[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] CD-ROM question

er1m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ethan J. Rasiel) (11/12/90)

A few questions about CD-ROM:

1) I have seen CD-ROM drives with earphone jacks and volume controls. 
Does this mean you can play regular music CD's in them?

2) What happens if you put a CD-ROM in a music CD player?

3) If I want to use CD-ROM in my IBM, must I buy a CD-ROM drive, or is
possible to use a regular CD-player with an adapter or something?

4) Basically, these questions are all the same thing: 
   What, if any, is the difference between CD music and CD-rom encoding
technologies, and are the two compatible in any way?

Thanks in advance, and if there exists a frequently asked questions file
for this subject, please direct me to it!

                 Ethan Rasiel @ CMU (Pittsburgh)

baalke@mars.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) (11/12/90)

In article <0bDaY=O00WBM40aWkJ@andrew.cmu.edu> er1m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Ethan J. Rasiel) writes:
>A few questions about CD-ROM:
>
>1) I have seen CD-ROM drives with earphone jacks and volume controls. 
>Does this mean you can play regular music CD's in them?
>

Yes, but you need additional software to play the audio CD's.
Most of the CD-ROM drives for the PC's will be able to play audio CD's.
I use my CD-ROM drive for the Voyager CD-ROM's put out by JPL; that fact
that I can play the audio CD's was an added bonus.

>2) What happens if you put a CD-ROM in a music CD player?

The computer will attempt to read the CD-ROM as data, and disk access errors
will occur.  The audio CD-ROM's are in a different format than the CD-ROM
that contain computer data.
>
>3) If I want to use CD-ROM in my IBM, must I buy a CD-ROM drive, or is
>possible to use a regular CD-player with an adapter or something?
>

Like I've said, you need additional software.  You might also want to get
external speakers.
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