OK, it works!
this what I did:
yoav@yoavhost ~/music $ cdda2wav -e -N -B
cdda2wav: No such file or directory. Cannot open '-1'. Cannot open SCSI
driver.
cdda2wav: For possible targets try 'wodim -scanbus'. Make sure you are root.
Use the script scan_scsi.linux to find out more.
Probably you did not define your SCSI device.
Set the CDDA_DEVICE environment variable or use the -D option.
You can also define the default device in the Makefile.
For possible transport specifiers try 'wodim dev=help'.
Then I tried:
yoav@yoavhost ~/music $ cdda2wav -e -N -B -D /dev/cdrom
with much success. So I guess various programs probably try to play the
wrong device. How do I point them to the correct one?

On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 12:46 PM, Joerg Schilling <
Joerg.Schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de> wrote:

> John covici <covici@ccs.covici.com> wrote:
>
> >  > This looks like the two-wire cable between the CD ROM and your
> >  > soundcard is missing or loose. I'd check this first. If this is a
> >  > laptop, it might well be that the connection between the two
> >  > subsystems was left out intentionally by the manufacturer to save a
> >  > couple of cents. Some do that. :-(
> >  >
> >
> > I am having the same problem -- but additionally my CDROM  has no
> > place to even put such a cable -- at least according to the person who
> > actually put the machine together.
> > I have not opened up the box to check, but if so, what can I do to
> > play cds?
>
> It is most inlikely that thius is related to this cable....
>
> I recommend you to get a recent cdrtools (e.g. from
> ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/cdrecord/alpha/)
>
> and install cdda2wav suid root.
>
> Then call:
>
> cdda2wav -e -N -B
>
> If everything is OK, then you will be able to listen to the music.
> Otherwise you see human readble error messages that point you to the
> problem.
>
> Jörg
>
> --
>  EMail:joerg@schily.isdn.cs.tu-berlin.de<EMail%3Ajoerg@schily.isdn.cs.tu-berlin.de>(home) Jörg Schilling D-13353 Berlin
>       js@cs.tu-berlin.de                (uni)
>       schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de     (work) Blog:
> http://schily.blogspot.com/
>  URL:  http://cdrecord.berlios.de/old/private/
> ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/schily
> --
> gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org mailing list
>
>