Re: [gentoo-user] Re: kaudiocreator still giving me fits - added info

[Benno Schulenberg <benno.schulenberg@gmail.com>]

Colleen Beamer wrote:
> 2) I was successfully able to burn a data CD in KDE 3.5 with k3b

Writing normally occurs at a lower speed than reading.  When mine 
was dying, reading a CD went fine when running at low speed, but 
the data rate dropped as soon as it started to gear up.

> 3) I was successfully able to rip the CD with kaudiocreator on my
> laptop (only problem here is that my music collection is on my
> desktop (this gives credence to the fact that it is not the CD).

You're talking about a different drive now.  That makes it all the 
more likely that the first drive is... of less quality.

> One additional fact.  I nuked the kde 3.5 installation completely
> from my system and went back to kde 3.4.  Then, kaudiocreator
> would not rip the CD.

You see, it is not the version of Kaudiocreator that matters.

> However, I was able to copy the original 
> CD and then burn the tracks using k3b and then, kaudiocreator
> would rip the CD.

That shows that the original CD is somehow marginal, by production 
fault or on purpose.  The combination of a somewhat flaky CD with a 
somewhat flaky drive is what will lead to errors.  If you now 
upgrade KDE again, the new Kaudiocreator will also rip the new CD.

That another OS with other reading software can handle the disk 
fine, is not entirely relevant.  Have you listened to the tracks it 
produces?

> So, I reiterate, I don't think it is the CD drive.  It must be
> either a setting that I don't have correct or it must have
> something to do with some quirk in kde and/or kaudiocreator.

Unlikely, as Kaudiocreator is just a front end.  It probably uses 
cdparanoia or cdda2wav to read the CD.  (I don't own any audio CD 
with which to try this.)  Try using cdparanoia directly and see 
whether it shows smilies all the way, or reports jitter and read 
errors and what not.  If so, try using cdda2wav with the --speed set 
to a low value.

Cheers,

Benno
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