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CDMaster32 Frequently Asked Questions


List of covered topics:

(Note: This entire page is Copyright 2008 by John Zitterkopf. Linking is permitted, but reproduction is not.)

 


Q. I downloaded your program and attempted to install it under Windows 7. Setup failed indicating it could not find CDMaster32.exe. Is there a way to overcome this?

A. Yes... Look here to set Setup.exe to run in WinXP SP2 Administrator mode.


Q. I downloaded your shareware and may be interested in buying it but I am having a problem. There are blank spots on the CD during playback at about 10 second intervals. They do not exist on the wave file, but exist on the CD after burning with your software. Is there a way to overcome this?

A. Yes... Register the software.

As stated in the red "Please note" area of the "insert media" screen after you click "write CD" button, you'll notice it says:

"The Shareware version of this Software will write gaps into the audio track. If this is unacceptable to you, please hit the button now. Buy this software today to remove this limitation." Therefore, the gaps inside the audio tracks are a limitation of the shareware version. The registered version does not have this limitation."


Q. I had trial version of cd32 and it worked ok. today I bought the software. I get the error invalid floating point operation when try to convert from mp3 to wave. what's the problem?

Note: This problem also occurs with CD to WAV or WAV to MP3.

A. Please confirm your running V4.5.0.0 (or better) from the Help/About menu option.

This bug was fixed in V4.7.0.0.

This is a known problem we haven't been able to solve yet. We are going to redesign the several parts of CDMaster32 and one of them is the MP3 to WAV screen.

I think your problem is you closed (or cdmaster32 crashed) when the MP3 to WAV window was minimized.

Got to your Windows directory and find the file
CDMaster.ini
Then look through the file and find the following sections:
[CD2WAV]
[MP3toWAV]
[Wav2MP3]

and delete the
Left=
width=
Top=
Height=

lines under each section.


Q. We purchased a legal license for CDMaster. When V4.5.0.0 came out, we took the upgrade. When we attempt to activate it, we get the message:

Adaptec DirectCD has been detected... ...Direct CD is usually installed with the Adaptec Easy CD Creator program.

CDMaster32 is incompatible with DirectCD !!!

You need to disable DirectCD before running CDMaster32 as DirectCD "takes ownership" of the CDWriter.

I really don't want to deinstall DirectCD until I've been convinced that there is something better. The only thing I've been able to use your software for so far is to convert MP3's to WAV.

Can you help?

A. Are you sure you mean DirectCD? DirectCD is used only for CDRW disks and is independent of Adaptec Easy CD Creator. I could understand if your using CD Creator... and would understand your concern about uninstalling CD Creator ... but would be surprised if your using Direct CD.
CDMaster32 is compatible with Easy CD Creator, but not Direct CD.

The Message your getting is actually the result of several problems / issues with the Direct CD program. We deliberately added this message / check to the program due to customer issues with Direct CD and CDMaster32. We simply added a check to this version, we did not make additional changes to make the incompatibilities worse. This may be one of the many reasons why your having problems with your old version of CDMaster32's internal CD Burner Engine.

How to disable (but not uninstall) DirectCD:

DirectCD is known "throughout the industry" for causing trouble with non-Adaptec products. They somehow acquire control of the CDWriter and cause havoc with applications like CDMaster32.

As to the How:

In Windows 98, you can go into "MSCONFIG", go to the "Startup" tab and disable the "Adaptec Direct CD" box. Then reboot the system and you will have to run direct cd each time you need use it.

Under WinNT4 / Win2000, here's how I disable DirectCD:

  1. Press <CTRL><SHIFT><ESC> together to bring up the Windows Task Manager
  2. Click the "Processes" Tab.
  3. Scroll down the processes list until you find "directcd".
  4. Click on "directcd"
  5. Right-Click the mouse.
  6. Select "End Process".

You can run DirectCD.EXE by double clicking it with your mouse any time you need/want to run it.


Q. I downloaded and installed your software but everytime I try to launch it I get the following error message:

"The procedure entry point 'GetDiskFreeSpaceEx' could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll"

So how do I go about fixing that??

