Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cd

Scratch n' Skip

cmoj — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:48:23 -0800

I have SRV mp3s that skip in exactly the same way as a CD I have. I've had a Stevie Ray Vaughan CD for as long as I can remember. I think it's from a remastered boxed set from the early 90's. Also, as long as I can remember it's skipped in places (you know, CD type skipping), but kept playing, so I dealt with it.

Nowadays I've got downloaded mp3s of all of this SRV material I already had on CD. Here's the weird thing: the mp3s skip in the same way as my old compilation CD. Even weirder, I don't have mp3s of that specific compilation. I believe the skipping is on an In Step reissue that's marked as being from 1999.

What's the deal? What could be the deal?

Itunes Not Getting Info from CDBB (Mac) (though it seems to be trying)

snap_dragon — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:59:08 -0800

Itunes is not retrieving titles for CDs from CDBB. It tries to but gets nothing after a few seconds. I am not sure it is even connecting to CDBB or what error(s) are occurring. I even reinstalled Itunes 9 (9.0.2 - newest) and it still does it. I do get the response "This CD was not found in CDBB database. You can enter information for the CD and each of its tracks. If this is not a commercial CD etc etc etc"...I've tried several CDs such as the Doors, Pete Townsend, Roxy Music...all ones that have worked on previous Itunes incarnations. I am not sure if it is an Itunes thing, a Mac/computer thing, or CDBB thing. This is a new thing and wasn't happening before. I have had the computer about a year if that matters. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help and have a good upcoming holiday.

CD (with jewel cases) storage ideas?

plungerjoke — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 09:30:02 -0800

How should I store my CD's? Metafilter is the only place where I'm relatively sure no one will say "Get an Ipod." I have upwards of 1500 CD's, and it is a collection I would like to store more attractively. I currently use several mismatched towers, and I have boxes for the overflow. I'd like some sort of large, high capacity shelving unit.

I can spend about 200 dollars either on a pre-built storage unit, or the materials for one I build myself (limited experience, nothing complex).

Does anyone have any ideas? Also, I would like there to be some room for collection-growth.

thanks.

Explosive listening?

katje — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:23:19 -0800

Would spraying a stick-on (paper) CD label with artists' fixative make the disc unsafe to play? I've illustrated the label for a kind of wintry mix CD for a friend in mechanical pencil. In my experience, these don't get too terribly smudgy, but they aren't immune to fading and a bit of scuffing. Is it completely insane to spray the paper with artists' fixative (ethanol, hydrocarbon propellants, ethyl acetate), let dry, peel off the label, affix it to a burned CD, and expect said disc to not explode or burst into flames when played?

All I want for Christmas is to save a franklin on postage for a holiday CD

rileyray3000 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:55:56 -0800

I used to send out a Christmas CD with holiday songs and clips from Movies and TV shows. It took a month to master and rip the CDs and 100 bucks in postage. What's a way to do this online instead? Is there somewhere I can POST a Christmas CD so people can listen online and download it if they want? This used to be my holiday project. It more or less consumed the last week of november and the first of december. So I stopped.

But I thought "If I can just take out the postage, it's not THAT awful. Ideally I'd like to have the tracks all in order and downloadable if people want. Is there a service that exists? How do I do it?

I want boxes for my CDs

nowonmai — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:30:23 -0800

What's a good source of some kind of boxes for carting around large numbers of CDs (1000+) in their jewel cases? I will be moving my CD collection around a lot in the near future, and am having trouble finding good boxes to pack them up. I need some kind of boxes the right size to hold CDs, in their jewel cases, roughly the size of the sort of moving boxes you'd pack books in, but I haven't been able to find a source of boxes a good size to pack the CDs in efficiently without gaps. Does anybody know of a source of convenient boxes, or indeed purpose designed boxes? Google will only help me find mailers for single CDs or storage solutions for CDs without cases. I have around 500 or 600 CDs where I am now, and then I'll likelypick up a similar number in a few months.
I am in NYC.
Ripping them all to HD and flogging them is not a option.

Seeking guided relaxation / meditation cd's / podcasts.

mola — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:52:48 -0800

Seeking guided relaxation / meditation cd's / podcasts. I've been suffering from anxiety and insomnia lately, and want to get back to normal. The cd's I've tried so far are The Mental Medicine Collection (Sacred Moment and Sleep Ease, both with Pakvilai Sudhaswin), The Calming Collection (Sleep Solutions, with Roberta Shapiro), and Living Meditation (with David Harshada Wagner).

