#Nautilus CD
52 messages in this thread
Kevin, got me first Nautilus CD yesterday. I really was impressed. I did have
one problem, though. I was able to play all te .wav and .mid files, but none
of the jazz music from Windhall. They ended in .dib. What the heck are those
files and what do I need on my PC to play them?
Phil 🙂
Sorry to but in 🙂
*.DIB files are Device Independant Bitmap files (BMP files are a form of
DIB).
These are probably not music files but graphics. I would assume that the
Windham Hill music is in CD-DA or standard CD audio format and not part of
the DOS file system.
Peter, thanks for the help. You got it right on thr noise. The reason I can't
hear the music is because my soundboard (SB 1.5) doesn't support CDAUDIO in
Windows. Thanks for the help…
Phil 🙂
But you CAN still play the music via the SoundBlaster; you simply need a
utility like CD AUDIO that is commonly used to play regular audio CDs on a
CD ROM drive. It will find the audio tracks and play them.
Jack, are these programs DOS-based or Windows-based and are they shareware?
Phil 🙂
They're WIndows-based, and usually are a part of other things.
Player-type utilities have arrived here with sound cards, SCSI cards, you
name it. I know there are a number of shareware utilities that also do it,
but as my old reliable, which came from CorelSCSI, works fine I haven't
paid much attention to the others.
It's great to hear that my money wasn't wasted. As to the .dib files you
got your answer already on that as I see. The .dib are images and they
usually give you different resolutions, when you tried to open them you
were in Nautilus weren't you. You should have gotten a image on the
screen. You did send the card away for the free disks I hope. I think you
will be equally impressed with each and every disk you receive. As I said
I have been receiving them for a little over a year now. The improvements
have been non-stop over that year. Each month I look forward to getting
mine, unfortunatly it looks as if this one isn't going to make it before I
go on holidays.
Kb
How are the boys doing on their missions.
Kevin, yes, your money was well spent. I do see the images of the muscians
without any problem. However, my SB 1.5 does not support CD audio under
windows. Will I be missing alot because of that?
Phil 🙂
ps – The boys are doing well with the missions. Look like SWOTL is next on
the list!!
Philip,
If you interested, I've got an extra SB Pro mdl 1300……..I ended up
with two when I bought the SB MM Upgrade kit.
Jim
J, sounds interesting. How much and how old is the card?
Phil 🙂
Phil if I were you I would be careful on the SBPro. I know that I am
running it and bragging about it but mine is matched with the drive. Being
an CL Upgrade, I've heard alot of horror stories about SoundBlaster. You
might be better off waiting until you pick up that book, it gives
information on all the different hardware and software. Hate to see you
spend money on something you won't be happy with.
Kb
Phil,
The card is about six months old (Didn't know I was going to purchase a
CD-Rom yet). Anyway, I've got the manual and software to go with it for
$60.00 (Ship Incl). Was $150 new. The software has been updated online
(CIS:Multiven. Lib 1) by Creative Labs, i.e. driver improvement. It's a
great card and worked with no problems. Just don't know what to do with
two 🙂 If your interested, send a check to:
Jim Rylander
7741A Nelson Loop
Fort Meade, MD 20755
My Home phone is: 410-674-7534 (After 7 pm).
I'll ship it out right away….US Mail, Insured.
Cheers,
Jim
Jim, Do you still have the sound board for sale. My son can use one, he
claims he needs to use it for EDUCATIONAL prgrams! Is he ready to run for a
government post? <g> John
John,
Sorry, I've sold it already…. Sounds like your son is on the right
track, believe me, I work for the Government! 🙂
Jim
Jim, Thanks for yr reply. Maybe next time will come soon when you are ready
to upgrade again!
King's Quest IV is VERY educational. You learn never to go into a dark
cave where a dragon lurks real fast.
It's good to hear you like it. Not being able to play CD audio won't take
much away from it. There are a few audio tracks on it but not alot. It's
true you can't use the CD with the SB 1.5 but you should still be able to
hear the audio tracks via the headphones. I use to have the SB 1.5 but I
had the CDROM connected to an stereo amp with speakers.