A. This is a known bug for users of Win95 with V4.5.0.0.

This bug was fixed in V4.7.0.0.


Q. Where do I get a recordable cd? Or can I take a music CD and clear it or delete it, and make it recordable? cuz cdmaster32 said you have to have recordable CD?

A. You need three things to create an audioCD with CDMaster:

  1. A CD Writer Drive. (A special CDROM drive that allows you to write CDs) for example:
    Yamaha 20x CD Recordable Drive
    or a PlexWriter 24x/10x/40x CD-RW Driveicon
  2. A recordable CD (A special CD disk that allows for recording using 1) for example:
    CDR Disks
  3. CDMaster32 to record onto the recordable CDs.

Q. I converted my mp3 with the CDMaster 32, how do I convert them to cda format, there are in wav format at the moment.

A. Please see the following tutorials to see if they help:
MP3 to AudioCD Conversion


Q. Does your program convert .rm (Real Audio) files to .wav or mp3? If not do you know of one or can you recommend a source for finding one?

A. Real Audio's Licensing agreement requires that developer's agree not create an application that allows conversion away from their formats (.RM .RA etc).

However, one company seems to have gotten around the licensing issue... not sure how... Real took them to court and forced them to remove this capability from the product.

http://www.streambox.com is their URL. (no longer offered there)

Mirror Sites:
Lycos search
Mirror #2
Mirror #3
Additional files


Q. I downloaded your shareware version of CDMaster 32 and I am getting the error message about the asap something. I am trying to convert a Cd to an Mpg. file. It gets to the end then comes up with this error message.

A. It's related to the ASPI layer on your computer... being improperly installed.

Follow the instructions on:
ASPI Instructions

The most common causes for Error 681, 684, 687, 690, 695, 699, 700 are


Q. I have a quick question. Is there any sound or quality difference to creating a cd with MP3 files as opposed to WAV files?

A. Creating an AudioCD from MP3s does not degrade the original quality of the sound inside the MP3 files. So you should not see any quality impact.

MP3 files are "lossy compression"... converting to WAV does not degrade the quality as WAV files are uncompressed.

There would be a quality issue to rip from CD to MP3 then back to CD... it's better to do CD -> WAV -> CD as wav is uncompressed (not lossy). Do CD to WAV to CD if your have the original CDs, other wise you don't have a choice.


Q. My husband has some old albums. He has a cd burner and wants to record some of the songs off the album onto the cd's. How can you do this? Can he run a wire from the stereo to the back of the sound card on the computer? Then does he copy those songs onto the hard drive? What format do they copy in? What program should he use to convert the wav file, (if that is what it copies onto the hard drive as) , to a mp3 file to put on the cd? Can you explain some of this to me? I am totally ignorant with all this.

Please note: This process will also be the same for Cassette/Audio Tape to CD or MiniDisc to CD.

A. The process will not be simple... but let's see how if I can answer your questions:

You would have to run a wire from the stereo (line out preferred) to sound card. you would want to go into the "Line in" input of your sound card. Make sure he adjusts the volume to sound right on the computer when it records. Volume is in two places:

  1. computer's volume control (speaker icon on task bar)
  2. physical volume on stereo.

To get them on the hard drive, you would download a program like www.cooledit.com to record the music off the "line in". For best results you would press record on cooledit and then position the Vinyl needle for the song you want. When the song is done playing, you'd press stop on cooledit and then stop the playing of the album.

You would want to record at 44.1KHz, 16bit stereo. And save the file as a .WAV (PCM) to you hard drive. The WAV file will be big... at 10.5MB/minute of music.

If you record more than one song to a single WAV file; you could use a program like WavKnife to split the WAV file into several WAV files with only one song in it.

If his only desire is to have the music on CD, there would be no need to convert to MP3. MP3 is "lossy compression" so he would only want to convert to MP3 if he wants to play MP3s.

CDMaster32 V4.5.0.0 will burn the WAV file onto the CD using the MP3/WAV to CDR option.
CDMaster32 will also take the WAV file and create MP3s if he so desires.

