iMAC DVD PLAYER DOESN'T READ DVDS

Hmm. So this entire topic may have been completely off track all the way through. It seems you have been using mismatched terms. Your original note:

the dvd player cannot and will not read DVDs anymore. it can read CDs and files on cds but that is it.

i also tried reading the DVD through my superdrive but the iMac couldn't recognize it.

CD, DVD and Blu-ray are not interchangeable terms. Nor can they be used together. A Blue-ray disk has nothing to do with a DVD. The only similarities they have is that they are all the same size, and look pretty much the same. It would be the same mistake to call old 33 rpm, 45 rpm and 78 rpm vinyl records the same because they all have grooves, and they all play back audio recordings.

It now appears you have been calling a Blu-ray disk a DVD, as in your comment above, "blue ray dvds". There is no such thing. A DVD is only a DVD. A Blu-ray disk is only a Blu-ray disk. You can't mix and match, or combine the terms and have anyone understand exactly what you're referring to.

Oh, sorry. I misread your statement:

ok so get that external drive to view blue ray dvds

I thought you meant you had already purchased an new external drive, and that one wasn't reading DVDs, either.

A cleaner is a disk the same size as a CD/DVD. Looks just like one in fact, other than it has a small brush glued to what would be the non label side. But it wouldn't do you any good to purchase one. The drive has only one lens which both lasers read/write through. Cleaning any possible dust off the lens won't change the problem that CDs work, and DVDs don't.

I think you should purchase an external Blu-ray drive which could read CD, DVD and Blu-ray.

While if you wanna watch a Blu-ray movie, a third party software is also needed for all Apple don't support Blu-ray natively.

The most likely reason is that you accidentally copied them by having the player app highlighted and then pressed Command+D. Adding a number is the Mac OS's normal way of naming an item that already exists when you copy it. I would presume they all have the same size? If so, you can just delete 2 and 3.

i also learned iMac doesn't support superdrive

Something that "MichelPM" told you many posts ago.

Apple menu > About This Mac.

More Info...

Click System Report.

Then select Disc Burning.

You should see the drive and it'll show what it can do...

Verify that it's not a blu-ray DVD.

It could be dirty. Use a soft cloth and moisten. Wipe from the center out. Not a circular motion.

To eject a DVD/CD, hold down your mouse button while restarting the Mac.