# Why doesn't my PowerBook recognize Purple Rain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280 "2007-02-07T22:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/1 "2007-02-07T22:55:43Z")
When I got my PowerBook a couple of years ago, I ripped most of my CD collection to iTunes. It all worked fine except for one disc: Prince’s _Purple Rain_. When I put that CD in the drive, it just spun for a while, but never showed up on the desktop or in iTunes – it’s like the computer didn’t know the disc was there. I had to reboot to get the drive to spit it out. Cut to Sunday after the Super Bowl. I remember that I haven’t uploaded PR to iTunes. I figure what the heck, I’ll try it again. Same thing happens – disc goes unrecognized, PowerBook needs to be restarted to rescue the disc. The CD plays fine in a normal CD player. It’s a store-bought copy of the album, released by Warner Bros, not something someone burned for me in an unusual format. What’s going on? I assume it’s a technical fluke, but what would cause this kind of behavior? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/2 "2007-02-07T23:02:56Z")
I’ve seen copy protection schemes that prevent a CD-ROM drive from recognizing that there’s a disc installed. Could be something like that. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/3 "2007-02-07T23:04:20Z")
[QUOTE=ultrafilter] I’ve seen copy protection schemes that prevent a CD-ROM drive from recognizing that there’s a disc installed. Could be something like that. [/QUOTE] Possible, but unlikely. I’ve never seen a CD copy protection that even works on the Mac. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/4 "2007-02-07T23:10:32Z")
Purple Rain was released a loooong time before any CD copy protection schemes were in use. And when they were (briefly) tried, it was only for new releases. As far as I know, no existing release was ever re-released with copy protection. Sometimes, due to slight damage or an error, a CD just Will Not Work in a particular player, even if it works fine in other ones. Try cleaning it with some warm water and a cotton cloth and see if it helps. It might just be a speck of dirt in a particularly sensitive place. ---
**Author:** ![SailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@SailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailBunny)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/5 "2007-02-07T23:26:42Z")
I just got the Talking Heads Brick collection for Christmas (all of their studio albums) and it does the same thing on my computer, which is disappointing because thats a lot of money for songs you cant save. I dont think it could be due to the age of the CDs as this seems liek a relatively recent set. I would also be curious to know why this happens. I am assuming copyright protection or whatever. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-doesnt-my-powerbook-recognize-purple-rain/391280/6 "2007-02-08T00:41:03Z")
Gosh, that brings back memories. My copy of Purple Rain wouldn’t work on my computers, either. It was _definitely_ before copy protection – the only ripping was to godawfulsized AIFF files, but the Mac made a good CD player. It’d never recognize Purple Rain, though. This was either a Colour Classic, Performa 636, Quadra 6400, or iMac Graphite. I don’t think I’ve tried it on anything newer. Now I’ll have to try digging it out of where ever it is in the basement, which is still cheaper than the $1.81 that [allofmp3.com](http://allofmp3.com) wants for it. (A quick look at my iTunes library confirms that I don’t have this album included to this day!)