Ubuntu
nautilus package

CD Drives and files not recognised

Asked by Dennis Primm

I want to apologise up front. I am not too Ubuntu/Linux literate (I felt great when I set up a dual boot system on this computer though), but I'm at wits end with this problem. You all will probably think "That idiot couldn't figure this out", but I'm having real difficulty with seeing the contents of my CDs after I've burned music to them. Here's what happened...

I have just burned three (3) each audio disks (identified as drive E: and F: in Windows) using Brasero (I burned 2 each CDs with that app) and CD/DVD Creator (I burned 1 each CD with that app). After burning, I removed the disks from the drive and reinserted them and a music player did not open after I inserted them (like what would happen in Microsoft Windows), nor could I find/see the CD Drives or the contents thereof in Nautilus (if that is the same as the "Home Folder" at the top of Unity). I am an idiot when it comes to command line stuff, so if you can help me, please spell it out like you would with a baby :-)). I can usually get what I want done without the command line using common sense.

Why can't I see the drive or its contents? Oh, BTW, when I insert a blank CD, you can see it then (the computer recognises it). It's just after I burned music to them that it doesn't recognise it or appear on the desktop or in the Home Folder.

Your help would be much appreciated as I'd like to keep using Ubuntu more than Microsoft products.

Sincerely,

Dennis S. Primm
<email address hidden>

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mycae
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mycae (mycae) said : 		#1

Audio CDs are not formatted to be read by a computer. These utilise a different storage technique (called PCM) for storing the audio data -- this is not filesystem, and thus there are no "files" or "filenames" etc.

You can use an audio playing tool to play the audio CD, such as any of the players listed here (actually this is a little old -- XMMS is no longer available).

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ubuntu-media-players-overview.html

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Dennis Primm (dennis-primm) said : 		#2

I tried installing Beep as instructed, but here is the response I received when I entered the command in terminal:

dennis@ubuntu:~$ sudo aptitude install beep-media-player
[sudo] password for dennis:
sudo: aptitude: command not found
dennis@ubuntu:~$

I also have one other question... After this program is loaded, will I be able to see the CD contents in Brasero or any other player/burner, or is Beep the only one which will allow me to view the contents of the CD? The reason I ask is what if I burn a CD and want to add/burn other songs to it later on?

Please note, I'm surprised that there isn't anything in Ubuntu that will recognise the content of CD's when they are inserted and loaded in the drive, and the system will know it's a Libre or Open Office document, or an audio CD and then give you an option of which program you'd like to use (as it does in Windows). It does it with the blank CD, but I'm so used to WIndows that it's hard for an old dog like me to change I guess.

I want to thank you so much in advance for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Dennis S. Primm
<email address hidden>

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Dennis Primm (dennis-primm) said : 		#3

Additionally, I have Banshee installed, but I don't know how to import the contents of the disk to into a playlist or the program.

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mycae (mycae) said : 		#4

Banshee should automatically identify the CD when you insert it in the drive, and it should appear in the left hand device panel.

Do you have a retail audio CD that you can test with?

Revision history for this message
Dennis Primm (dennis-primm) said : 		#5

Shaaaazam! It worked with a brand new CD (Frank Sinatra from my belated Mom's music library - It has never been used and the film cover had never been removed from the CD pack, plus I didn't listen to any songs either ;-) ). The computer recognised the CD and Banshee opened, and then I looked at the desktop and the Audio icon appeared! Hallelujah!
I also went to Media menu and found that I could import from location and found the CD when the dialog box opened. I guess you have to have .cda format for this to work correctly, is that correct? Because the other CD's that I had burned were .mp3 and (duh!) .wma files.

Now, for a last question. How can I import music with pure .mp3 file format into Banshee or whatever other program you suggest? If it's not possible, then I'll convert all the mp3's to cda's and be done with it. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

I sure do appreciate your help. I thought I was going crazy. Your a lifesaver!!!

Sincerely,

Dennis

Revision history for this message
Best mycae (mycae) said : 		#6

>I guess you have to have .cda format for this to work correctly, is that correct? Because the other CD's that I had
>burned were .mp3 and (duh!) .wma files.

I'm not convinced this is the problem. If you burned a CD, and it is not showing up in the file manager, then when the CD was burnt, this should have converted it on-the-fly to CD audio. It should then behave similarly to the retail CD.

Alternately, if you burnt it as a data CD, then this should have constructed a filesystem, and thus be visible in the file manager (though it may not launch by default), with each track (presumably) a separate file. If you open nautilus with one of your burnt CDs, do you see anything that resembles a CD in the left hand panel?

Note that audio CDs can only hold up to 80 minutes of audio, so if you have more audio on the CD than this, its probably not in an audio CD format.

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Dennis Primm (dennis-primm) said : 		#7

Dear mycae,

I really appreciate your help on this one. It's got me stumped too. I am satisfied with the resolution of putting in a retail disk and it working as it should, but I am really confused about why the disks I burned won't show up and when I went to the Media menu I could not get to the CD, I could only search files or folders. It's really a mess.

If later on you can think about anything that might be causing this, then please do not hesitate to contact me at:

<email address hidden>

I'll try converting my mp3 albums to CDA and then burning to CD's and see if that will work. I'm an old fart who's trying to learn a new OS and really appreciate any help you can provide.

Thank you so much...

Regards.

Dennis

Revision history for this message
Dennis Primm (dennis-primm) said : 		#8

BTW, I had plenty of remaining space left on the CDs after burning.