Hi,

I could not find a general/spec/format forum so I thought this is the closest to what I am trying to figure out.

I need to know how to play the audio tracks of a multisession disc while in Windows.  If I put a multisession disc in a CD drive with a Play button on it, then I can listen to the audio through the headphone connector, but I am looking for a way of playing it with a media player the way you can do so with pure audio CDs.  Unfortunately, a multisession disc has data on it and it seems that Windows sees only that data.

Is this possible?  How?


Thanks.

Never had a problem... try holding the SHIFT button down when you load the disc to prevent auto insert notification from taking off and trying to load the data session.  After the disc has spun up (usually takes several seconds), take your finger off the SHIFT key and open media player to play the audio session of the disc.

(in reply to Synetech)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy

Never had a problem... try holding the SHIFT button down when you load the disc to prevent auto insert notification from taking off and trying to load the data session.  After the disc has spun up (usually takes several seconds), take your finger off the SHIFT key and open media player to play the audio session of the disc.

I just tried that a few times but it always loads the data track.  I tried using VLC to load it as an Audio CD but it does not work either.  When I instert a CD that is pure audio, the root of my CD drive contains the tracks as CDA files.  Is this even possible with a multisession disc?

(in reply to SithTracy)

I'm stumped.  I just tried a few cd's with a data session and had no trouble.  Do you have Nero?  If so, can you see the audio session with it?  You may want to try accessing/playing through IsoBuster.  The free version should do at least that.  Here is a screen capture of Sheryl Crow's "The Globe Session" being played through IsoBuster:

(in reply to Synetech)

using EAC can help you rip the Audio part easily

(in reply to SithTracy)

I do not want to rip the audio tracks, I want to play them.  Using Isobuster or other similar tools, I can see the audio tracks, and I can extract them and play them that way.  What I am trying to do is to play the audio tracks (CDA files) right off the CD just as I do with a pure audio CD.  The problem is that I cannot seem to prevent Windows from viewing multisession discs as data CDs and ignoring the audio.  CD tools look at the disc at a low level, so they see the audio tracks, but XMPlay/WMP/etc. do not, they rely on the Windows APIs and need to see those CDA files. 

(in reply to emperor)

I though I mentioned that you can play the audio tracks from IsoBuster... you do not have to extract them.

What kind of CD-ROM drive do you have?  Perhaps it needs a firmware update or it is just not MPC compliant.

(in reply to Synetech)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy
I though I mentioned that you can play the audio tracks from IsoBuster... you do not have to extract them.

True but I want to play the audio tracks of the multisession disc in XMPlay like I do with a pure audio CD.

(in reply to SithTracy)

quote:

I do not want to rip the audio tracks, I want to play them.

Do you mind if I ask why you would not want to rip tracks and playback smaller mp3/m4a files?  In todays computer systems, disc space should not be an issue.

But your didn't answer my question about your CD-ROM drive... as cheap as they are these days, a new drive for a few bucks is worth losing the headache over... Just my opinion.

(in reply to Synetech)