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[jclarkes]

I've been using JRiver MC21 with Windows 8.1 Pro on a Lenovo ThinkCentre m93p Tiny Small Form Factor PC.  I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro recently and was no longer able to access CDA files directly from the CD, from another drive over the LAN or when copied to the Desktop.  The JRiver error message read "Nothing to Play" when attempting to access the disk drive or the file share, although the CDA files were visible in File Explorer.  WAV files and iTunes files stored on the file share were accessible and could be played by JRiver.  I reinstalled MC21 and downloaded Lenovo hardware updates but still couldn't play the CDA files.

Resetting the PC to the Windows 8.1  factory defaults restored full functionality to JRiver MC21.  What is going wrong?  How can I continue play CDs after upgrading to Windows 10 Pro?  Thanks.

[CountryBumkin]

I don't know much about this Audio stuff - but Googling I found this:

CDA is actually not a file format nor it contains any information at all. CDA stands for Compact Disk Audio, it represents a shortcut of audio track from a Windows perspective. In reality, it does not have any music file in it but only track time and length. This is the main reason why copying an audio CD into your computer and playing it afterwards without the CD will return CDA playback error.

Luckily, you can still copy the sound tracks in a CD by converting CDA files into popular audio formats such as MP3. Though, extracting the actual music content and transforming it into a playable format is deemed to be impossible without the help of CDA file to MP3 converter.


Also in that thread I quoted, one person said you can just rename the file "cda" to" mp3" and then it will play.

[jclarkes]

Good point.  I'm still not sure why JRiver is playing CDs in Windows 8 but doesn't do it in Windows 10.  Has anyone else run into this problem?

[CountryBumkin]

The quote said the cda was like a "shortcut" to the CD file. Maybe when you switched to Win10 you lost the "shortcut path". If that's even possible, I don't know.
Another possibility is that Win10 doesn't have some built-in feature that Win8 had. Maybe an update or app would be the solution.


There are a lot of audio experts on this forum - now that it is after 6pm (and they're getting home from work) I'm sure they will be checking this forum and will provide you help. Bump this thread if you don't any response by tomorrow.

Good luck

[ferday]

if the .cda is on a drive, it will only play if the CD is in the deck.  you cannot rename a .cda to .mp3 and have it play...it's a pointer file and doesn't contain audio information per se (they are all 44 bytes, and contain the track length info and a "shortcut" to the .wav)

how are you trying to access the CD via JRiver?  Through drives&devices, or entering the CD and playing it via the pop up menu...etc.?

[jclarkes]

There hasn't been a pop-up that I'm aware of.  I've been trying to access the CD (in Windows 10) via Drives & Devices but there's nothing there.  Auto-Import also fails to find any of the files.  I'm a little concerned this is a Lenovo issue - unless there's a simple JRiver fix...

[ferday]

when JRiver is open, just open / close the CD drive with the disc inside and you should get a pop-up window asking what you want to do with the CD

if you want to access the files themselves (import) you'll need to rip the CD contents, but JRiver normally plays CD's fine...i haven't had any issues with Win 10 myself on a cheap Lenovo to just play a disc...

[jclarkes]

Thanks - more things to try.  I'll need to re-upgrade to Windows 10 to try them.  Do you have an underlying theory?

Since I've noticed I did not get a pop-up when ejecting and reinserting a CD in Windows 8 but the track list appeared and the disc played when found in Drives & Devices. 

[JimH]

To play a CD,
Start MC
Insert the CD
If  you get a message with 3 choices, choose play
Otherwise Open Drives and Devices in the tree on the left
Select the CD drive
Press the Play button in the upper left corner

[jclarkes]

**Solution**  I was able to inelegantly solve the problem and can now play CDs using JRiver Media Center 21 on Windows 8 and Windows 10 on my Lenovo.

The Lenovo PC came with Cyberlink PowerDVD pre-installed.  Even though it wasn't set as the default media player, it seemed to be considered the default player for some CDs.  Once opened, no CDs could be played using JRiver from that point on.

Uninstalling PowerDVD alone did not fix the problem.  A full PC reset of Windows 8 or Windows 10 followed by uninstalling PowerDVD before doing anything else seemed to fix the issue.  Note that PowerDVD was re-installed by the Windows 10 upgrade.

I also discovered that Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" CD reads as a "Mixed Media" source by Windows, not a "CD Audio" file.  In particular, this CD seemed to favor PowerDVD when double-clicked from File Explorer.

Thanks for the help.