The ones intended specifically for sleep seem best so far. I do not want any religious-specific cd's.

Best sounding CD of Robert Johnson recordings ?

Brandon Blatcher — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:59:08 -0800

What's the best sounding CD that contains music by the delta blues singer/guitarist Robert Johnson? Currently I have a CD of his recordings titled "King of the Delta Blues Singers". It sounds like shit. I'm not talking the fuzz and pop of an old recording, but on the some of the higher notes, say in Terraplane Blues, the sound gets distorted and it sounds like the speaker is about to blow. This has happen on different audio equipment, be it at home, work or in the car. Also the actual volume of the recording sounds quite low.

Now, I'm sure I've heard better versions of these recordings, but of course don't have anything to back that up other than "I could have sworn this sounded better on another CD!"

Is there a comprehensive list of the CDs have been put out with Johnson's music and (This the key part) is there one that sounds particularly good despite the obvious archival qualities of the recordings?

CD manufacturer identification on the Mac?

ignignokt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:18:38 -0800

Is there a Mac equivalent to CDR Media Code Identifier. This could be run in Parallels, but I'm not sure it'll be able to get what it needs out of the DVD drive. And of course, it'd be nice to not have to run Parallels.

Help me be less evil

serazin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:20:42 -0800

Is there such a thing as an independent, online music store? It seems to me that Apple and Amazon have a monopoly on online record sales now. I like to buy straight from the label if possible, but it isn't always (like right now I'm trying to buy the Micachu album but its on a British label and I'm in the US).

Is there any independent, online source for music? I'm imagining the Powell's of records.

CD downer

chickaboo — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:37:20 -0800

I'm having a problem installing Family Tree Maker 2010 - and I am getting an error message I don't understand. I have a CD for FTM2010 (I don't have a version of it on my computer right now). When i insert the CD, I get a message saying my DLA files aren't up to date. I think the system requirements are met (Windows XP Service pack 2).
Any ideas what is wrong? I tried it on my work computer and it began installing immediately.

DVD/CD drive feeling unwell - suggestions?

AllieTessKipp — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:50:54 -0800

My DVD/CD and CD drives only work a little bit. I apologize in advance as this is very long and tedious. I am trying to be thorough so that maybe someone can read this and have a suggestion or ask a question to get more information that might prompt a suggestion for me.

I have Windows XP Home and I bought a Dell. I've been very happy with this machine. I am still happy with it, just puzzled by this issue. The computer is perhaps 5-6 years old.

My computer used to happily read, rip, and burn CDs and DVDs with no problem. A few months ago, I started getting errors occasionally when burning a CD. The last couple of months it has gotten worse and now when I put a CD, over half the time it will not burn. I was using Easy CD Creator that came with my machine, and then I got DeepBurner, which is free. They both work about the same amount of the time.

Now the DVD/CD drive that reads and writes will not automatically bring up the disk I put in like it used to do. I like for that drive, when I put in an audio CD, to just start ripping the tracks. I do this mainly for audio books I get from the library. I rip them to play on my little player while I walk, and then I delete them when I'm done listening. Sometimes if I buy an audio book on 10 CDs, I prefer to rip all the CDs and then burn all those tracks, after sticking them back together with Windows Movie Maker, to ONE CD instead of 10. This makes it easier when I want to listen to my book again. This works well for me. But now I am having all this trouble with the drives.

If I open Windows Media Player (I have 11), and click on "rip" it will let me choose from the two drives and then I can rip the CD. So on some level, Windows knows the CD is there. But if I double click on the CD drive listed under "My Computer" it just opens a blank empty window. If I right click and select "autoplay" it will ask me if I want to burn a CD (the answer is no, since the CD has stuff on it...).

My other drive, which is just one for reading CDs, still seems to work okay but it also is not showing up with the name of the CD in the My Computer list like it used to.

I started to have these problems about 6 weeks ago in earnest. Recently I started a new job and had to download some software, which mostly works fine except for some occasional glitch where the sound stops working on my entire computer. I don't know if these things are related. I did not have that issue come up today, where the last 3 days it happened multiple times each day. Last night I upgraded to Windows Media Player 11, and the software for work uses that program to play the sound files (I'm a medical transcriptionist).

I have done lots of looking around on Google and such and have followed many suggestions and none have offered a solution. There was some kind of upperfilters/lowerfilters thing to delete in the registry, which I did but that did not help. I have one of those disks with the little brushes on it for cleaning DVD drives and I used that but it did not seem to help. I did notice that the picture was a bit wobbly on that DVD, which did not happen before.

