Before the computer began to be used as the only equipment for playing music files, a special format CDA - Compact disc Digital Audio was created for listening to laser discs on players, radio tape recorders, audio players and other similar technical devices. It allowed the equipment to easily find the desired track and play it.
Characteristics
Unlike the more familiar WAV files, the CDA file is not a collection of musical information encrypted in bits, but only a link to the audio track that is on the CD. Thus, during playback, any playing device, including a personal computer, simply opens the CD package and finds the required track. Being in fact only a link, CDA has a small weight, which does not reach even one kilobit.
How to play
If there is a CD in the drive, the computer will easily find and open music tracks that are in the CDA format. For these purposes, you should use a variety of programs that can be downloaded absolutely free of charge, as well as standard players of the operating system. If the computer does not play the format with the specified software, you need to additionally install audio codecs that will help the device recognize and read the file.
To play this format, depending on different operating systems, you may need different programs.
For Windows OS:
- iTunes;
- Real Networks Player;
- Video LAN media player;
- Windows Media Player;
- Winamp Media Player
- J. River Media Center.
For Mac OS:
- Apple iTunes;
- Real Networks Player;
- Video LAN media player.
For Linux OS:
- Video LAN VLC media player.
However, it makes no sense to copy these files, since these are just shortcuts, and they will not be played without a media. Immediately after removing the CD from the optical drive, the music track stops playing.
In order to save data on a computer, you should use a special program such as CD Ripper, Exact Audio Copy, etc. This software can convert files to the more familiar MP3, WAV, WMA, etc. formats. Such programs are small in size and have a fairly simple interface, understand with which even a not very experienced user can.
Creating a virtual image
In order to get high quality music files without compression, which is used when converting to MP3 and WAV formats, you should create a virtual image of a laser disc. This can be done using special programs such as Alcohol 120%, Nero, DAEMON Tools, etc. This software creates an exact copy of the laser disc and can run it directly on the computer at any time without the need for presence. laser disc drive, select the required option and follow the instructions. Before launching music tracks, you need to make sure that the created image is placed in
How to make CDA format
It's easy to change. To convert music files to CDA format using a computer, you need to use the same emulator programs mentioned above. They will copy the data and place it as needed directly on a blank CD. After that, the laser media can be used in players, music centers and other similar equipment that does not always read popular computer audio formats. This is especially true for older models of technical devices.
The CDA format is a special type of music files that can be played using a variety of playback devices. In order to copy the necessary data directly to a PC, you need to use special programs that will convert the information or create its virtual image.
How to open the .cda format?
To understand how and how to open cda, it is worth understanding what it is.
CDA (Compact disc Digital Audio) is a digital recording format for compact discs. It appeared much earlier than computers became widespread, and was used to record on discs that were played in consumer audio players. On computers at that time they were not even going to listen and process music. When such an opportunity came to the minds of users and developers, an analogue of cda was created - the wav format.
At its core, cda is not exactly a file, but rather a link to the audio track of a CD that does not contain audio data, but only an indication of the location of the track on the media. Provided there is a disc in the drive, such tracks (tracks) are played by any conventional player installed on the computer. When reading a disk, the PC creates links to tracks that are visible to the user as Track.01.cda, Track.02.cda, and so on. The weight of such files is 44 bytes (the rounded value is displayed in Explorer - 1 KB).
Thus, it becomes clear that the player can play the song only as long as the cda link has somewhere to point to. Once you eject the disc, it's a link to nowhere. That is why copying or forwarding such a file makes absolutely no sense - there is useful information in it with a gulkin nose.
So, just like how to open cda format so you can listen to music without inserting a CD?
The only way is to copy the tracks from the disc to the hard drive by converting them to the related wav format or by compressing them into the popular mp3. Such programs are called grabbers or rippers.
A good example of such a program is CDex. A simple and user-friendly interface contains just a few buttons:
- CDA - WAV - convert cda format to wav format;
- CDA - MP3 - convert cda format to mp3 format;
- WAV - MP3 - convert wav format to mp3 format;
- MP3 - WAV - convert mp3 format to wav format;
- Compression settings - more on that later.
As you understand, the WAV - MP3 and MP3 - WAV buttons are for converting files on your computer.
In addition, in the list of tracks in the window of this program, the size of the future wav or mp3 file, the duration of its sound, and the artist and name of the composition are displayed. True, this can not be seen in every case, but only when the compiler of the disc took care to put this information there.