See our tutorials at:
CDMaster32 Tutorials
for more information on these two operations.


Q. what is m3u and why is it so hard to convert from m3u to wav.

A. M3U isn't a audio file.
It's a "list" (a text document) that contains pointers to the real MP3 files.

You have to convert the MP3 files, not the M3U list.

This would be a cool feature to add to CDMaster32; however, If we were to convert the entire list, you'd run out of disk space quickly.

Example:
My M3U file contains over 495 MP3s... if you figure the average MP3 is 4 minutes... that would be 4*495 = 1980 minutes.

Since MP3 to WAV conversion is usually done at 44.1KHz Stereo or 10.6MB / minute of music... you would need over:
20988 MB of disk space... or 20.9GB of free disk space. I don't think many people would have that much disk space... nor would they want to wait that long for the files to be converted. 


Q. It seems that I cannot burn any mp3s to cd. I receive a CD Quality message then it aborts. All of these mp3s came from Napster. The frequency for all of these files is 44100. Any idea on how to find out if they are 16 bit audio?

A. Which version of CDMaster32 are you running? Check the help/about menu option.

If your not running V4.7.0.0, please update your version. 

If you are running V4.7.0.0, this error is strange because CDMaster32's internal CD Burner engine should automatically convert the WAV files to CD Quality.

Other things to check:

  1. Make sure you using 74 Minute CDR or CDRW. CDMaster32 does not support 80 minute CDs.
  2. Make sure you have plenty of disk space. You will need at least 800MB of free disk space before you can make a fully 74minute CD.

If your not using CDMaster32 to create the AudioCD, then I can not help you. The CD Quality converter only works for our internal burning engine.

If none of the above applies, there may be an obscure bug that you have found. If you can isolate this to a specific MP3 file and upload it to me, I might be able to fix CDMaster32.


Q. On several CDMaster32 screens, the fonts are unreadable. They are too big, too small, or overlap other parts of the window.
Is there a patch or a setting I can use to make this work properly?

A. This bug was fixed in V4.7.0.0.

As a work around, simply resize each screen with your mouse and the font sizes will change with respect to the window size.


Q. I recently downloaded your CDMaster32 software for converting mp3 files to cda files. I followed the tips you provided and burned a CD-RW disc with the cda files. However, my disc would not play in any CD players in my house ... If you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. Also,
is it possible that I only can use CD-r disk instead of the re-writeable disk.... do you think this would solve the problem?

A. Most standalone CD players do not read CDRW disks. Only the very high end / newest players support CDRW. These CD Players are "multiread" compatible and usually sport a multiread logo.

You should use CDR disks (write once) because only they are truly compatible with other systems.


Q. Is it possible to burn a few songs to a Cdr then play them (few songs) in a car CD Player, then a few weeks Later open the CD again and add a few more, and play them, and keep opening and adding songs until the CD is full, and then finally when the CD is full, close it forever? I asked Adaptec for help but they wont respond. I hope you will.

A. The answer in reality is no.

Most regular CD Players cannot understand MultiSession CDRs since the "Multisession" CD technique was developed long after AudioCDs were "speced". AudioCD's were developed first.... then CDROM data was "extended" from the audioCD method. (source) MultiSession CDs came into existence several years after the CDROM spec was established. As such, most regular CD Players do not understand the technique used to add information to a CD after it has been partially burned.

I also believe that failure to properly "close" an audioCD session... will prevent a normal CDPlayer from even recognizing the CD; much less playing it.

There are some AudioCD players on the market which might be able to play multisession audioCDs; for more information on those types of players... see our online FAQ above.


Q. I dig the software but the CDDB lookups don't seem to be working! Is it the software or the CDDB provider?
CDMaster32 returns the following data when a CD is searched:
MSG: Your CD player application is either not licensed to use the
MSG: Gracenote(tm) CDDB(tm) service or its license has expired.
MSG: If you are unsure what this means, please see our web site
MSG: at: http://www.cddb.com/lic/CDMaster32
MSG: If you are a developer and feel you have received this
MSG: message in error or wish to get your application licensed,
MSG: please contact support for assistance.

