Question

How do I play .CDA files sent me as mail attachments or on a Windows made CD?

Asked by: JeepneyMan

I am unable to play voice-over .cda audio recordings sent me as email attachments or on a CD the operator also posted me as a back-up.

None of the six audio files sent as attachments will open using Flip4Macs plug in (WMV) which should work  through Quicktime. A dialog message says: 'Unable to play this movie file". They are not movie files, just plain audio files.

Similarly the backup CD containing the same tracks wont even mount in my eMacs superdrive.  The plater refuses to start up but it works fine with other inserted media.

The sender claims that they play on his PC where he formatted the recording just fine!

Please help its very urgent that I access these files.  Thank you to anyone who can respond!

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Asked On
2008-10-13 at 07:35:48ID23809564
Tags

Unsure

,

eMac G4 superdrive

,

CD / DVD player

,

WMV cant play this movie file

,

Quicktime Player

,

Easy CD/DA Extractor

Topics

Digital Music and Video

,

Streaming Media Players

,

DVD Players & Recorders

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-10-14 at 06:39:31ID: 22711152

 

by: JeepneyManPosted on 2008-10-14 at 08:43:22ID: 22712415

Thank you 'strung' for your help, which I appreciate. However I really need a concise authoritative reply rather than have to wade through loads of Googleisms! I want to understand what causes the problem and learn how best to solve it. The various software options discussed there don't explain why the CD wont fire up the drive when inserted either. Thanks again but I'll keep looking and asking...

 

by: JeepneyManPosted on 2008-10-17 at 06:55:32ID: 22740727

I'm a little dismayed that my minor difficulty (which is actually very important to me) has not attracted more attention from all this forum's boffins! I suppose its back to the text books and Google searches!

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-10-17 at 07:21:36ID: 22741070

The short answer is that neither Quicktime nor Flip4Mac support CDA. You need third party software to play .cda files which is why I suggested the Google search.

The CD drive may not fire up automatically because there is no file in a recognizable format on it. Can you open the CD in finder?

If you cannot open the CD in finder, likely the CD is in a format not recognized by your Mac.

Does your eMac have a superdrive or a combodrive? The former will read DVD's, but the latter won't.

 

by: MeretePosted on 2009-01-06 at 03:52:36ID: 23303472

Well as far as I know CDA will not play on anything if the person copied them off an audio disc.
CDA is the format for audio discs, you need to convert them off the audio disc to mp3.
Did you try to burn them back to a cd as CDA?
one way is to test the files in Gspot
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/GSpot
maybe it will just say unsupported format if so then you'll need to get back to the sender for good files
and originals

 

by: JeepneyManPosted on 2009-06-14 at 10:34:21ID: 31592278

I'm sorry but I've been ill and out of the loop for some time.  That's why this response remained unacknowledged for so long. The answer addressed both the reason for my difficulty, briefly explained the process  and provided a solution. Very grateful and thank you.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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