Phil if you are planning to upgrade in the future and plan to include MM in
that upgrade. I'd like to make a suggestion. Ron Wodaski has a book out
called "Multimedia Madness!" I just received it and am finding it very
informative on the subject. It gives you and I quote " a hands-on,
see-for-yourself approach that puts you on the cutting edge of new products
that provide innovative ways to use your computer. You'll discover what
graphics, sound, MIDI, multimedia presentations, and more are all about."
Included with it is a CD and floppy. The CD has a complete edition of
Nautilus on it also. Ron Wodaski has a steady column in Nautilus on
multimedia which is really good.
Hope to see you become a steady subscriber.
Kb
Kevin, how do you get to the audio tracks? I assume that I would have to
access them outside of windows, but how?
The book sounds good. Where did U get it from?
Phil 🙂
Sorry Phil I misled you. To play those tracks on Nautilus you need a MPC
compliant machine. But to play just a plain audio disk windows will do
that for you, just use the music box.
Multimedia Madness is available through Walden Books here on CI$ for around
$44.00 I do believe. Just received mine today, so I guess that will be my
reading material on the flight. I think you will enjoy the book, I know
the previews have been good.
Kb
>>To play those tracks on Nautilus you need a MPC compliant machine.<<
Kevin:
Audio is audio, se non?
The question is, does the SB board he has have an audio cable to
the CD-ROM reader _and_ will the board respond to Pocket CD or Media Player
or one of the myriad other 3rd party juke boxes?
Methinks it should.
-Ed
>> Audio is audio, se non? <<
I would have to say non. Paul and I discovered that the player will not
play audio if you have a disk with both audio and data mixed. I have tried
many different ways to play the CD tracks on Nautilus but the only way I
can is to play it in Nautilus. To play a straight audio disk is no problem
but a mixed disk is mega problems.
Also Phil has a SB 1.5 which isn't hooked to the CD-ROM reader. Which by
the way brings up another point. Phil is looking into getting a new sound
board. I warned him away from SB even though that is what I run. If
anyone out there has any suggestions for him he would no doubt appreciate
it. I just introduced him to Nautilus and he is a new family member. So
come on people jump in and give him some suggestions.
Kb
Funny,
I'm listening to Nautilus 2-12 on my SB-16 card and using CDPLYR.EXE from
DOS while typing this message using OZ!
Kevin, I think that was a beta test media player problem. It does not work
in Windows.
Scott
No there isn't any problem with the media player it was me. Chuck
corrected me, once you put it on tracks and skip the first one then you can
listen to the CD tracks. I just tested it out and played the carols on
Nautilus vol 2-13 and they played with no problem.
Kb
Kevin,
I have the sound blaster pro with the Mitsumi 650ms CD and can use Music
Box and Media Player to play the audio tracks outside of Nautilus.
Normally, Track 1 is the data track and 2 and up are the audio tracks. In
Media player I use DEVICE and click on CD Audio then open SCALE and click
on TRACKS. Then skip track one and play the audio tracks. Maybe it is the
drivers but make sure media driver is set ont tracks as default is TIME.
Have a great Trip and best of luck to you and your wife.
Chuck
Chuck thanks for the info. I stand corrected and I appreciate it. Here I
thought it was a problem with the media player and all along the problem
was with me. This is why I hang around here it is amazing how much a
person can learn just by posting a problem.
Kb
>>Also Phil has a SB 1.5 which isn't hooked to the CD-ROM reader. Which by
the way brings up another point. Phil is looking into getting a new sound
board.<<
Kevin:
I see that others have replied about the audio tracks so I won't
rub salt in the wounds. (;{)]
As for the connection to the sound board, that has nothing to do
with the SCSI cable, audio tracks come to the board from the audio cable,
digital sounds come via the system bus.
I would have to recommend the PAS 16 sound card on
price/performance basis.
-Ed
>> so I won't rub salt in the wounds. <<
I can see the beads of sweat starting to break out as you hold yourself
back.
