I can't rip a CD on MacBook Air

The bottom button on the right is grey. It should be blue probably because the superdrive is a removable volume. Click or slide that button so it turns blue. That should allow the Music App you are using to access the Superdrive.

This is under System Settings>Privacy & Security>Files and Folders.

In my experience, adapters and USB hubs do not work well with old Apple Superdrives with USBA plugs.

You need to directly plug it into the computer usually because the Superdrive needs to pull more power from the lone USBA port.

Some aftermarket drives will have two USBA plugs to use - one for data and one for power.

Use a newer CD/DVD drive that supports USBC input directly, the USBC port supplies a greater amount of power.

Newer CD drives may also likely work with lower power demands from lower power consuming chips.

No Drickbay, you are mistaking. This is a screenshot from the Music App.

Let's begin from scratch and LOOK at my screenshots below starting from the lowest one then looking at the second one above lowest one.

Open System Settings, then

go to Privacy & Security

then,

go to Files & Folders

then,

go to Music

then click on the tiny arrow on the left side, a pop down menu opens,

click on the button on "external removable devices".

This activates your external Superdrive letting the Music App interact with it.

So you can see the CD and its songs (Yes-close to the edge) in the Apple Music app but you just cannot import them. You are getting sync error. Is that the crux of the problem?

Was the Yes album already imported previously and now you are getting a -54 sync error?

This sounds like an encoding/decoding issue possibly.

The superdrive you are using is really old. It is possible Apple did not put the drivers for it in Sonoma because it is so old and is using a USB-A plug that is not native to the MacBook Air.

You could take the superdrive, 2 CDs, and an adapter to an Apple store and test it on a different MacBook Air to see what happens.

BTW - my pioneer blue dray drive BDR-xd05s uses two USB-A plugs and it is working fine on my Mac Studio M1 since updating to Sonoma. I tried my Belkin adapter with an Apple superdrive on my MacBook Air M2 and got the error message - Plug directly into Mac USB port because the superdrive needs power.

Final comments: I received the OEM Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter.

When plugging in my Apple Superdrive using the adapter to my macbook air m2, with a popup window, the OS first asked if it was OK to allow the superdrive to have access to the computer. I clicked "Allow" of course.

I inserted a CD drive and it opened VLC instead of Apple's Music App first and quit it.

I opened the Apple Music App, with a popup window, the OS asked if it was OK to allow the Music App to have access to files on the removable volume. I clicked "Allow" of course.

The Music App opened and showed the CD I had inserted and it allowed me to start ripping immediately.

Checking under AppleIcon>Settings>Privacy&Security>FilesAndFolders, the Music App was automatically added, and the "Removable Volumes" slider was already slid over to blue.

I don't use Apple's streaming service so I don't know anything about conflicts with it.

The CD drive definitely looks like a SuperDrive.

I can’t tell what adapter that is, but it does look like an Apple adapter.

Was that adapter purchased directly from Apple?

Boot the MacBook Air into Safe Mode, and try this connection again.

Here is how to: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Safe Mode disables some of the features and add-ons that can potentially cause problems.

Lukcresdera wrote:

In my experience, adapters and USB hubs do not work well with old Apple Superdrives with USBA plugs.

You need to directly plug it into the computer usually because the Superdrive needs to pull more power from the lone USBA port.

MacBook Air lacks USB-A, and the Apple USB-C to USB-A adapters (which is why I asked about origin) usually provide enough power.

I’ve yet to see Safe Mode cause problems, though I have found it helpful for troubleshooting existing problems. Some add-on apps can cause problems, particularly including add-on security apps, add-on cleaner apps, add-on VPN client apps, add-on anti-virus apps, and such. And those apps can also mess with storage access, including with access to CD and DVD media. Booting into Safe Mode can disable the most problematic of those (temporarily), which can help isolate issues.

The access to the Superdrive is blocked. Go to System Preferences > Privacy and Security > Files and ... > find the Music App icon, click on it, activate External devices ticking the button. This worked for me.

How are you ripping this CD? Using the following steps?

Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac - Apple Support

First go to Privacy & Security

then,

go to Files & Folders

then,

go to Music

then click on the tiny arrow on the left side, a pop down menu opens,

click on the button on "external removable devices".

As you can see I am using the Italian version of Sonoma so I am translating from Italian to English. Be patient.

Lukcresdera wrote:

The superdrive you are using is really old.

My Apple Superdrive is identical to Drickbay's and it works perfectly with Sonoma (with a USB 2 USB C adapter costing 5 dollars). The Error (-54) has been already solved (see: Mac OS 14.3 - Importing music off a CD gi… - Apple Community ). Drickbay's problem is now how to make Apple Music App reappear in the Files & Folders in order to tick the "activate removable devices" button again (yesterday he inadvertently cancelled the Music App from the list).

Try a different CD drive, and try a different CD. You may well have a bad CD drive, or a bad CD.

You see the "Removable Volumes" label? Click on the button on its right. It becomes blue and your Superdrive will work. Good ripping!