Audio CD won't play on pc.

A

A-Traveller

Member
Hi All.

I have created a few audio CDs on CDR (various brands) but none of them will play on my pc.

I load the CD into the tray and an 'audio CD' icon appears as the drive in My Computer. The contents appear as icons without any application assigned to them. If I click any of them, I get the 'open with' box. I have chosen Windows Media Player and Real Player, but they won't open with either.

They play fine in an audio CD player and they have DEFINITELY been burned as audio files and not mp3, etc.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
L

LTR12101B

1
They play in an audio CD player? - that virtually rules out everything I was thinking of.

Does the PC play pressed audio CDs ok?
 
A

A-Traveller

Member
Thanks LTR/Poacher.

Yes, they play in an audio CD player and I've just tried playing an original (pressed??) CD and got the same results, i.e. the general icon and no audio!

I haven't got another PC but the above test points to something being wrong with my PC and not the CDs.

I haven't dowloaded or installed any audio related software recently and don't think I have made any changes to any audio settings either.

What now??
 
VIPER_1069

VIPER_1069

1
try installing winamp and associate it with audio cds and then try playing :)

note also to play audio cds you also need to have a cable connecting the drive to the sound card or motherboard to get audio output from an audio cd in the computers drive :)
 
A

A-Traveller

Member
Yes Poacher, I get the same problem on all CD drives.

Viper, the same CDs played fine before, so it can't be due to a missing cable, etc, unless maybe something has come loose?? I haven't been inside the case at all recently.

The error I get is -

'Windows Media Player encountered an error when reading the CD-ROM drive in digital mode. Click OK to switch to analogue mode. Click cancel to retry playing in Digital mode.'

If clicking OK automatically switches to analogue mode, then that hasn't worked, however, if I need to manually switch to analogue mode, how do I do it?

If associate Music CD Playback with Windows Media Player in WMP's File Types list, then WMP lists all the tracks and their lengths, but gives me the above error when I click play or even click the drive's icon in My Computer.

I already have Winamp on my pc and when I simply opened it, clicked the menu and chose 'Play Audio CD E', just this moment, it started playing fine! Thanks Viper.

OK, so could anyone now tell me how to get the thing playing as per normal as it used to? Before, it wasn't even associated to any audio prgram and automatically opened in the basic player that comes with Windows.

(Don't know whether to post this with a thumbs up or down icon!)
 
VIPER_1069

VIPER_1069

1
which version of media player are you using !? this could be a simple case of uninstall and reinstall media player to fix it :)

i would recommmend though to use media player classic or v7 or v8 as anything after that is bloatware :(


note also if it plays in digital and not analogue then check the cable from the audio out on the back of the drive to the board of the sound card as it needs this for analogue playback it should be a small thin and usually GREY cable with flat black connector on the drive end and a small maby 2 or 3 pin socket at the other end to connect to the sound card or the m boards sound connector :)
 
A

A-Traveller

Member
My WMP version is 9 and my Media Player Classic is version 6.

Yes, I could try a re-install; that may work.

The error message indicates that it's having trouble reading in DIGITAL mode, so do I still need to check the cable?

Oh dear, something else has gone wrong while I'm typing this so I cannot try to play using Media Player Classic now as I'm going to have to do a reboot.

Will post back to let you know if it plays in MPC.
 
A

A-Traveller

Member
Yes, it played fine in Media Player Classic v6.

Now for that re-install.....

No, wait a minute; I've just copy and pasted the error message I got into Google and the very first result in the list brought up the following:-

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/MultiMedia_Applications/Q_21366206.html

Coincidentally, this person's OS and version of WMP is exactly the same as mine! And it gets even better.....a solution which someone posted solved their problem!

If you scroll down to the reply by 'crissand' and go the link recommended, it's all relating to something called 'Translator'. Are the instructions there suitable for me or is it only to do with 'Translator'?

Also, shouldn't I be getting the latest ASPI drivers (if that's what I need) instead of older ones?

http://www.chickensys.com/translator/misc/aspiproblems.html

What would you suggest? Which parts do I need to follow (if any) and which to ignore?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
S

scarecrow

1
ASPI helps audioCD playback only on old (= Win 9X/ME) OS'es- not really needed for 2000/XP/2003.
If you're still using Windows 9X, then the best you can do is getting rid of them... :p
 
A

A-Traveller

Member
Thanks Scarecrow.

I won't be upgrading my OS for some time yet so should I just follow the part where some files are to be found and deleted and others downloaded and installed?
 
S

scarecrow

1
ASPI 1.7 is the best choice indeed for Win9X (IMHO for 2000/XP as well, but that's another story), and Win9X cannot swallow easily anything more than WMP 7.
Of course (and always IMHO) Media Player Classic (for 9X you need the non-unicode version) is much, much better than any "plain" version of WMP.
You should also check your drive DMA settings: On Windows 9X these settings are available by going to control panel/system, finding your CD-ROM icon and rightclicking it. Unlike Win2000/XP/2003, a reboot is required after changing the drive's DMA status.
 
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