Warner Music CD's sound is distorted on Dell Windows 7 computer

I stopped the automatic rip and then just played all the songs at randon, only for a few seconds, kept closing WMP and opening again from different icons..eg, my computer etc, and after about 5 mins, the CD plays fine, then I simply start the rip.

 

Thank you for these useful tips! I have a relatively new Dell machine with a DVD drive that doesn't play certain Warner CDs properly ("Erato" publishing for classical music), giving lots of background noise as described in this thread. The drive is a TSSTcorpDVD+-RW TS-H653G.

I experimented along similar lines to you, and found that in my case the best thing was to double click on tracks a long way apart repeatedly e.g. track 1, 17, 4, 16, 2, 16 etc. only allowing each one to start for only a split second. (I didn't need to close and reopen WMP.) After 10-20 of these double clicks, the drive played the CD perfectly; perhaps this disk-thrashing allowed it to calibrate itself to the correct layer somehow, avoiding all the noise put in by the copy control protection. I was then able to get an AccurateRip certified rip with EAC software. I just play the mp3s now, so don't mind if it's tricky to play the acual CD again.

Note: if the CD is stopped and left in the drive for a while, or ejected and put back in, the drive "forgets" how to play it properly and you have to go through the procedure above again.

Hope this helps others,

Bluto

Bluto.

I never knew of this problem untill today, and it does seem to be some Warners CDs.

your workaround worked for me. Thanks.

I own a 2 month old Medion Desktop using a TSST SH-216BB Drive. Windows 7      

So the problem still exists!

Thank you! Perfect solution..

I am having the same problem with my new HP Pavilion NoteBook and even updating the BIOS does Not help given that it seems its a direct CD Drive Firmware problem that can only be resolved by changing the CD/DVD drive. To confirm this, see the following LINK http://www.winmagazine.it/forum/index.php?topic=22990.0 which HP resolved the problem for a user changing the Drive.

I was also hoping that it was a BIOS problem which would be easier to handle!

I have a similar problem with many Warner CDs.

A lot of them were bought used/second-hand so returning them is not a viable option.

I have a laptop with built in optical drive TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-L633C ATA Drive; that one distorts the Warner discs, but no others - the Warner discs also play perfectly on all other players I have tried.

I also have an iMac desktop with a USB external Lacie Lightscribe drive. That one plays all my discs, including Warner. So, I use that to import to iTunes on the iMac and then transfer tracks, albums etc to iTunes on the laptop via a USB stick. No problems so far.

As for the cause, well, it really does look as if the Warner copy-protection is to blame; Warner refuse to deny the problem is their's. Perhaps a Warner representative could reply to this thread? Ha ha, only joking, that would show respect for customers!

I agree that the discs are not really CDs, but all of my problem ones are clearly labelled as CDs. There is a very clear case of criminal misrepresentation here, but my local Trading Standards office is apparently in cahoots with Warner and they also refuse to take any action.

I expect that none of the individual consumers on this forum have the resources to take on a commercial giant like Warner, and with the Consumer Protection organisations closing ranks to protect the manufacturers we stand no chance of getting it resolved.

Still, I have a usable work-around so I'll just chalk it up to experience.

Alan