CD drive plays sound off CD-ROMs but not CDs. Huh?

Factual Questions
1

I have a DVD/CD drive and a CDRW drive. I don’t use the CDRW much, but I’ve noticed that it does the strangest thing. If I put in a backup CD-ROM (data disc) I’ve made with audio files on it, they will play. If I put an audio CD in the same drive, it runs but no sound comes out. I have digital playback enabled for that drive, so the sound ought to come out of the IDE cable, no? It isn’t connected to the sound card, the DVD drive is.

Why would it play sound from one kind of disc but not another? Can anyone think of what I might do about it? I’ve just tested it again, and none of the mixer settings enable CD sound from that drive, but it plays CD-ROMs just fine - so it’s not random.

Thanks.

2

If you’re playing audio files, it means the drive is reading data off as normal, and it’s being decoded by Winamp or whatever. Nothing different than reading images, programs, etc.

If you’re actually playing an audio CD, it’s in a completely different mode. IIRC, digital audio is provided via a separate 2-pin connector on the back of the CDROM (regular analogue audio being 3 or 4 pin).

Have you tried turning off digital playback?

3

Thanks for responding. Yes, I’ve disabled it, but it makes no difference whether it’s on or off.

4

Have you tried to patch into the sound subsystem directly via the 4-pin analog cable?

5

As Nanoda said, “digital playback” for a music CD means that the audio signal uses the drive’s two-wire SPDIF cable to the sound card, rather than the four-wire analog cable. The IDE cable is not involved in regular audio playback of a music CD, except to send commands (play/pause/stop/skip/eject, etc). ISTR there are some software packages that can do a simultaneous rip-and-play via the IDE cable, but this isn’t what normally happens with CD-playing software.

Does the drive in question have any signal cables (2-wire SPDIF or four-wire red/black/black/white analog) connected to the sound card or motherboard? If so, is the relevant input selected in the sound card’s mixer panel? If one or other of these conditions is not met, you’re not going to be able to play the CD with standard music-CD-playing software.

Red book audio CDs are very different beasts from data CDs, which is why one “rips” them rather than just copying files.

6

Are you guys sure about this? I haven’t connected the 4-pin audio cable to a drive in ages and I never even knew about the 2-pin SPDIF, yet both my drives can play Redbook CDs just fine through Windows Media Player with digital playback enabled. Is it stealthily doing a rip-and-play behind the scenes?

7

There doesn’t seem to be another 4-pin connector on the sound card. Its mixer shows an input for A/V, but I can’t find where to plug anything else into the sound card. I’m using a Turtle Beach Riviera card, and the only 4-pin connector on it is taken up by the DVD drive. I believe SP/DIF is an option on my motherboard, but it wasn’t included.

I master CDs as part of my job, so I’m familiar with Red Book standards, etc.

8

My computer has 2 CD drives, but only one of them is connected to the computer audio system. A music CD played in that drive will produce sound; the same CD in the other player won’t. I presume I could do wiring or setup changes to my PC to make both work, but I’ve never bothered.

And both of them work as data drives.