Audacity Forum

Is there some kind of setting I can toggle to let Audacity accept a feed from CD-rom?
I tried playing an audio cd and pushing the record button in Audacity, but it didn't work.
Undying gratitude for any pointers!

Leondup wrote:Is there some kind of setting I can toggle to let Audacity accept a feed from CD-rom?
I tried playing an audio cd and pushing the record button in Audacity, but it didn't work.
Undying gratitude for any pointers!

Almost no motherboard computer sound devices actually have an input to record directly from the CD-ROM drive (even if such an input is named).

You can record from a standalone CD player if you connect it to line-in of the computer, but it's much better to extract a copy of the CD tracks to WAV files. That way there are no audio quality losses or unwanted computer sounds in your copy of the CD. If you must "record" the CD, risking both loss and extraneous noise, try recording them as they play via any input the sound device has for recording computer playback.


Gale

I, too, am trying to record from my computer's CD drive. Actually, it's a personal DVD (no licensed content) that I want to record sound from in order to place it onto a CD and mp3 player. The DVD plays fine. In Audacity, I went to Edit/Preference/Audio I/O and selected the Playback and Recording options equal to what is shown when I right-click on my computer's volume icon. Just to test, I play the DVD and then hit record. The wavelength indicator (I think that's what it is) remains steady at zero (no heartbeat) and there's no sound during playback - as if I never attempted the project. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong there. So I'd appreciate help from anyone on this.

Windows machines are corporate computers and successive versions of Windows machines make this internal recording thing harder and harder to do. The older machines let you record using a pathway called "What-U-Hear." "Mix-Out," or "Stereo-Mix," according to your computer. You could find it in the Windows Control Panels.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

It's not unusual for modern Windows machines to be missing that tool. For a while it was hidden or unsupported and if you knew where to find it you could bring it back to life with a couple of clicks. Then, nothing.

You can simulate recording computer sound with a jumper cable from Headphone-Out to Line-In. Most laptop computer are missing the Stereo Line-In connection, and that's an analog pathway which creates some damage.

You can use money-based software. I believe Total Recorder still will let you record internal sound.

http://www.highcriteria.com/

Koz

For "free" solutions you can also install Audacity 1.3.12 and FFmpeg then drag the required VOB file (or .mpg file if it's really a data DVD) into Audacity. Dragging the files in won't cause any losses.

If you want a freeware easy recorder direct to MP3, try Freecorder. It does grab a digital copy of the file so is lossless in principle, but the current version will only give you the choice of saving a lossy MP3 file. If you can get Total Recorder's own driver to work, that will also grab a digital copy but let you save WAV, which means the audio remains lossless.

If you can get the "stereo mix" input to work (recording the DVD as it plays on the sound card), that is still slightly lossy, just like connecting the the line-out or headphone-out to line-in.


Gale