I would like to edit in Audacity a recording (just my grandma talking) that I originally recorded on a tape recorder, and sometime in the early 2000s transferrecd to a CD. It’s .cda format.
Of course Audacity can’t work with that, but encourages me to use Windows Media Player to rip it and convert to wav. So I opened WMP and under Tools > Options> Rip set it up to do that.
It transferred the files to my desktop, but they are still cda. WMP puts up a box saying that they can find no artist information, which I guess is why it’s not converted – maybe that makes them suspicious, like a bootleg.
Any advice? I’m Windows 10, Audacity 2.3.3.
PS thanks for all your help a few months ago; Audible did accept the book and it’s for sale there now.
I rarely use Windows these days, but I used to use “CDex” as a reliable and convenient CD ripper. I think the current version of CDex may contain adverts, so if you want to avoid that, get the “portable” version.
It transferred the files to my desktop, but they are still cda. WMP puts up a box saying that they can find no artist information, which I guess is why it’s not converted – maybe that makes them suspicious, like a bootleg.
No, that’s not the problem. Most CDs don’t have any metadata. Usually, the player/ripper takes a “fingerprint” of the CD and looks for that information on the Internet. Of course, it won’t find any information for homemade CDs but that won’t stop if from playing/ripping.
I’ve never used WMP or CDex for ripping, but either of those should work… (I mostly use EAC but it can be a pain to configure. I sometimes use CueRipper which was easy to install can set-up but sometimes it fails/crashes.)
I used WMP for ripping several times, never had that type of problem you are describing. Ensure that you know the location where the output files should be put by WMP. .cda is the extension that Windows uses for the direct links that lead to the tracks on the CD when put on the reader drive. If you double click on a .cda file, the default application for audio CD reading should open and start playing the CD.
Thanks. I downloaded CDex, but it’s not recognizing the CD. Here are two screenshots.
The first shows what I see in Windows Explorer. There is an audio CD in the E: drive. When I click it, it starts playing in WMP. No problem.
But I would like to edit the file in Audacity, so I need to rip it and make it a .wav file. I downloaded CDex, but it thinks that the E: drive is empty.
Any ideas?
I downloaded CDex, but it thinks that the E: drive is empty. Any ideas?
Yes. Your disk is damaged or it’s not a standard CD-R. Did you make the disk in CD-RW or one of the other variations? You have the signature of one of those two variations. Some players can find it and some can’t.
sometime in the early 2000s transferrecd to a CD.
So you could have a 20-year old, home-made CD. Do you still have the original tape? The dyes on the surface of a CD-R are a cousin to color photographs. You know those curled-up, faded, cyan/blue/purple things in the back of the credenza? Those dyes.
I would be making any kind of copy at all while it’s still alive. Hold your phone up to the computer speaker and run a recording app.
Thanks, Koz, you always bail me out. I’m glad to know, at least, that I can stop beating my head against the wall.
It’s probably a CD-RW; I can’t tell, because I put a sticker on the front, but I expect that’s the problem.
It’s good advice, to play the CD and record it from the speakers.
I had another idea. I’ve kept an old PC (2010), Windows 7 I think, that I use for digitizing VHS tapes. I was going to set it up and do some more of them. It may be up to this challenge.
Old is good sometimes. That’s what I tell my mirror.
I found a simple solution–I have a double-ended cable, and I plugged one end into the computer microphone jack, and the other into the speakers jack. I can play the disk and record it in Audacity. Hopefully that solves the problem.
Make sure the quality is OK. Those two connections are strictly not compatible with each other. Make sure the Audacity blue waves don’t go all the way up and down…
…or the waves don’t have big flat spots.
That’s distortion and the sound can be crackly or crunchy.
