Why does Windows 7 play audio CDs at such a high spin speed?

[Saab Dastard]

Why does Windows 7 play audio CDs at such a high spin speed? As soon as playback starts, the CD spins up very fast.

The same PC with the same CD drive using XP SP3 and the Win2K CD player makes no sound at all from the CD drive during playback - the only indication that the drive is in use is the blinking LED. The CD drive is connected to a SB audigy sound card using an internal SPDIF cable.

My hardware has not changed at all, so what has changed in Win 7 and how can I adjust it?

It's crazy to have the CD drive spinning like a dervish just to play a CD, especially as it was perfect with XP.

Thanks for any assistance, I'm stumped right now!

SD

[Spurlash2]

Copy the CD to your hard drive and play it from there. That'll keep your CD drive fairly silent

[Booglebox]

Dastard.. you and your SPDIF cables....

Rimhill::Reduce CD-ROM Speed - The SZ may be useful.

[Saab Dastard]

Booglebox, thanks for that link. I had also looked at Nero DriveSpeed, which seems to do a similar thing.

Has anyone had experience +/- of using either of them?

But what I'm trying to find out is the difference between XP and Win 7 in what controls the drive speed and why Win 7 doesn't do it properly.

SD

[mixture]

Have you checked drivers ? Some drives (e.g. I've seen ones in Toshiba laptops) require a specific "noise-reducing" driver.

[bnt]

Is it playing in Windows Media Player ? Sounds to me as if it's playing the CD in Digital mode i.e. the PC is extracting the data and processing it, instead of just playing it in CD audio mode. Can you do the following?
- run Windows Media Player with no CD in (so it starts straight in to Library mode), then insert an audio CD;
- stop the playback, and open Tools -> Options;
- on the Devices tab, select your CD/DVD device and hit the "Properties" button
- In the window that pops up, you should see options for Playback (Digital or Analog): select Analog if possible, then OK, OK, and restart WMP.

In the case of my new laptop (a few months old), Analog is greyed out, so it can only play Audio CDs in Digital mode. It doesn't spin too fast, though. Exactly how it behaves depends on the hardware you have. I remember an older drive going nuts when set to Digital playback in XP.

[Loose rivets]

Reading a CD in Analog mode??!!

When I had a MB with a hi-falootin' sound system, I found a CD copy of Stan Kenton's LP that I still have, but purchased in about 1959. I knew it well enough to know I was listening to the exact rendition. (he'd re-recorded so much stuff over the years and much of it sounded the same-ish) However, after my initial euphoria, I realized something was still not right.

If I say that I timed the playback, it would give some idea what worried me. It was as though it was a tad too fast, a smidgin sharp, and just not quite right. However, the playback agreed with the time on the sleeve of the CD.

I'm in a seaside flat, and my young landlady has left a big system with Warfdale speakers. The amp is , but I intended to swap for my huge old Panasonic. Only problem is the weight of the thing! Then, all I have to do is find the record. I think my noisy-aircraft-damaged ears will still be able to make the comparisons I need to satisfy a mounting curiosity.

However, the vinal has been played . . . a lot, and to think there might be another way to play the same CD really intrigues me. Could it be there's a player - full sized one - that could overcome the disappointing affects I've experienced with modern media?

[MacBoero]

Loose Rivets, most of the twin CD players targeted at DJ'ing have a pitch adjust slider, so you can alter the playback speed. The fidelity of the audio might not be to your liking though.

For example:
CDN22 RackMount Dual CD Player Free Delivery : CD Players : Maplin

[vulcanised]

My CD player has a similar 'feature' in that it runs nearly silent for most CDs, yet one or two regularly provoke it into jet engine mode.

[Saab Dastard]

Thanks all for the suggestions, I had looked for but could not find any drivers for either the Sony or Pioneer drives. However, there is more recent frimware (for both), which I have tried on the Sony.

Interestingly, the result of that was to provoke the same - undesirable - behaviour on XP!

Reverted the firmware and restored config. and it's quiet again (in XP).

The suggestions have provoked a few more thoughts, so I have a few more things to try.

SD

[Saab Dastard]

Update -

I logged a call with MS support about the inability to select Analog playback for any optical drive (4 different drives from 3 different manufacturers on 2 different PCs) in Win 7.

MS have now admitted it's a problem (the support team can't select Analog playback on their test PCs either) and that they now have a research team looking into it.

It's only taken 2 weeks, several emails and phone calls to get this far, but now I'm cautiously optimistic that this might actually get resolved!

SD

[ian16th]

If M$oft have admitted that they can reproduce the problem, you are in with a very good chance of a fix!

I'll keep an eye open on this thread.