Can't Import from 2-Sided Dual Disc

Same here...
Maybe because the discs seem heavier? I tried to tilt my iMac as horizontally as I could to get gravity on my side, but no luck. I went to a local Apple store and they hadn't heard of this problem, but they direced me to this forum and to your post...

A quick google search reveals that there are many users reporting problems with their dual disk regardless if using PC, home stereo, car stereo - while others have no problem.

btw this problem seems to be specific to the U.S. In Europe Devils & Dust delivers as separate CD + DVD.

All--

I had that problem, too, with Devils & Dust. Here's an article that explains the difference between the audio side of a DualDisc and a standards-compliant "Red Book" audio CD.

My PowerBook had no problem reading the disc, and just for grins, I hooked up an old QPS firewire CD burner to the iMac. The QPS worked quite well. Well enough, in fact, that I'm gonna hang on to it just for this purpose...

cheers,

charlie

Me too, this time with Rob Thomas' Something To Be. This on a Rev A 20" iMac G5. The DVD works just fine, but the CD just never mounts on the desktop. FWIW, it worked fine on a G5 tower (Dual 1.8) I have at work, so most likely it's the slot loading drive as opposed to the tray. Bummer.

I just bought the same Rob Thomas cd, eagerly looking forward to placing the songs on my ipod. I am angry that I've been unable to do so, for the same reason; the computer does not even ackonwledge that a cd is in. However, I don't think it has to do with the slot loading drive. I tried to use it in my tray-loading laptop (windows machine) and it did not work there either. So you DID get it to work in a computer drive? I am wondering whether to keep searching the world for different drives, or give up.

Jeannette--

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

the computer does not even ackonwledge that a cd is in.

If you read the article I linked to in my earlier post, you'll see that the reason the computer doesn't acknowledge the CD is that a DualDisc isn't a CD. Nowhere on the disc does it say it's a CD. There's a standard for CDs and the audio side of a DualDisc doesn't conform to that standard, it's too thick physically, yet too shallow from the surface of the audio side to the data.

In fact, there's one review at Amazon's US store of the DualDisc from a customer who had to dismantle his CD changer to remove the disc after it wouldn't play their, either.

I am wondering whether to keep searching the world for different drives, or give up.

Well, I'd suggest that if you really want to buy DualDiscs, you should maybe look around for an older CD-only Firewire drive. Maybe look in used stores or somewhere where they'd let you bring in the DualDisc and make sure it'll read it.

Otherwise, I'd suggest you return the disc as defective and look for it online as a CD. Amazon has it as an import on CD. But be careful there, because European pressings sometimes have other copy protection on them, so read the customer reviews carefully to see if anyone mentions that.

charlie

Jeannette - Yes I was able to rip the CD side of the Rob Thomas DualDisc on my tray-loading G5. But that was luck, I guess, since Charlie's right, however, that it's not a CD in the exact sense: Philips (among others, I think) gets to certify a disc as to whether it gets the "Compact Disc Digital Audio" logo and this doesn't have it. The DualDisc itself says that it might not play on all CD players, but it's a bummer when it's yours. My advice would be to find a drive that does read it and then either duplicate it onto a blank CD-R, or rip as Apple Lossless and burn the files to a CD. Good luck!

Thanks to both of you, Kevin & Charles. This message board is amazingly more effective than I thought it would be. Nice discovery.

The article was very interesting. When I first realized this problem, I was suspicious that it was a move to reduce the ability to read the audio into a computer. Unfortunately for the music industry, this is a backfire, in my case at least. I am a big believer in guys like Rob Thomas being paid for their product. I considered buying just a couple of songs on itunes ("This is how a heart breaks" is outstanding and compelled me to buy), but then figured I'd drop the bigger piece of change on the whole cd cause I've enjoyed Matchbox 20 so much, and just copy the songs to my ipod. I would never, and still won't, steal music.

But I will also never buy a dual disc again. If it had clearly stated the potential for not being read, I could have decided in the store and opted for itunes. But the text saying it may not play on a limited number of players is miniscule (I can't read it without my reading glasses), and given the article and this post, I think their use of "limited" is mistaken. I can't return it to the store because they won't take an opened package back (again for reasons I can understand in this age of copying).

So poor old Rob Thomas is going to get 99 cents from me next time. Thanks again for sharing your information.

I have two dualdiscs, and trying the CD side, neither would mount on my two iMac G5s; both discs spun on both machines, and then ejected automaticallly.

I am, however, able to mount the CD side on an older slot loading iMac/CRT. It's downloading now into iTunes; however, it downloads tracks much more slowly than a standard CD.

it downloads tracks much more slowly than a standard CD.

Yeah, that's because the pits on the surface of the disc are closer to the laser in the reader, so it causes more errors. The drive then compensates by reading the data more often (if you have error correction on in iTunes, and I think you should), which slows down the whole import process.

charlie

I recently bought a new iMac G5 (the most recent ones with isight built in, remote, etc) and yesterday tried to put in a dual disc into my super drive. I had to force it in there. It didn't really want to take it (stupid of me for forcing it) and then I got nervous about pushing it in and ejected and it didnt eject as far as other discs. I dont know if I should even try putting another dual disc in my new iMac. Anyone have information about this? Email me with information please.

Johnny--

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.

I would be very careful about forcing any discs into the drive. DualDiscs are thicker than DVDs or CDs, so they may cause problems, especially in slot-loading drives like the iMac G5 or car CD players.

On the other hand, some CD/DVD drives have a little protective strip on the opening. When the drive is new, it's stiffer and can make it a little tough to put in a disc. That might loosen up a little bit as you put in more regular CDs and DVDs. That's the case with the drive on my PowerBook.

best,

charlie

thanks charlie for your feedback. I'll just use regular cd's and dvd's for now for a few weeks before trying a dual disc again.