Are the CDs over-long, then? The original standard said 74 minutes (allegedly to accommodate Beethoven's 9th), but I've never had a problem ripping the 80-minute CDs that are now viewed as the maximum.

There are, as tfabris suggests, CD copy-protection mechanisms which can cause these symptoms. If the CD is multi-session, say dual-session, and has a bogus TOC in the second session, then audio CD players will play it correctly (as they're not typically multi-session aware), but CD-ROM drives will get confused. Fortuitously, Rio Central will rip such CDs (it deliberately reads the first-session TOC to avoid problems caused by mis-mastering) but I'm not sure what else will. Do the CDs or packaging have the "compact disc" logo? They usually aren't allowed to do that if they incorporate copy protection.


You can get 9 hours of audio on 7 CDs. My best guess is also that they're being cheapskates, but I think only by using an unreliable CD production house whose CDs wander out of spec at the outer edge.

Still not as cheapskate as the disc I heard of once where they'd got a two-hour mono recording onto one CD by making their listeners play it once through with the left channel muted, then again with the right channel muted...

Peter