The "Compression Settings" button (with a yellow gear icon) allows you to change some parameters. For example, the compression ratio in mp3 format. The fact is that an uncompressed sound file takes up space, or weighs a lot. If the weight does not matter, but you want to keep the quality to the maximum, then you should select a high bitrate in the parameters - say, 256 Kbit / s. Then, for example, a three-minute output song will weigh about 6 Mb. And with a bitrate of 128 Kbit/s or even 64 Kbit/s, the same song can be about 1.5 Mb.
Besides CDex help in the problem of addition, how to open cda, can EAC. Also simple and convenient software, but often does not see the same embedded text with information about the artist, title, size and duration of the composition. Otherwise, EAC is a full-fledged competitor to CDex. Both of these programs are distributed free of charge.
Having mastered these simple programs (or any other similar ones), you can forever get rid of the question of whether how to open cda file and how to listen to such music without a disc. Now you can copy your favorite albums in a convenient format, create your own audio library and enjoy good music without worrying about changing discs in the drive, or try to buy music exclusively in mp3.
Good day.
I was going through my music CD collection. And I remembered how bewildered I was by the CDA format when I first tried to copy songs to a computer and then play them without a compact.
Those who have also done this know that nothing will come of it. Despite the fact that now we listen mainly to MP3. However, someone else may be in a similar situation.
Therefore, the idea came to me to write about this extension and explain why this happens and how to deal with it.
Decryption
CDA is an acronym for Compact Disk Audio. And without translation it is clear where this format is used.
It is one of the oldest, but is still used today. Because this is the easiest and highest quality option for recording digital data. They are saved uncompressed, so they must be played back at a fixed disk speed.
Why doesn't music play without a disc?
To listen to the songs, any CD player, including a computer drive, will do. However, if you want to copy music to your computer in the usual way and listen to it by pulling out the compact, you will be disappointed. Why?
The files you transferred are created automatically by the operating system during playback from the disc. They are only links. Which indicate the location of a particular song on the compact, but do not contain the sound itself. This is also hinted at by their size, calculated in kilobytes. In fact, these are just labels with information about where a certain track begins and ends.
How to copy CD?
If you are going to listen to audio on a computer directly from a disk, then any program for playing media files will do: Winamp, VLC, AIMP, etc. But if you want to transfer the content to the hard drive and then listen from it, then Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V won't work here.
I don't want to repeat myself a hundred times. I have covered this topic in more detail in this post:
And on this I think it is necessary to round off. Nothing more to write here :)
Until we meet again on my blog.
Apple iTunes is a software categorized as a media player computer application for playing, downloading, organizing and saving various files, which are digital audios and videos. There is also a feature that enables content management from iPod models, iPad Touch, iPhone, and iPad. This software can be connected to iTunes Store so a user can download or buy music, videos, audio books, ringtones or even games for iPod in just a click of a button. In fact, it allows the download of various applications via the App Store for some Apple devices, which are iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. The downside of this is that it does not enable music transfer from one device to another unit. This program is compatible for Apple’s Mac OS X version 10.6.8 and other later versions, but also works for current Windows OS such as Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista, then for the upcoming Windows 8. 
Microsoft Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player Playlist (WPL) is a computer file format that keeps multimedia playlists for video and audio collections. It is an owned file format utilized in Microsoft Windows Media Player versions 9 to 12. The fundamentals of WPL files are represented in XML format. These .WPL files can be accessed and utilized by the application version as well as the Roxio Creator 2012 program. WPL files are also known as Windows Media Player playlist files, which are indicated by the Microsoft Windows Media Player or the other media players with support for WPL files as reference data when users open these playlist files and begin to access the content stored in it. The top-level aspect specifies that the file "s elements go after the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) structure. The information contained in these WPL files are directory locations to the video files and audio content chose by the creator of the .WPL file , this enables the media player application to quickly and easily find and play the video and audio content from their directory locations. 
Nullsoft Winamp Media Player 5.6
Nullsoft Winamp Media Player 5.6
Winamp Media Player 5.6 is a popular media player for Windows. This player was developed by Nullsoft and it allows users to play multimedia content such as audio and video. The software not only provides users with all the tools they need to organize their audio and video files but it also allows them to burn and rip CDs and even sync files from mobile devices. Winamp also features a playlist editor that allows users to create and manage their song lists as well as its media library effectively organizes all the audio and video files so that they can be located in one location. This software also has visualization features while animated graphics can be displayed along with the music being played. This media player also comes with a customizable user interface while users can change skins, as well as it supports not only a large number of file formats but it also supports a lot of user-developed plug ins. 