My knowledge of sound boards is almost nill. That is the reason I got the
Creative Labs upgrade. I figured with the drive and the card matched there
would be less hassles. Now with all the horror stories told about SB I was
afraid to suggest it to Phil. That's the reason I got the rest of you into
it. My setup works well with very few problems but to connect another
CD-ROM drive other then the one supplied with the upgrade. Well I wasn't
sure how that would work.
I noticed that Ron Wodaski rates the PAS16 higher then the SB but his
"Author's Choice" is the Roland SCC-1 and Turtle Beaches MultiSound boards.
I still think that Phils problem is his SB since the 1.5 was made to give
sounds to games.
Kb
Kevin:
I would _never_ actively dissuade someone who has dcided on the
Sound Blaster. I will however actively recommend the PAS. CL is shipping
boards by the tens of thousands every month; most of those users are happy.
Ron's setup would still disappoint many gamers. Most games are not
able to utilize those high-end boards. For the cost of those boards and
appropriate speakers, one could buy his kids a complete MMPC computer
system.
PS Pleasant and safe journey
PPS Please disregard multiple messages. My navigation program not only
burped– it belched!
-Ed
>>Also Phil has a SB 1.5 which isn't hooked to the CD-ROM reader. Which by
the way brings up another point. Phil is looking into getting a new sound
board.<<
Kevin:
I see that others have replied about the audio tracks so I won't
rub salt in the wounds. (;{)]
As for the connection to the sound board, that has nothing to do
with the SCSI cable, audio tracks come to the board from the audio cable,
digital sounds come via the system bus.
I would have to recommend the PAS 16 sound card on
price/performance basis.
-Ed
>>Also Phil has a SB 1.5 which isn't hooked to the CD-ROM reader. Which by
the way brings up another point. Phil is looking into getting a new sound
board.<<
Kevin:
I see that others have replied about the audio tracks so I won't
rub salt in the wounds. (;{)]
As for the connection to the sound board, that has nothing to do
with the SCSI cable, audio tracks come to the board from the audio cable,
digital sounds come via the system bus.
I would have to recommend the PAS 16 sound card on
price/performance basis.
-Ed
Oops! I stand corrected. Now I'm getting two copies of Ed's messages,
too!
Jack:
Yeah! OZcis went berserk. Tried to post a message to Kevin PRI and
that's not supported by this forum. It wouldn't clear its message que and
everytime I logged on it sent everything again. Finally had to go in
barehanded and rip its guts out. Here I am back, bloody but unbow'd.
-Ed
Now, that's odd, since the CD Audio portion of audio is not available to
me within Nautilus, but Corel Audio finds it and plays it just fine in
amidst all that data….
I have no problem listening to the CD tracks while in Nautilus. Now with
the help of friends I figured out how to use the Media Player also.
Kb
Kevin…
PMJI… I wonder if I'm missing something.
I've got a 386/40 with SB basic and a Mitsumi drive. I can play sounds on
the various CDs I have, but I really don't know whether I'm missing hearing
some redbook on some of the disks.
For instance, the audio on Sherlock Holmes plays, but I don't think that's
redbook. I don't have Beethoven. Maybe I just don't have a disk with
redbook on it… I don't know.
How would I find out?
>>Maybe I just don't have a disk with redbook on it… I don't know. How
would I find out<<
Bob:
Do you have a CD player? Just pop in the disk (Keep the volume
down or you'll regret it if it starts to play Track 1).
The player will register "Digital Sound" although it won't be able
to play it. Any track above 1 should be audio and play fine.
Of course you should be able to do the same thing with any Windows
applett that plays CD_Audio, just don't choose track 1.
-Ed
Kevin, PMI (pardon my ignorance), but "music box"? What is that? All I have
on my PC is jukebox, which can play .mid files, and chatterbox, which
can play .wav files. I have a DOS-based program that can play audio CDs, but
not a windows program that can do that.
