I need help with playing CD's through my laptop while working an event.

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MIXMASTERMACHOM

DJ Extraordinaire
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Oct 16, 2011
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I got a gig coming up this Tuesday. The senior center that my mother attends wants me to come and help them again with another event. I did one a little while back and they liked it. They had CD's for me to use. It was a lip sync event. I tried to use my recorder to play back the CD's. At first it worked and when I got started with the gig I got major feed back and couldn't use the CD's. Luckily I had the songs on my HD.

This event is a gospel event. So I don't know if I will have all the gospel songs on my HD. I was told they probably will bring CD's for me to use. I use VDJ. So I need to find out how to load CD's into my laptop and play a song from my system? I'm not a computer wiz so please be kind with me. What do I need to do?
 
I don't know VDJ, but a quick Google seems to say you can't play off a CD through VDJ, at least with VDJ8. Best bet is to use a different app.

I will normally play CDs through iTunes. No need to rip the CD .. place it in the CD drive and it shows up in iTunes and you can select any track directly.
 
As Steve pointed out, most DJ software will not access the CD player. You will have to use an alternative method - iTunes, Windows Media Player or other similar products.

Even more important - you had feedback - this was not because of the CD's.
 
Another option is a decent single CD player .. tabletop, rack mount or even an older CD Walkman (I used to carry one as an emergency backup to my old CD players).
 
VDJ8 will totally play from your laptop's CD player. Put the CD into your laptop's CD slot, locate your CD drive in the left-side browser panel in VDJ and choose the track you want. You can either drag it to one of the players, or to the sidelist, where it'll be quickly ripped and analyzed. It's as easy as it gets.

I removed my laptops' CD drives and replaced them with secondary hard drives, but still keep an external CD/DVD drive in my laptop bag for the rare moment that somebody hands me a CD to play. I've used it twice in two years, and VDJ8 finds it as soon as it's connected. No problemo.
 
Ok .. then that's the option. One of the "experts" in the VDJ forum wrote:
You can't do it in VDJ 8 but it's possible in VDJ 7.

As suggested, another option is to use Audiograbber etc. to rip the tracks to your hard drive - and then VDJ 7 or 8 will play them.
 
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It's the reason I'm still planning on a 1RU CD media/player. Was looking at some new laptops and many don't have a CD anymore. I could probably buy an external USB one, but I prefer hardware for backup .. just in case. Then I'll sell my little Denon S1200.

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I had a Numark double and an American Audio one .. had 2 Numark single CD players as well. Sold the American Audio and donated the others to my kid's school for their gym and football fields. Too large to keep in my small racks.
 
I think you and I are both prepared. :)

Back on topic, if you intend to use CD's, then IMO you really should have a piece of hardware that you can use in case the computer becomes inoperable.

MixMasterMachoIHadFeedbackWhenIPlayedCds - Again, the feedback you experienced had NOTHING to do with the CD's.
 
2 DN-D4500's in my racks and 2 still in their boxes (Bought them before Denon decides to phase them out).
 
Another issue I have came across if you are playing burned CD's in a Dell laptop it's hit and miss. If it was burnt on that laptop it's OK if not from my experience 1 in 3 will work

And like Tigger said the CD's had nothing to do with the feedback
 
I have played cd's on VDJ and it plays, but then freezes... because of this I used to tell people if they are going to bring me cd's, I have to have them before the show starts, have them for me when I load in and then I rip them.... I have since put in a 1RU cd player in my system that also has a usb port and even a mic input.... it makes a nice back up as on a flash drive I have a top 200 always cued up
 
If you "know" the event will required CDs, then bring a CD player. Alternatively, bring a SECOND computer to rip the CDs and transfer the mp3's (or wav's or flac's, etc) to the primary computer with a USB drive.
 
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Ots used to do it, but there were some issues, so they took the option out. Now, I just rip the cd into my computer and add it to my Ots data base. Done.
 
I use Virtual DJ 8 and for "shits 'n' giggle" after reading this thread last night, I slid in a regular CD into my CD/DVD drive on my laptop (ASUS N56VJ running Windows 10). It played just fine within the VDJ8 software so not sure what all the fuss is. Probably the first time I played a CD in over a year but works great as just a CD Player. I just used the file browser to navigate to the drive and picked a track number and loaded it it up on a deck where it worked flawlessly. Only thing it doesn't do is populate song titles etc since there are no tags associated with CD's.
 
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If he has an older laptop, sometimes the CD drives are, as Jeff pointed out, "hit or miss." I've had problems with various burned CD's on various laptops/drives over the years, and my computer at school still has trouble playing manufactured CD's (you know, the heavy, major label, glass-mastered kind)! Sometimes it can be something as silly as brand of CDR/CDR-W. Another reason I still use CD players that play CD's and USB media, rather than the other way around. The only CD player (besides my current Numark's) that I ever had that always played _anything_, Red Book; Black Book, Blue Book, Pink Book for that matter... with no qualms whatsoever was the original Sony Discman (with AM/FM tuner included!) that I had straight from Japan, circa 1980-84: Sony fm/am discman | Audio Gold Hi-Fi London ... It's still in the "limbo" cabinet at the studio; gave up the ghost a couple of years ago, but I'm hoping I can somehow resurrect it.

Mix, I hate to be an "enabler," but you can still get a couple of battery operated portables (or even just one, if you and your crowd are endowed with patience) for about $20. If you check the garage sales, maybe $5, but Walmart and other stores still carry them pretty cheap. No fancy cueing or DJ options, just press play and wait the standard 2 seconds.

On the feedback thing, I'd love to hear more about that, and exactly how you had everything set-up. If there was no microphone involved, and I had to guess with absolutely no real understanding of what happened (as in this case here), I'd say you probably set-up some kind of loop while trying to play the CD and listen at the same time through your DJ software, maybe some latency involved. But I'd be interested in hearing your signal path, if you remember how you had it set-up.

GJ
 
I was an original owner of the Sony CDP-101 when I sold stereos at Canadian Military PX overseas in Germany circa 1982 to 1984 - it was the first retail CD player ever and was built extremely well. Had it for years and years before it finally packed it in. Rather than try to repair it I got rid of it. I am sure it would be a collectors item today....

See:
Sony CDP-101 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Huh, just re-read your post about playing the CD in VDJ8, Navy D, and it jogged my memory a bit in Mix' favor-- Mix, if your computer won't play, and you don't have a CD player, you don't even need one, as long as you've got a DVD player in the house somewhere. Your DVD player should have no problem recognizing and playing CD audio, so you may not even have to shell out the $5-$20.

GJ
 
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