CD Reader

Menu Command: Tool | CD Reader

The CD Reader tool digitally copies audio directly from an audio CD to your hard drive, without using your sound card. The CD-ROM drive must be MMC compliant (Multimedia Command Standard). For Windows 98 and ME an ASPI driver must be installed (usually installed by Windows). For Windows 2000, XP, Vista, or later, support is built-in. Due to the wide variety of interfaces, inconsistent device standards, and problems with the Windows ASPI driver, incompatiblities may arise that will require a system reset. It is recommended that you close all other programs before proceeding.

To read tracks from a CD and save them to files:

1. Insert an audio CD in the CD or DVD drive.
2. Wait a moment for the system to recognize the CD.
3. Select the CD device from the drop down list. A list of tracks appears. If an "insert CD" message appears, choose Cancel and select a different CD device from the drop down list.
4. If you have an active Internet connection, choose the Get Titles button to get CD and track information from the freedb.org database. If you cannot access the database, check your connection or see the note below about setting a proxy server.
5. Check the boxes next to the tracks you want to save or choose the Select All button to select all tracks.
6. Choose the Save button and specify the destination folder, file type and attributes in the Save CD Tracks window.

To read part of a track, or a time range, or the complete CD to a single file:

1. Choose the Read Time Range tab.
2. Enter the From and To times or select track times from the drop down lists.
3. Use the preview playback buttons to check the from and to times, if necessary.
4. Choose the Save button and specify the filename, file type and attributes to use when saving the tracks.

Options/Features

• Use the Options tab to changes settings for reading audio from the CD and downloading information from the database.
• The Swap bytes option changes the order of bytes extracted from the CD-ROM. If the files sound badly distorted or like a loud hiss, check this box and save the tracks again. This option should not be necessary if your CD drive is working correctly.
• To open each track file automatically after it is read, check the Open track files for editing box.
• Check Prefix text and track number in title to include track numbers in the titles when downloading information. Enter text in the edit box with at least two # symbols for the track numbers, such as "Disc 1 ## " or "01--##--".
• Select a single track from the list and use the Rename button (or Alt+R) to manually rename it. Use the Save Titles button (the one with the diskette icon) to save titles and disc information on the hard drive.

See the GoldWave Manual for more information about the settings under the Options tab.

Notes

• If your system has multiple CD-ROM or DVD drives, then you may need to select a different CD device depending on what drive the CD is in.
• If you change the CD, you must reselect the CD device to update the track list and use the Get Titles button again (if the track names do not appear).
• A fast CD-ROM or DVD drive is required for previewing under the Read Time Range tab. You may have to increase the Read speed or the Number of sectors per read setting under the Options tab to get smooth playback.
• For defect free reading, the Number of sectors to overlap setting should be 2 or greater.
• If you cannot download titles, your computer may be using a proxy server. Set the proxy server name and port under the Options tab (servername:port). Contact your network administrator for assistance. Also adjust network firewalls to allow GoldWave to make a HTTP connection.

Troubleshooting Read Errors

• Make sure that the CD is free of dust and finger prints.
• Try increasing Number of sectors per read and decreasing Read speed under the Options tab.
• Try setting Number of sectors to overlap value to zero on the Options tab. This should be a last resort since it will not give defect free reading.