I really didn't explain myself to good on the problem that I have. What
happens when I try to play the tracks is that I get an MCI ERROR. It says
something to the effect that there is a unidentificable MCI error. I beleieve
what it is looking for is a MCI audio CD device driver. Because SB1.5 has no
such capacities, there is no driver to load. Does that makes sense?
BTW, over in the WINADV forum, I too see people having alot for trouble with
the SBPRO card. What I can't figure out is if it is the card or their fancy
equipment (SCSI cards, scanners etc) none of which I have.
Kevin, if I was to upgrade my CD setup, do you have a particular upgrade path
I should follow?
Phil 🙂
ps. >read on the flight< Where you off too, buddy??
Music Box is on my machine. But if I remember correctly that came with one
edition of Nautilus. I think it came with volume 2-12 but I could be wrong
about that. But if you are running Windows 3.1 you should atleast have
Media Player which will play audio CD's. Media player will play .mid,
.wav, avi, and audio.
When you start talking technical then nothing makes sense. But I would be
willing to bet that the sound board is the basis of your problem. I had
similar problems with my last CD. I had a NEC with the SB 1.5 and had
nothing but problems. The way I cured my problem was to get a Creative
Labs Multimedia Upgrade Kit. It is not top of the line but being a
complete system with the drive being matched to the board it eliminated
many of the problems that others are having. But there are better setups
out there for a few dollars more. But if you want a low cost fix then the
CL is the way to go. But in your situation a new sound card might be all
you need and again I suggest the MM Madness book he has a section on
hardware that explains the good and bad points. One other thing to check,
check your drivers and make sure that you have MCI Sound driver loaded.
That enables your computer to use the speaker in it for limited MM
capabilities.
As to where I am off to. I leave Sat for the Philippines to pick up my
wife who I have been waiting for the last eight months. I won't go into
details since most people here have already had to listen to the
never-ending saga. But it is going to be a great trip with a happy ending
because she is coming back with me.
Kb
Ok, Kevin. I'm missing a piece of info. I have media player. How do I get it
to play the music. How do I open the file that has the audio tracks? When I
open it, it only allows me to play either .wav files or .mid files. BTW,
check out the respone from J re:SBP for $60. What do U think about the deal?
Phil 🙂
Phil I went and tried my Media Player just to be on the safe side. I
popped in Natalie Cole and she played without a hitch. When you open your
Media Player under the device menu there is a CD audio. Just choose that
then push the play button and whammo ya got music. It won't work with
discs with mixed audio and data, so you won't be able to play the cd tracks
on Nautilus with it. I'll check out that offer but if it is a SBPro for 60
then you can't go wrong with it. The one to talk to would be Lynne, she is
using a SBPro with a CD Rom reader other then the panasonic that comes with
the CL Upgrade.
Kb
Kevin, Music Box also came with my SB Pro card, but doesn't come with
the 1.5.
For what it is worth department. I've been trying to get the CD tracks
from the Nautilus disk to play on my Media Player. The only way it works
for me is to put the Disc into the drive, load either Music Box or Pocket
CD player (a PAS product), play the 2nd track, stop, then load Media
Player, choose "Tracks", then play the 2nd track. Every time I try to use
Media Player first, I just get an error message.
Go figure….
Morey
Philip, It sounds like you have not installed the MCI CD audio driver.
When this is installed CD-AUDIO will be available in the Media Player. Use
the driver applet in the control panel to add the driver.
>>I have media player. How do I get it to play the music. How do I open the
file that has the audio tracks? When I open it, it only allows me to play
either .wav files or .mid files.<<
Phil:
Go to the Control Panel Drivers Applett and install the CD-Audio
driver and all MCI drivers. Don't forget to Setup any driver for which
that button is not grayed-out.
-Ed
>>I have media player. How do I get it to play the music. How do I open the
file that has the audio tracks? When I open it, it only allows me to play
either .wav files or .mid files.<<
Phil:
Go to the Control Panel Drivers Applett and install the CD-Audio
driver and all MCI drivers. Don't forget to Setup any driver for which
that button is not grayed-out.
