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Not-so-great Combo drive in the Mini?

G

GanChan

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 21, 2005
617
27
I was ripping some mp3s with my new Mini yesterday when I noticed that it just doesn't want to play a couple of my CDs -- it "chews" on them for a while, but no icon appears, and eventually it spits them out. Now, one of these CDs is scratched and tends to play kind of glitchy on other drives, but it does play on them, or it did once upon a time. The other CD isn't scratched and I've never had trouble with it on other CD drives, though it does look kind of usual in that there's a kind of "empty" band a few millimeters wide toward the outer edge of the disc (just the way it was printed I guess).

Does the Mini have an unusually finicky combo drive in it? Should I be concerned that there might be a mechanical problem? I've tried 15 or so other CDs (and DVDs) and they play fine.
 
GanChan said:
I was ripping some mp3s with my new Mini yesterday when I noticed that it just doesn't want to play a couple of my CDs -- it "chews" on them for a while, but no icon appears, and eventually it spits them out. Now, one of these CDs is scratched and tends to play kind of glitchy on other drives, but it does play on them, or it did once upon a time. The other CD isn't scratched and I've never had trouble with it on other CD drives, though it does look kind of usual in that there's a kind of "empty" band a few millimeters wide toward the outer edge of the disc (just the way it was printed I guess).

Does the Mini have an unusually finicky combo drive in it? Should I be concerned that there might be a mechanical problem? I've tried 15 or so other CDs (and DVDs) and they play fine.
Click to expand...
The first CD sounds like a scratch problem. The second one sounds like a copy-protected CD problem.

What band is on that 2nd CD? Let us know who it is and what country you're from, so others can avoid that CD (and the artist) in the future.

BTW, if it is copy protection, I've read that using a Sharpie around the outer edge will defeat the copy protection. Note that I've never seen one of these CDs nor have I tried the Sharpie trick. I take zero responsibility if your CD or mini gets damaged.

BTW2, in case you didn't know, a Sharpie is a brand of permanent ink marker.
 
ftaok said:
The first CD sounds like a scratch problem. The second one sounds like a copy-protected CD problem.

What band is on that 2nd CD? Let us know who it is and what country you're from, so others can avoid that CD (and the artist) in the future.

BTW, if it is copy protection, I've read that using a Sharpie around the outer edge will defeat the copy protection. Note that I've never seen one of these CDs nor have I tried the Sharpie trick. I take zero responsibility if your CD or mini gets damaged.

BTW2, in case you didn't know, a Sharpie is a brand of permanent ink marker.
Click to expand...

It's Roy Orbison, "Mystery Girl." You may very well be right about the copy protection, and it might explain that strange, data-less outer edge of the playing surface. Maybe if someone else here has this CD they can give it a spin and see what happens. But it doesn't just fail to rip to mp3 -- the Combo drive can't even read or recognize it!

I have some other old classical recordings that I'm afraid to even put into the Mini because they're showing signs of "bronzing," that is, the solvents in their adhesives are going bad and the discs are corroding.
 
GanChan,

A copy-protected CD will fail to mount. That seems to be the problem with that Ray Orbison CD. You didn't mention what country you're from. Many times, CDs in one country will have copy protection while the same album in another country won't.
 
ftaok said:
GanChan,

A copy-protected CD will fail to mount. That seems to be the problem with that Ray Orbison CD. You didn't mention what country you're from. Many times, CDs in one country will have copy protection while the same album in another country won't.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I'm in the U.S. I know there are lots of copy-protected albums in the U.S., but I think this is the first one I've ever gotten. I actually got it about 10 years ago, through the BMG record club (they press their own copies for distribution to club members and have been accused of sometimes using shoddy materials/production), and the album itself has been around for longer than that if I recall correctly. How many years has CD copy protection been going on?...Also, I just realized: I successfully ripped this album on my Quicksilver at work about a year ago!

EDIT: Correction, it was my old iMac. I wasn't using iTunes then, so maybe the copy protection works through iTunes.
 
GanChan said:
Sorry, I'm in the U.S. I know there are lots of copy-protected albums in the U.S., but I think this is the first one I've ever gotten. I actually got it about 10 years ago, through the BMG record club (they press their own copies for distribution to club members and have been accused of sometimes using shoddy materials/production), and the album itself has been around for longer than that if I recall correctly. How many years has CD copy protection been going on?...Also, I just realized: I successfully ripped this album on my Quicksilver at work about a year ago!

EDIT: Correction, it was my old iMac. I wasn't using iTunes then, so maybe the copy protection works through iTunes.
Click to expand...
If the album is 10 years old, it's unlikely that it's copy protected. Must be some other problem with the CD.
 
ftaok said:
If the album is 10 years old, it's unlikely that it's copy protected. Must be some other problem with the CD.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised it the CD's "gone bad". CDs do not have an infinite lifetime and ones made with shoddy techniques and materials will die even sooner. I've had a handful of CDs that I've owned for over 10 years and they no longer work in any of my players and have no scratches.
 
ftaok said:
If the album is 10 years old, it's unlikely that it's copy protected. Must be some other problem with the CD.
Click to expand...

Then it must be that weird band around the edge of the disc; something non-standard about this CD is making the Mini spit it out. Either that, or (I fear) the Mini is just wayyy too sensitive to minor scratches or defects that don't affect other drives or players.

Or my drive is defective. But if that were true, my other discs wouln't play either....

Has anyone else had any trouble with their Mini being picky about CDs?
 
Try another computer agian

Do you have access to another computer where you could rip and re-create another CD to try on the Mini.

Or transfer the files from the other computer...
 
rjphoto said:
Do you have access to another computer where you could rip and re-create another CD to try on the Mini.

Or transfer the files from the other computer...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I can do that. I'm just wondering how paranoid I should be about this Mini having some kind of possible defect. I guess if it plays other CDs, it's fine.
 
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