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List:       kde-linux
Subject:    [kde-linux] Unable to play audio CDs in Kubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04)
From:       Bruce Miller <subscribe () brmiller ! ca>
Date:       2010-01-02 5:28:59
Message-ID: 565129.73663.qm () web88304 ! mail ! re4 ! yahoo ! com
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Trying to listen to audio CDs in the alpha versions of Kubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04) is \
proving an exercise in frustration. I am acutely aware of the standard caveats about \
not using developmental versions of distros for "production purposes." Still, nothing \
beats "in-the-wild" testing.

My big Core 2 Duo system is currently down. For the time being, I am using an older \
P4 machine. It has built-in a DVD-ROM (/dev/scd0) and a CD-ROM (/dev/scd1) as well as \
an external DVD-RW (/dev/scd2). All three drives are, ahem, well used, but I do not \
suspect hardware failure. I tested with three store-purchased, new, scratch-free CDs. \
k3b recognized the load of an audio CD into each drive and correctly looked up the \
freedb metadata for each CD. I'm not having optical drive read problems.

But I have so far been unable to actually play an audio CD in this environment. \
Amarok 2.2 is supposed to support audio CDs. Whereas the automounter and the system \
notification both acknowledge the loading of an audio CD into /dev/scd0 \
(/media/cdrom), Amarok reports that it has zero tracks. Since it reports zero tracks, \
it plays nothing.

kscd (which has a fancy new interface) behaves even more weirdly. When I put the \
audio CD into the plainest CD-ROM drive, that is, dev/scd1 (/media/cdrom1, kscd read \
the track list and pulled down the freedb metadata. However, when I hit play, it \
complained "no disk." When I hit eject, the draw opened on the external DV-RW drive \
(/dev/scd2). When I put the CD into /dev/scd0 (the presumed default), the track list \
came up blank, hitting play produced a "no disk" complaint, hitting eject again \
opened /dev/scd2. Putting the CD into /dev/scd2 again brought up a blank track list, \
nothing happened when I hit play, and hitting eject at least opened the drawer \
containing the CD. The kscd config file is buried deep in the ~/.kde tree, but it \
appears to have no provision to define the optical drive to be used.

Although not a KDE application, I have had similar frustration with ripperX. Now that \
grip is no longer included in the repositories, I am looking for a ripper/encoder \
which allows the user to: (1) define the format for naming folders and files; (2) \
calls musicbrainz.org for tag data; and (3), allows the user to set precise encoding \
parameters.  Extensive Googling suggested that ripperX does not allow quite the \
precise level of control that grip did, but it comes closer than anything else. \
However, regardless of which drive I tried putting the audio CDs in, ripperX \
consistently complained that it could not find an audio CD. Like kscd, the config \
file, ~/.ripperXrc appears to lack provision to define the optical drive to be used.

All this is enough to drive a user back to ExactAudioCopy --- a one man effort which \
stands out as evidence that some Windows applications reflect the Unix philosophy of \
doing one small task and doing it very well. No, I am not about to abandon Linux \
after ten years of enthusiastic use, but this has been a *_very frustrating_* day \
(see also my message about printing from KDE applications).

Before I file bugs at Launchpad (the Kubuntu bug tracker) and on the KDE Bugzilla, I \
would be interested to know if others have noted a similar problem.

I will be posting this message on ubuntuforums.org, kubuntuforums.net and to the \
                kde-linux mailing list.
 --
Bruce Miller, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
bruce@brmiller.ca; (613) 745-1151


A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned \
                to walk forward.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

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