Members rasputin1963 Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 I have a question: You know, when you've burned some audio tracks onto a playable CD, the tracks thenceforth take the file extension *.cda Why can't you copy & paste those tracks onto your hard drive, directly into playable tracks? It appears that the *.cda extension is just a labelling nomenclature; it does not contain the (musical audio) data. What's up with this? How can I losslessly get those tracks back into a playable (computer) format? In other words, I don't want the rip to be RE-COMPRESSED, further lowering the quality of the recording. This is a total n00B question, so don't hate! ras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 12, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 12, 2011 A .cda file doesn't have any audio. It's just a Windows indexing file. Track01.cda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted October 12, 2011 Moderators Share Posted October 12, 2011 Do you have Sound Forge? iTunes? I like Sound Forge for this. You control what format you save it in. So you rip in Sound Forge and "save as" at 44.1/16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nat whilk II Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 I just rip losslessly using Windows Media Player. Under the "More Options" tab - at least in the WMP version I'm using. Should be easy to find in any version. iTunes will also rip lossless - just find the options menu for that stuff. Just stick the CD in the 'puter and rip away....easy as cake. nat whilk ii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 A .cda file doesn't have any audio. It's just a Windows indexing file. Track01.cda Right. The Redbook CD format is a whole different disk data format than a CD ROM, which uses a variant on standard computer file systems. The data must be extracted (ripped) and put into a computer-friendly format -- which is not nearly as straightforward a process as copying data from one computer file to another. I did not know SoundForge could rip CDs. I've been using WinLame with the output set to WAV but there are ripping programs that try to do error checking that I've used in the past; they'll check the rip against the original as a double check. If you're looking for a lossless storage format suitable for storing audio files to hard drive or CD-R and DVD-R optical disks, you might consider FLAC, or, alternately, ALAC (aka AL, Apple Lossless, Apple Lossless Audio Codec), which can give a data size reduction approaching 45%-50% without permanently losing any audio data -- so when such files are played back using a player with the appropriate codec plugged in, the audio should be identical to the full size file one started with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 iTunes will also extract CD audio to uncompressed PCM (WAV or AIFF). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 I'm still using Pyro 2004 edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 Any way to losslessly rip a CD track? WaveLab and many digital audio poduction software Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Chappell Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 WaveLab and many digital audio poduction software +1 for WaveLab (now cross-platform for Windows and Mac). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted October 12, 2011 Author Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 Right. The Redbook CD format is a whole different disk data format than a CD ROM, which uses a variant on standard computer file systems. The data must be extracted (ripped) and put into a computer-friendly format -- which is not nearly as straightforward a process as copying data from one computer file to another.I did not know SoundForge could rip CDs. I've been using WinLame with the output set to WAV but there are ripping programs that try to do error checking that I've used in the past; they'll check the rip against the original as a double check.If you're looking for a lossless storage format suitable for storing audio files to hard drive or CD-R and DVD-R optical disks, you might consider FLAC, or, alternately, ALAC (aka AL, Apple Lossless, Apple Lossless Audio Codec), which can give a data size reduction approaching 45%-50% without permanently losing any audio data -- so when such files are played back using a player with the appropriate codec plugged in, the audio should be identical to the full size file one started with. Now I need to know which audio formats are permissible when burning a (playable, non-data storage) audio CD-ROM. MP3, WAV.... are there others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 Now I need to know which audio formats are permissible when burning a (playable, non-data storage) audio CD-ROM. MP3, WAV.... are there others? ISO 9660 standard made CD-ROM play on Mac as well Windows operating system. Certain CD and DVD player also play MP3. You burn this mp3 simply on the CD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Agitator Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 Now I need to know which audio formats are permissible when burning a (playable, non-data storage) audio CD-ROM. MP3, WAV.... are there others? I think you're confused with your nomenclature. If it's playable, it's not a CD-ROM. It's an audio CD (different format as explained above). In all audio CD's, the actual digital audio data is (IIRC) in LPCM format (the same raw format used in WAV and AIFF files). In terms of burning playable audio CDs, it depends on what software you use to burn them. E.g., many programs will allow you to burn from MP3 and other formats because they convert the compressed MP3 data into LPCM before burning it. There are extensions available for some programs (e.g. Nero) that will allow you to burn directly from formats like FLAC without expanding them into WAV first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 Now I need to know which audio formats are permissible when burning a (playable, non-data storage) audio CD-ROM. MP3, WAV.... are there others? Basically 16/44.1k PCM audio. If your CD burning program appears to support audio CDs using other formats, it's because it is converting the files silently in the background before burning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members A. Einstein Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 also depends on what device you playback the CD, media players play almost anything what's on the