VideoLan VLC Media Player
VideoLan VLC Media Player
VideoLan VLC Media player is a multi-media player software that is considered to be an open source and cross platform multimedia player with framework. Thus, a product that can play most of the standard files of multimedia plus CDs, DVDs and VCDs. It also plays different streaming protocols, supported applications or devices and webcams. There is also the ability to play audios of various codecs even if there are no codec packs included: MPEG-2, WebM, MP3, WMV and MKV. This software works on most Windows computers, Mac OS X PCs, Linux and well as Unix. In addition, there is a descryption for DVD which is executed via the libdvdcss library. It also has playback control support for all computers compatible with it using libcdio or libvcdinfo. On Mac computers, this media player can grab audios and videos from EyeTV applications and other devices that capture EyeTV data. On GNU and Linux, it supports encoding cards that are compatible with V4L2 and MPEG-2 which are Visiontech Kfir and Hauppage WinTV-PVR 250-350.You "re here because you have a file that has a file extension ending in .cda. Files with the file extension .cda can only be launched by certain applications. It"s possible that .cda files are data files rather than documents or media , which means they "re not meant to be viewed at all.
what is a .cda file?
The CDA file extension is a data format known as CD Audio Track Shortcut. CDA files are small (44 bytes) virtual file created by Microsoft Windows CD driver for each track on an audio CD. They contain indexing information such as track times plus a special Windows shortcut that allows users to access the specific audio tracks. They do not contain music, instead point to where the music is located on the CD. These files instruct the computer which audio track to play on a CD. CDA files will not play when separated from the CD they represent. Converting CDA files is called ripping, which is copying music from a CD onto a computer. These files can be converted to WAV, MP3, WMA, OGG, and FLAC. Files in CDA format can be opened with Apple iTunes, VideoLAN VLC media player and other audio player in Mac Os, Microsoft Windows based and Linux platforms.
how to open a .cda file?
Launch a .cda file, or any other file on your PC, by double-clicking it. If your file associations are set up correctly, the application that"s meant to open your .cda file will open it. It"s possible you may need to download or purchase the correct application. It "s also possible that you have the correct application on your PC, but .cda files aren't yet associated with it. In this case, when you try to open a .cda file, you can tell Windows which application is the correct one for that file. From then on, opening a .cda file will open the correct application.
applications that open a .cda file
Apple iTunes
Apple iTunes is a software categorized as a media player computer application for playing, downloading, organizing and saving various files, which are digital audios and videos. There is also a feature that enables content management from iPod models, iPad Touch, iPhone, and iPad. This software can be connected to iTunes Store so a user can download or buy music, videos, audio books, ringtones or even games for iPod in just a click of a button. In fact, it allows the download of various applications via the App Store for some Apple devices, which are iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. The downside of this is that it does not enable music transfer from one device to another unit. This program is compatible for Apple’s Mac OS X version 10.6.8 and other later versions, but also works for current Windows OS such as Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista, then for the upcoming Windows 8.
Microsoft Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player Playlist (WPL) is a computer file format that keeps multimedia playlists for video and audio collections. It is an owned file format utilized in Microsoft Windows Media Player versions 9 to 12. The fundamentals of WPL files are represented in XML format. These .WPL files can be accessed and utilized by the application version as well as the Roxio Creator 2012 program. WPL files are also known as Windows Media Player playlist files, which are indicated by the Microsoft Windows Media Player or the other media players with support for WPL files as reference data when users open these playlist files and begin to access the content stored in it. The top-level aspect specifies that the file "s elements go after the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) structure. The information contained in these WPL files are directory locations to the video files and audio content chose by the creator of the .WPL file , this enables the media player application to quickly and easily find and play the video and audio content from their directory locations.
Nullsoft Winamp Media Player 5.6
Nullsoft Winamp Media Player 5.6
Winamp Media Player 5.6 is a popular media player for Windows. This player was developed by Nullsoft and it allows users to play multimedia content such as audio and video. The software not only provides users with all the tools they need to organize their audio and video files but it also allows them to burn and rip CDs and even sync files from mobile devices. Winamp also features a playlist editor that allows users to create and manage their song lists as well as its media library effectively organizes all the audio and video files so that they can be located in one location. This software also has visualization features while animated graphics can be displayed along with the music being played. This media player also comes with a customizable user interface while users can change skins, as well as it supports not only a large number of file formats but it also supports a lot of user-developed plug ins.
VideoLan VLC Media Player