-Ed
>>I have media player. How do I get it to play the music. How do I open the
file that has the audio tracks? When I open it, it only allows me to play
either .wav files or .mid files.<<
Phil:
Go to the Control Panel Drivers Applett and install the CD-Audio
driver and all MCI drivers. Don't forget to Setup any driver for which
that button is not grayed-out.
-Ed
Phil,
Maybe I'm missing something (actually, it's quite likely that I am),
but I think that if you can play ANY CDs, you can probably play CD_track
files. FWIW, I can access Nautilus CD_Track files from either Nautilus or
from the Windows file manager (by associating the files with the Media
Player [see p. 451 in your Windows 3.1 manual]). You get a directory from
your CDROM, associate the file if necessary, and doubleclick on it to
launch.
All I have is a Sony Laser Library CDROM connected to an SBPro audio
card. Before I figured out how to connect the external CDROM to the sound
card to route sound to my desktop speakers, I got CD sound and Nautilus CD
tracks from headphones connected to the CDROM drive. But I think that if
either your CDROM card or your audio card can interpret CD_track files,
that you can hear the output from somewhere. What I was missing before the
sound card was the ability to play .wav and .mid files, because the SLL
plays only CDs and some types of CDROM "multimedia" discs.
Lynne
Lynne, I have a SBv1.5, not a PRO. I beleive that is the source of my
problems in windows. I don't believe that SB1.5 can play audio CD under
windows, only in DOS.
Phil 🙂
Phil —
From the thread I've been reading, this seems to be getting a bit too
complicated. Let me add my .02 worth and see if it helps you any. Here goes:
Let's assume you have an MPC machine. Don't let this throw you, this only means
that you've got the basics needed for multimedia playback. The base you need is
a:
386sx or better (486 or better recommend, of course!)
CD ROM drive that has least 150k throughput
sound card
On the software side, you'll need Windows 3.1 and the appropriate drivers for
each of your hardware pieces (the cdrom drive and sound card).
If you're having trouble playing redbook, cd audio tracks, it's probably not
related to the SB card. The best thing to do at this point is run Media Player.
You should be able to play various digitized media right off the bat if you've
got everything set up correctly. Check the Devices menu for the available
options. If CD Audio isn't one them, use the Drivers appelet in the Windows
Control Panel to see if the CDAudio driver has been installed – not to mention
your Wave and MIDI drivers.
Nautilus uses the same system calls as Media Player to play cd audio tracks and
wave and midi files. So you should get the same results with either app. When
using Media Player on "mixed" CDs (those with both audio and data – ie, CD
ROMs), it's a bit strange. On my system, it won't work. Media Player just
won't let me skip track 1 (the data track) to get to the other tracks (the audio
ones). But on another person system in my office, it does. I think it has to
do with your CD ROM driver, but I never verified that.
However, on some past issue of Nautilus – I don't remember which volume, I'd
have to do a quick search on the Index.tbk book included on each disc (or else
ask Lupes, he might know) – we had a HighFive section devoted to cd players
which all worked pretty slick.
Hmm… now that I read this, I think I made it about as clear as mud. But maybe
you can still glean a few useful bits.
Margo Riedel
Nautilus
Margo,
Your explanation was certainly clear to me–but maybe that's because
I've already figured out how to do it.<vbg> Actually, one of the best things
about Nautilus is the great variety of files that it makes available for
experimentation.
Generally, I've been able to play everything on Nautilus (except for the
first version of a buggy demo or two), with only a 386SX 16MHz, SBPro Basic,
16-color VGA, and Sony Laser Library CDROM. That's why I keep the latest
disc in a caddy, handy for testing in case some new commercial disc gives
trouble. But I'm expecting to enjoy Nautilus even more, with my new 486/33.
Lynne
Margo, thanks for the help. I think that I know now what I've got to do. I
can't believe all the help that I have gotten on this forum in the last 2
months. These are some great, knowledgable people (you included)<g>.
I think your 2 cents worth is more like 2 million cents worth!!
Phil 🙂
Yes it can, but without the Pro you don't get the drivers and utilities
to do it.