I am not a person who just takes the computer apart and looks inside. When it comes to the actual hardware I don't usually mess with that stuff. If I had specific directions, my husband can probably follow those and help me out. :) But he is at a loss here.

Thanks for any help or ideas you can provide.

What does it all mean?

clorox — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:58:25 -0800

What do these codes on my CDs mean? On some of my CDs' jewel cases there are short, three- or four-character codes directly after the catalog number on the spine or the back of the case. The codes do not show up on the CDs themselves. The codes are printed in square boxes, similar to old-school track numbering and digital/analog recording identifiers (DDD, ADD, AAD).

I have only found them on records published by Decca (London, Argo, etc.), Deutsche Grammophon (and Archiv), and Philips. The only consistent trend between these is that they all have some connection with Polygram or Polydor.

Examples from DG:
445 542-2 [G][MA]
289 463 612-2 [G][OR]
439 006-2 [G][HS]

Example from Philips (this only appears on the back of the case):
420 354-2 [P][M]

Examples from London and Argo, respectively:
410 017-2 [10] [L][H]
414 595-2 [Z][H]

Guilty Downloader Here.

the NATURAL — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:01:11 -0800

Just curious: If I buy the vinyl version of an album, will the artist be supported just as much as if I had purchased the CD instead? I listen to (mostly) rap and hip hop, and though I often don't feel compelled to buy albums, when I particularly love one, I feel like I need to support the artist (and that the artist has earned my support).

However, since I've probably already sampled the album via torrent, would it still have the same sentiment if I purchased the vinyl instead? (You know - cooler to have around, maybe I could put it on my walls, etc.)

I suppose this is mainly a question of guilt rather than numbers, because what difference does one customer really make?

How to physically speed up MP3s for CD burning?

querty — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:28:05 -0800

How can I speed up the tempo of some MP3 files and burn them onto a CD for faster playback? For audio books / podcasts, I play them in Winamp with the Pacemaker plugin setting the tempo 20% ~ 30% faster as I can comprehend much faster speaking.

How can I do this for off-computer use? Specifically, make an MP3 disc to play in my car. I'm sure the MP3 file would have to be physically altered before it is burned onto a CD, so what tools are out there that will do this?

Here is one answer I found on the Winamp forum but it is not a viable solution because some the audio books I have are over 12 hours long.

Help me find a CD player

LSK — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:28:53 -0800

Help me find a portable CD player. I'm looking for a portable CD player with all these traits:

- Plays CDs with mp3 files saved on them.
- Has a LCD screen (even a small one) showing basic information.
- Can be operated blindly and without removing it from my pocket.

I used to own a nice Sony one that did all these, but lost it. Help!

How do I rip an entire CD to a single mp3 on a Mac?

kaufmajm — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:57:07 -0800

How do I rip an entire CD to a single mp3 on a Mac? I have a few dozen CDs that contain interviews that I'd like to convert into mp3 format for archiving. Each CD contains a single interview, which is split into several tracks.

Is there any easy way to rip the entire CD into a single mp3 file? Mac software is preferred. Thanks for your help!

Can I safely disassemble my CD player, or will it blind me?

Elsa — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:31:59 -0800

Can I safely disassemble my carousel-style CD player, or will the laser [blind me/ fry me/ cross the streams and produce total protonic reversal]? My five-disc carousel-drawer CD player stopped working, perhaps due to a disc sliding out of place and blocking the drawer. The drawer won't shut all the way, and my gentle efforts to retrieve the disc have failed. (I've seen this previous question about retrieving jammed CDs, and nothing has worked.)

If this were a VCR or other device without a laser, I wouldn't hesitate to take it apart and remove the disc or otherwise gently monkey around inside it, in hopes of salvaging either the disc or the player or both. However, I've seen some warnings about the dangers of lasers and particularly the dangers of "residual power" in CD and DVD players. Is this fact or myth?

Is it safe for me to unscrew the bottom panel of my CD player (unplugged for an hour now) and take it apart?

Selling a large CD collection the right way

kuperman — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:25:26 -0800

I want to sell my large CD collection. But what's the best way to do it without getting horribly screwed? So I've got ... around 1000 CD's I want to sell. They've been sitting in boxes for a few years, and they're just taking up space. Time for them to go. Years ago, I started buying the things I wanted to keep around on vinyl, and I'll keep the few rare/sentimental things, and that will be that.

