# Accessing music tracks on mixed CD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446 "2003-03-01T20:44:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/1 "2003-03-01T20:44:09Z")
I have a mixed CD that includes standard CD audio tracks as well as a little multimedia program. The problem is I can’t access the CD audio tracks on my computer. When I put the CD in, the multimedia program comes up and plays the tracks. I want to be able to play the tracks on MY software, not its stupid crappy program. If I look at the CD in Explorer, all I see is the executable partition. Any suggestions on how I can access the audio tracks?? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/2 "2003-03-01T20:55:30Z")
Are you sure that there **are** standard CD tracks on the CD? Look at the CD with Windows Media Player. Put the CD in and shut down the multimedia program it runs when it starts, then use WMP to browse it. If you don’t see anything listed, there aren’t any playable tracks there. My WAG is that the actual tracks are there, but there are no file headers so Explorer cannot see them. Presumably the multimedia program has that data embedded so only it knows where they are. You might be able to get clever with a hex editor, but unless it’s really good music, I wouldn’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/3 "2003-03-01T21:52:11Z")
- - - This depends on the exact format of the CD: if you can play it in a normal audio-only CD player, then getting the music files is easy. Look around at [www.cdrfaq.org](http://www.cdrfaq.org) , the answer is probably there somewhere- (as to what software you need to extract the music. I have Nero that extracts from a Sarah McLaughlin CD just fine, even though the CD has a computer/multimedia program on it)–Nero ignores the multimedia program, but other software can see it plainly. - If it’s a computer program that doesn’t play in a regular (stereo) CD player, then it could be encoded in any of a thousand or so ways–but it _could_ be just regular .wav’s, all compiled into one resource file. You would have to crack it with a resource tracer/disassembler and then edit the file with a hex editor. I _think_ SoftIce can do both, but I can’t figure out how to use it-??? I use W32Dasm [disassembler] and a hex editor Hview [hacker’s view, a hex editor]. Note: We’re in asm/machine-code territory here. * * * I have a cheap $5 sound effects password-protected CD that I am trying to crack just for fun (I bought it & I know the password), but have so far been unsuccessful. ~ ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/4 "2003-03-01T22:16:50Z")
One of the first things you can do is turn off auto-insert notification. (My Computer -\> Properties -\> Device Manager -\> Pick you CD drive -\> Properties, etc.) The second thing to do is not use Windows Explorer. (I use ACDC for file system browsing, I know, weird.) (I am making some default assumptions about OS, etc. Please be more informative in future posts.) ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/5 "2003-03-01T22:22:15Z")
It can play on regular (non-computer) CD players, so there must be audio tracks on it somewhere. I looked at the CD in WMP and again, all that shows up is the multimedia component. Changing the auto-insert option doesn’t have any effect. Oh, I’m using Win98. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/6 "2003-03-01T23:50:46Z")
[CDex](http://www.cdex.n3.net/) can play the audio tracks from a mixed-mode CD. And it’s freeware. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/7 "2003-03-02T04:05:34Z")
Well, the whole point is that I want to rip the audio tracks, or at the very least play them through WinAMP. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/accessing-music-tracks-on-mixed-cd/158446/8 "2003-03-02T07:37:24Z")
CDex is designed for ripping the tracks. A CD with both audio and data tracks is usually “CD Extra”. The data tracks are part of a separate session; CD players only look at the first session so they only see the audio tracks, but computers look at the last session and see the data track.