Copy an audio CD with all subcodes

[shamino]

Does anyone know of a utility for copying a CD, preserving all the sub-codes. In the PC world, this is sometimes called a bitwise copy.

More specifically, I have several karaoke CDs (CD+G format). These are audio CDs (or multi-session discs containing an audio session). Graphics data is stores in the subcodes. If I try to copy one of these discs with Toast 6, I get an audio CD without the graphics. Disk Utility hangs getting info from these discs, so I can't try using it to make a copy.

I am using a drive capable of reading and writing CD+G discs (a Plextor PX-716A), and I have confirmed (using the iStar player program) that it does read them correctly.

So, does anyone know of a utility that will work? Will upgrading to Toast 7 change anything? Perhaps a different program? A UNIX-level script? Or will I have to make my backups on a PC?

 

[solaris]

I am not 100% sure, but I think readcd can read CD+G.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/cdrecord

If not, give cdrdao a try: http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/

 

[shamino]

I am not 100% sure, but I think readcd can read CD+G.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/cdrecord

If not, give cdrdao a try: http://cdrdao.sourceforge.net/

That was the approach I'm pursuing now. I installed fink and goet cdrdao compiled and installed. But I haven't yet figured out how to configure it. On Linux, I'd make a /etc/cdrdao.config file containing the drive's SCSI ID and maximum burn speed. I'm not sure what to put in this file on Mac OS, however.

I also found another problem. Most karaoke discs are multi-session (they typically include Windows-based player software or ads for other discs in the data session.) One of them does this without using mode-2 (CD-XA) format - a violation of several specs. cdrdao on Linux pointed this out to me. Unfortunately, when my Mac gets a hold of this disc, it becomes un-ejectable, wedging the drive until a reboot. (And the wedged drive prevents shutdown, so I need to use the reset button.) This means that disc (and others like it) probably can't be copied on the Mac without a system update from Apple. (I did file a bug report about this.)

The disk utility hang is not related to this problem, however. It hangs on multi-session karaoke discs even when the Finder and system has no problem ejecting them.

 

[solaris]

I searched and found this information about using cdrdao in Mac OS X:
http://dylantree.com/docs/cdrdao-osx.php

Too bad you cant access the CD though!
Which makes me wonder if its Finder who dont like the Disc, cause it try to automount it.
One solution might be to start your Mac in 'Single User Mode' and use cdrdao to read the CD.

 

[shamino]

I searched and found this information about using cdrdao in Mac OS X:
http://dylantree.com/docs/cdrdao-osx.php

Thanks. I'll probably try it this weekend. (I don't like playing around with stuff like this during the week, because I end up staying awake all night if there's a problem )

Too bad you cant access the CD though!
Which makes me wonder if its Finder who dont like the Disc, cause it try to automount it.
One solution might be to start your Mac in 'Single User Mode' and use cdrdao to read the CD.

The Finder is automounting it, but I think the problem is lower-level than that, since Disk Utility hangs trying to get info on the disc.

This is a problem with more than just this one disc. I've found that corrupted/damaged CDs/DVDs in general can cause Mac OS to hang upon eject. I hope Apple will get this fixed sooner or later - the problem's persisted for many years now.

But I'm not too concerned. Most of my CD+G discs mount and unmount OK. And I was able to find a Windows app that can duplicate the few malformed discs (including rip/mix/burn karaoke tracks, which will let me produce properly-formatted discs.)

Apple definitely needs to build CD+G support into iTunes. (I've already sent them feedback asking for this.) Ripping and playback should be simple, since they have video support now. Burning might be problematic if they rip into QT files, but should be simple if the raw +G data is preserved.