But the problem I'm running up on is the best way to do it. I know full well going in that there is no chance in hell of getting near what I put in back. Unfortunately, the days of going to a used CD store and lugging in box after box so some college kid could pay you between 2 and 4 bucks per disc are over (that college kid used to be me, 10 years ago, when I worked in a used record store). Those places around here are all closed, or they only pay in store credit. Pawn shops are right out. Keeping them, in binder form or anywhere else, is right out.

I'd like to maximize return with medium effort put in. So what's the best way to do this? Catalog them all, put them on eBay as a lot or individually? Craigslist? Alternatively, would you know of a place in Houston/Dallas/Austin that purchases lots and won't insult you with a price (25 cents per CD is right out - I would have to pay for the drive over).

Hints? Experiences? Ideas? Suggestions?

Trashing Trashy Tunes

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:16:25 -0800

How can I dispose of hundreds of CDs in an environmentally sound manner? To reduce clutter, I would like to dispose of hundreds of audio and non-sensitive data CDs in an environmentally sound manner. That is, I could throw them in the trash, but this is probably a really bad idea and I'd like to hear about alternatives.

If someone wants to pay me for my music CDs, that would be awesome, definitely. However, I don't think I have the time or energy to devote a few weeks to cataloguing all these discs and their conditions. I don't have time or energy to run a stall at a flea market. If there are services that purchase music CDs (mostly electronic music, some rock and pop) outright, I'm interested.

That aside, do recycling services take CDs in bulk and is there such a facility in or reasonably near the Seattle metropolitan area?

Space-Age Bachleor Pa-aaaah Oh God No!

The Whelk — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:50:46 -0800

Music Mix Filter: Long story short, next week the model at my event is coming dressed as the Alien Queen from the ALIEN movies. I have no idea what kind of music to play for the background. The film scores seem obvious but who wants to listen to clanking and increasing strings for 3 hours? I can either go scary-horror-sci-fi or campy-alien-novelty songs. Ideally I could do both. What kind of weird space music recommendations do you have? Gotta have songs about alien invaders?

iMac G5 swallowed something it shouldn't have. Heimlich maneuver for CD drive?

UnclePlayground — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:16:26 -0800

How do I manually eject a CD meant for Windows (including XP and Vista) from my iMac G5? Yeah, brain fart. I inserted a CD given to me by my boss without looking at it. It's software meant for Windows. I inserted it into my iMac G5 with the CD slot on the right side. Of course, no icon for the CD shows up. I've tried every method of manual removal suggested on the internet.

Eject button on keyboard.
Restart holding mouse.
Restart holding eject button.
Restart hitting eject button continuously.
Open Firmware (Opt-Cmd-O-F) and typing "eject cd".

And many, many more.

There is no issue with the CD being "stuck", there is no "it seems to want to come out, but then goes back in".
No eject sounds like it's trying to eject.
It's just not recognizing the it's holding a CD, and none of the suggestions so far seem to make the computer spit the disc out.

And no, there is no special paperclip hole that I overlooked.

I need major guru advise here (besides, "take it to an Apple Store").

What do I absolutely have to include on a 1990s hip-hop CD?

allymusiqua — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:06:56 -0800

MusicFilter: Making a CD of awesomely catchy 90s-00s hip-hop/rap music. I'm driving with friends from Idaho to Wisconsin and needless to say, we're going to need hundreds of CDs to keep things interesting. I want to make a CD of ridiculous and well-known music from the late 80s to early 00s with songs that make people say "WHATTTT I HAVEN'T HEARD THIS SONG IN FOREVER! TURN IT UP!"
What do you suggest?

CD broke in my computer

philfromhavelock — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:32:10 -0800

A CD broke in my PC this morning. I heard the crack and I popped the drive open. What should I do - can I open the back myself or should I take it to a shop? Should I try to fish anything out of the drive? Will the pieces harm the computer?

It was a disc from a computer training manual. I have a new (two month old) HP machine. I have loaded hundreds (maybe thousands) of discs into machines. I have never seen this before.

Better than a CD?

Anonymous — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:11:07 -0800

Saving for an engagement ring... Are there better options than a multi-year Certificate of Deposit? I'm looking for something safe, secure and higher yielding than a savings account. A 3 or 4 year CD seems like the best option, as it matches my time frame, but is there anything else out there that I might not be aware of that I should consider? General advice and tips welcome as well.