compact disc. A CD-ROM is also a compact disc format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 I think you're confused with your nomenclature. If it's playable, it's not a CD-ROM. It's an audio CD (different format as explained above). In all audio CD's, the actual digital audio data is (IIRC) in LPCM format (the same raw format used in WAV and AIFF files). In terms of burning playable audio CDs, it depends on what software you use to burn them. E.g., many programs will allow you to burn from MP3 and other formats because they convert the compressed MP3 data into LPCM before burning it. There are extensions available for some programs (e.g. Nero) that will allow you to burn directly from formats like FLAC without expanding them into WAV first. The above is pretty much the answer you're looking for, Ras. A CD-R can be burned as a number of different things. I believe you are interested in burning an audio CD, correct? One that will play in an audio CD player (car, boombox, etc.)? With an audio CD, you can have various file formats and burn it into an audio CD. Some of these formats, such as MP3, are lossy. Since you're asking about non-lossy formats, you'd want to import a CD using a non-lossy format (WAV, AIFF, etc.), and then presumably use those files instead of MP3s (again, lossy) to burn your audio CD...if that's what you're trying to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zooey Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 With an audio CD, you can have various file formats and burn it into an audio CD. If you remember back to the early days of CD burning, you most certainly could not "have various file formats and burn it to an audio CD." The only reason you can do it now is because CD burning apps are kind enough to perform the necessary conversions in the background for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 If you remember back to the early days of CD burning, you most certainly could not "have various file formats and burn it to an audio CD." The only reason you can do it now is because CD burning apps are kind enough to perform the necessary conversions in the background for you. Yep. Just to put a finer point on Ken's advice, you want to use the best copy you have that your burning software can use. So if you have the original WAV or AIFF file, use that. If your burning software uses mp3 and all you have is an mp3, don't bother converting that back 'up' to a wav file because the damage is already done. (It probably won't be aggravated by the up-conversion process, but it won't be improved.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 12, 2011 Members Share Posted October 12, 2011 also depends on what device you playback the CD, media players play almost anything what's on the compact disc.A CD-ROM is also a compact disc format.[bold added for focus] Not really. Many media players (software and hardware) will try to play various audio formats or even VCD (so-called video CD) if they have the appropriate codec and associations. But there are lots of things that can end up on a CD-ROM/CD-R data disc that don't mean jack to a media player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted October 13, 2011 Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 If you remember back to the early days of CD burning, you most certainly could not "have various file formats and burn it to an audio CD." The only reason you can do it now is because CD burning apps are kind enough to perform the necessary conversions in the background for you. Yes. I answered in this manner only because it's a problem for Ras now, not in the early days of CD burning. And B2B, agreed, it's not worth converting back "up" to a lossless file in the scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Beck Posted October 13, 2011 Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 Any way to losslessly rip a CD track? Wazzup with a *.cda file? Windows Media Player 11 and up is probably most readily available to anyone using Windows. You can rip to lossless wav file, which is about as close to the actual audio that's on the CD as you can get. But as already pointed out there are many programs you can use to rip the CD-DA track. And yep, the .cda file you can see is only a shortcut to the digital audio you can't see from your PC. Wav files are pretty universal and once you have it in that format you can easily convert to mp3 or anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted October 13, 2011 Members Share Posted October 13, 2011 I have a question:You know, when you've burned some audio tracks onto a playable CD, the tracks thenceforth take the file extension *.cdaWhy can't you copy & paste those tracks onto your hard drive, directly into playable tracks?It appears that the *.cda extension is just a labelling nomenclature; it does not contain the (musical audio) data.What's up with this?Windows is lying to you. There are no *.cda files on the CD. When you insert an audio CD Windows creates temporary imaginary filenames for the audio tracks on the CD. When you attempt to drag the files onto a hard drive you are effectively calling the operating system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted October 15, 2011 Members Share Posted October 15, 2011 Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is a wonderful free ripper if you are doing a bunch of them. Just rip to a .WAV file if you want it lossless. You can get it here:http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/en/index.php/resources/download/ I usually use it to rip CDs to 320Kb VBR mp3. It's set up to let me select a folder to put it in (such as mp3lues) then it'll create a folder for the artist (e.g., Keb Mo) and a folder inside that for each album title. It pulls in CDBB metedata (song titles & stuff) and also hunts the web for album art. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members philbo Posted October 15, 2011 Members Share Posted October 15, 2011 Now I need to know which audio formats are permissible when burning a (playable, non-data storage) audio CD-ROM. MP3, WAV.... are there others? playable, non-data storage audio CD-ROM: There is only the .CDA file, redbook audio CD. Nero can make an audio CD with an extra partition that also allows you to store some data, such as artwork & compressed audio. But an audio CD is just that, and only that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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