Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

MACDEE · May 31, 2003, 12:46 AM

Help. Is this a problem with the drive or software or what?? Put in a music CD that plays just fine on Stereo system but Powermac doesn't even recognise the disc is in and won't play. PC plays the CD fine. 99% of CD's are played just fine in the Apple. Is this a Cd that the G4 has a problem with (need a software patch or something). This is an original music CD.
Thanks for your help.
JR

superlarry · May 31, 2003, 05:44 AM

it could be one of those stupid new copy-protected cd's. check the case and the disc itself to see if there's a "cd audio" label anywhere - if not, then it's copy protected (i guess phillips, the company that standardized the cd, won't allow protected cd's to bear the logo).
what cd is it? maybe someone here will know whether or not that particular cd is copy protected.

D'Espice · May 31, 2003, 12:06 PM

If it's just one CD your Mac has problems with then it's probably a copy-protected CD. There are several ways in order to achieve that, one of'em allows the CDs to be played on PCs but not Macs. I think it's called Cactus2000 or something like that.

MACDEE · Jun 2, 2003, 06:16 AM

Thanks for your help people. I will have a look at the CD when I next have it. Will look for any copy protection logos etc.
JR

Angus_D · Jun 2, 2003, 11:07 AM

Most CDs unfortunately don't advertise the fact that they are copy protected.

BrettOZ · Jun 2, 2003, 10:11 PM

That is just not fair to the consumer - it should be disclosed that it is copy protected!

Has anyone found a way to rip these copy protected discs to MP3 on a Mac?

mr. natural · Jun 2, 2003, 10:56 PM

I had a similar problem with my 867 DP not reading certain cds, but in no way was this a copy protection issue -- they were old cds, and they showed up on another mac I have. It was a slight mis-alignment in the laser and so I had the cd rom drive replaced under warranty. No problems since then.

MACDEE · Jun 7, 2003, 01:00 AM

The CD in question is 4 years old. I am assuming this is a CD-Rom issue? I will take the machine back if this is a recurring problem with other discs. I have already swapped my 20 inch LCD once and am about to do so again for dead pixels. I don't want to be too much of a menace at the store I am dealing with although I suspect I already am!
JR

Kenneth · Jun 7, 2003, 02:41 AM

I assumed it is the optical drive issue. You are not alone.. my FW800 DP 1.25 Combo (Philips CDD5301) got the same problem.

MACDEE · Jun 7, 2003, 03:34 AM

I recently ran a hardware test using the mac hardware cd. Everything passed. Could the optical drive still be at fault?
Thanks for your help.
JR

Angus_D · Jun 7, 2003, 05:33 AM

Originally posted by MACDEE:
I recently ran a hardware test using the mac hardware cd. Everything passed. Could the optical drive still be at fault?

Yes.

Cipher13 · Jun 7, 2003, 11:11 AM

It's probably the disc.