A. Gracenote is in violation of their past agreements.

(And we aren't the only companies affected see: Yamaha
Lawsuits have been filed by Roxio.)

This issue was fixed in V4.7.0.0. Information below is for V4.5.0.0 or earlier.

CDMaster32's built-in CDDB search was designed before Gracenote purchased CDDB. At the time we supported CDDB, it was a free service with the only stipulation being we had to display the author's name on the CDDB screen; which we did.

Now, Gracenote is abusing their perceived power by making us upgrade to their ad-littered CDDB2, for which they require us to pay royalties. Zittware refuses to be strong-armed into supporting a business that resorts to kidnapping of user's data to generate income. CDDB was built by the end-users and is now being held for profit by Gracenote.

To make matters worse; Gracenote gave Zittware no prior notification that they were going to block access to the database. We find this rude and rather unprofessional.

Luckily, The end users have a new alternative which will work with CDMaster32. Zittware is currently building in native support for www.freedb.org which is a completely free CDDB database under GPL.
Here's a workaround:

In your Windows directory, find the file
CDMaster.ini

then find the section titled:
[cddbWindow]

and modify/add the following:
CDDBSite0=http://freedb.freedb.org/~cddb/cddb.cgi
SiteDefault=http://freedb.freedb.org/~cddb/cddb.cgi

Remove any other sites except:
CDDBSite0
(and)
SiteDefault

Do not use the "CDDB Site" button or you'll have to repeat this procedure.


Q. I just downloaded your program cdmaster32. I then registered (purchased) it over the Internet.
Will the program now support 80 minute media?
How do I make it do this?

A. 80minute AudioCDs were first supported with V5.5.0.0 of CDMaster32. Please upgrade to v5.5.0.0 to burn 80minute CDs.


Q. I have some long MP3 files that are too big to fit onto on 74 minute AudioCD. Is there a tool which would "split" the MP3 file into smaller files, so I can use CDMaster32 to burn it onto AudioCD?

A. www.heathcosoft.com makes a cool product called MP3 TrackMaker which "... MP3 audio editing utility that is used to split up an MP3 into multiple files (tracks)... This utility is perfect for dividing up those long radio shows or mixes that you have. MP3 TrackMaker is great for those burned CDs ..."


Q. Now that I've registered, How do I make a backup copy of CDMaster32?

A. The proper way to backup files is to backup the original installation files to either CD or Floppy. In this case; you want to backup the registered ZIP file I send out. This is standard processes for all software; not just mine.

What you may not know is that most applications install auxiliary files into the Windows directory. In the case of CDMaster32; CDMaster32's Setup.exe program copy several DLLs and OCXs to the windows/system directory (since that is where Microsoft tells us developers to put it.) Only the setup.exe file knows how to "register" these files with the Operating System; so it is impossible to restore proper operation without the original installation files.

If you backup the Program Files\Zittware\CDMaster32; you miss these auxiliary files.

Remember, if you choose to purchase CDMaster32 using the Electronic download method, it is your responsibility to make a backup copy either CD or Floppy.


Q. I burned songs on a CDR 3 to 4 years ago.  Now when I go to play the CDR, the songs have disappeared.  The CDR shows that I have no free space on it.  Is this a common occurrence or am I doing something wrong.  This has happened to numerous CDs after a couple of years.

A. Was the CDR protected from sun light? Rumors are that heat/sunlight can modify the dye in the cdr after as little as 4wks of direct exposure. 

If it isn't a sunlight issue; some experts consider CDRs temporary. According to those experts, data degradation can occur within 2 years - but most agree with proper care data is good for between 25 and 50 years.

Finally; did you "close" or "finalize" the CD while burning it. Finalizing is a software process which closes out the table of contents on the CD. Some people don't close the CD so they can add more data later - this cause problems; especially when equipment cannot interpret the contents properly.


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This entire page is Copyright 2001-2008 by John Zitterkopf. Linking is permitted, but reproduction is not.