cd won't open in itunes

February 15, 2006 7:49 AM

I bought a CD that plays as a CD in my car, but when I put it in my mac it plays as a DVD, because it has some video too. I would like it to read as a CD, so it opens in itunes and I can copy it there. Surely this is possible?
posted by dgaicun to computers & internet (21 comments total)

Could you "open" the CD icon that appears on your desktop and drag the audio files to iTunes?
posted by sourwookie at 7:51 AM on February 15, 2006

(BTW, it's probably not a DVD, but rather a mixed-mode CD. That doesn't solve the problem though.)
posted by smackfu at 7:56 AM on February 15, 2006

There are no audio files when I click. There is a folder that says 'Audio_TS' that has nothing inside, one that says 'Jacket_P' with three under 100k Mp2 files, and one that says 'Video_TS' with 20 "VTS" files.
posted by dgaicun at 7:57 AM on February 15, 2006

If it helps, it's this album.
posted by dgaicun at 8:00 AM on February 15, 2006

Apple in Mac should work.

Have you tried dragging the disk icon and dropping it on the iTunes icon? Have you tried clicking it while holding down the control key and choosing "open with," that should let you browse to iTunes.
posted by leafwoman at 8:08 AM on February 15, 2006

I have that CD. I might be wrong about this, as I don't have the disc with me right now, but isn't it double-sided? Maybe you just need to flip the disc. FAQ here.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:12 AM on February 15, 2006

That album was released in DualDisc format as well as in ordinary audio CD format. If that's the version you've got, it's effectively a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. Does it look double-sided? Have you tried both sides?
posted by chrismear at 8:15 AM on February 15, 2006

If it's a DualDisc, the CD side won't work in a slot loading Mac. This was discussed on Ask before.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 8:18 AM on February 15, 2006

In a previous AskMe thread, the same problem with the same album was reported; and a solution was given.

Also I may be wrong, but doesn't actually owning the disc give you the "legal" ability (at least in the United States) to download a copy of the same album?
posted by charmston at 8:37 AM on February 15, 2006

Have you tried dragging the disk icon and dropping it on the iTunes icon?

Doesn't work.

Have you tried clicking it while holding down the control key and choosing "open with,"

Doesn't work.

Have you tried both sides?

Only the one side is mounting.
posted by dgaicun at 8:39 AM on February 15, 2006

In a previous AskMe thread, the same problem with the same album was reported

D'oh. Guess I'm screwed.
posted by dgaicun at 8:42 AM on February 15, 2006

You could possibly rip the dvd audio side using something like Handbrake. I haven't done it personally since the DualDisc I do have seemed to work fine in my laptop. You won't have any of the tagging information, but you will probably be able to get the audio.
posted by mikeh at 9:17 AM on February 15, 2006

Or you could ask teece for the files he managed to rip.
posted by chrismear at 10:17 AM on February 15, 2006

I have that very album, and I can't use it in the CD player in my iMac (you'll note DualDisc says it may not play in some players).

Since you and I both own the album, I could legally give you a copy of my ripped CD's files (I have an external CD drive that read it fine).

Email me if you're interested -- it's in my profile.
posted by teece at 10:24 AM on February 15, 2006

Try opening Terminal (under utilities) and seeing if you can see the files in there. Macs use a lot of tricks to hide system files but they are all visible from the Terminal.

Problem is, if the disc is actually 2 sided they may not have included the .aiff files on the DVD side. It may be worth a try though.

A couple of tricks that may help:

1.) in the terminal window, type 'cd' and then from your desktop drag the CD icon to the terminal window. This will automatically parse out the directory for you. Hit enter.

2.) type 'ls -la', this will give you a directory listing. The files you are looking for are going to have the extension .aiff

3.) you may have to 'cd' to a couple of different directories, if you get stuck 'cd ..' takes you back up a directory.

4.) if find the files you can copy them to another folder by using the command 'cp *.aiff [your directory]' where [your directory] is the name of the folder you create for the files.

5.) assuming any of this worked, you will now have the .aiff files, use audacity or NMP3 ripper (both free) to convert them to mp3s

As i said, this assumes that the music files are on the side of the disc that you can read.
posted by quin at 10:54 AM on February 15, 2006

I'm way too dumb for all that! Too lazy at least. Teece, thanks for the offer, but it'll be less intrusive to just do the same thing on a friend's computer. Thanks though.
posted by dgaicun at 11:05 AM on February 15, 2006

I thought I'd add for the record:

The audio side of this disc is spit out by my iMac shortly after being inserted -- so there is no hope of doing anything with that side.

The video side works fine. However, you can not extract the songs from the video side with normal ripping techniques -- no part of the video side is an audio CD. (There is no CD audio [aiff/wav/CDA] on this disc anywhere).

The songs are wrapped up in DVD VOB files. Presumably, you could get the audio from those somehow, but it's a major hassle and I would only try that as a last resort.
posted by teece at 11:25 AM on February 15, 2006

Oh, and I forgot to add -- this seems to be related to the drive itself, no the OS. When I put the audio side in my external Firewire NEC DVD drive, Mac OS X can read and rip the audio CD fine.
posted by teece at 11:36 AM on February 15, 2006

Just for the sake of future generations who may read this thread, it is possible to extract the music from a VOB file.

First, you need MacTheRipper [free] this will allow you to decrypt the VOB, this would, of course, only be done for legitimate, legal reasons.

Then you could use MPEG Streamclip [also free] to extract the audio and export it to AIFF, which you could then convert to MP3.

This is, obviously, overkill for a problem that can be solved by ripping the disc in a different drive, but just in case someone wanted to know if it was possible.

It is.
posted by quin at 1:14 PM on February 15, 2006

Also I already have software that can convert anything that goes through my speakers into Mp3.
posted by dgaicun at 1:28 PM on February 15, 2006

If all else fails, try it on a Windows computer running WinAmp. Seems to ignore the mixed mode stuff and just rips it. Slow (2x) ripping if unregistered, but it still works. Plop in CD (holding down shift to disable autorun) and then tell WinAmp to rip the disc in the drive. Take resulting mp3 files, put on a thumb drive, and import to your Mac from there.

(No matter what your platform, I'm sure everyone agrees that nonstandard CDs that can't be digitized just suck.)
posted by caution live frogs at 1:37 PM on February 15, 2006