobro]

Yeah, good idea, tried that, but CD Player was already ticked.

If my soundcard will play audio software tracks through the headphones, why won't it play CDs from the D drive? This is a Windows thing, right?

 

[Emeric]

Maybe i's a file association thing. In windows explorer, view the contents of the audio disk. Highlight one of the cda tracks, hold down the right shift key while right clicking on the mouse. Select "open with" and select cd-player or winamp or whatever you can use.

 

[Emeric]

Also, maybe your multimedia files are corrupted somehow. You could try unchecking and rechecking the box Multimedia in add/remove. Reinstall all of those components.

 

[AlChuck]

emeric,

You can't see an audio CD's contents as files, can you? I don't think so...

The message you get is saying that Windows is not able to find the program that is supposed to play audio disks. So it's clearly recognized that you put an audio CD in there. And that's what that check box is telling you -- the hardware is enabled.

Try opening the CD Player application yourself if you can find it and click the Play button. If you can't, that explains why it won't launch! Is the default player something that came with the soundcard, possible, and it didn't get installed properly? If so, try to run the standard Windows CD Player the Accessories/Multimedia branch from the Start menu's program list.

If none of that gets you anywhere, clearly something is corrupted in your setup -- either the program or a piece it needs is missing, or the data telling the system where to find the player is erroneous...

-AlChuck

 

[Emeric]

You can see the list of songs as *.cda. Not files exactly, just markers. Still, it's enough to reassociate the extension, at least temporarily.

 

[dobro]

Okay, I'm back. Sorry about the delay - I got a tracking burn on this weekend (I appreciate you guys trying to help - it's just a matter of precedence - songwriting takes precedence over tracking, tracking takes precedence over minor computer problems).

I tried Emeric's suggestion about the cda tracks. CDplayer wasn't listed as an option to open the file with, but Winamp was. Winamp played the file okay, but I couldn't hear it through the phones.

Next, I tried AlChuck's suggestion about running CDplayer from the Start menu. CDplayer opened and played the CD, but again, I couldn't hear anything through the phones.

I think it's time to contact Gadgetlabs. I know that the Wave/8.24 soundcard I'm using bypasses Windows volume control completely, so maybe it bypasses CDPlayer too. But if that's the case, why is it I can hear downloaded mp3s using Winamp, but I can't hear CDs played on my D drive? What do you think?

 

[Torpid-x]

Hey Dobro

It sounds like you dont have an audio cable (a small 4 strand wire in your computer) or a digital cable (a small 2 strand wire in your computer) running between your cdrom and your sound card, try the headphone jack on the cdrom if you have one.

Rich

 

[AlChuck]

emeric,

Sure 'nuff, I stick in a CD and I see a list! Trackn.wav, n=1 through # of last cut on the CD. I can't believe I've never stumbled on this before... thanks for the interesting tidbit.

dobro,

Another possibility is that the CD output is muted in the Windows Volume Control, if you haven't already tried that...

-AlChuck

[This message has been edited by AlChuck (edited 07-02-2000).]

 

[Spider]

ill agree with torpid, make sure your audio cable is connected..... did u try listening straight from the cd rom ?? make sure the volumes up on the cd rom (for listening straight from it, sounds stupid but youll be surprised) anyway good luck!!

 

[dobro]

Hi - I'll bounce this thread back up to the top with its resolution, in case anybody else is using a Gadgetlabs Wave/8.24 soundcard.

The problem was fixed with two mouse clicks. The Wave/8.24 soundcard, which bypasses Windows sounds, requires its monitor function to be enabled (clicked) for channels 7 and 8 in order to hear audio from the CD-ROM.

That's the good news. The bad news is my tracks don't sound as good as commercial CDs. The next bit of good news, though, is I can run the test Drstawl suggested to find out what's going on with my mixer.

Skating away on the thin ice of a new dawn...

dobro

[This message has been edited by dobro (edited 07-05-2000).]