Remember when CDs or compact discs were a thing? While technically, they still are, their popularity and usage have dropped immensely with the rise in other standards like USB, as the latter continues to evolve, getting faster and gaining more features. Recently, Microsoft enforced some mandatory requirements for USB Type-C so as to ensure a uniform and consistent experience for Windows 11 users.
On the topic of Windows 11 and CDs, a CD ripping tool from the Windows 95/98 era, dubbed "CD2WAV32," is back again after 16 years (from the Windows 7 era). The utility has now been updated to work on Windows 11 version 24H2, which is pretty cool.
This was not planned, says the author, as they simply wanted to test the app on their newly upgraded Windows 11 PC, but ended up going all the way to make it fully work on Windows 11. Their Windows 11 runs an AMD Ryzen 9600X, 64 GB RAM, and an Nvidia GT 1030 (miswritten as "GT1300").
The developer of the tool notes that they did not run thorough tests on Windows 10, but it works on their Atom-based PC, which is another relic, given how fast technology moves. The author writes (Google-translated from Japanese to English):
"From now on, it will only support Windows 11 (24H2). The reason is that this is the only environment the author currently has. I haven't done anything particularly fancy, so I think it will work properly on Windows 10, but I can't guarantee it. All I have left is an ATOM machine that I bought a long time ago that also runs Windows 10, so I've seen that it works lightly on that, but I can't do a detailed test."
Atom, for those wondering, was Intel's low-power CPU lineup that it decided to axe back in 2016. The story is similar to how Microsoft gave up on Windows Lumia, as Intel, too, abandoned its mobile chip ambitions once the likes of Qualcomm and MediaTek took over.
In terms of the underlying changes, the utility has been compiled now on Delphi 12.1 Community Edition, which is used to make native Windows apps as well as ones for macOS, iOS, and Android. The recent update also brings a significant overhaul in terms of compatibility as well as UX/UI.
File sizes and other such metadata are now handled using a 64-bit format instead of the prior 32-bit approach, eliminating overflow issues and ensuring large file and disk space values are displayed correctly. This change is necessary given that large storage volumes are quite common these days.
Additionally, support for 16-bit code calling functions has been entirely removed as Windows 11 is 64-bit only; thus, features like MSCDEX and TwinVQ compression are gone.
Meanwhile, the font has been changed from MSP Gothic 9pt to Meiryo 10pt, so readability should not be a problem even on 4K screens. In terms of audio file encoding support, it is said to work with MP3 as well as WMA.
So, should you download and run it? Probably not, given that the UI is entirely Japanese, but it is still a fun project to look at. Interestingly, the stock Windows Media Player already did that as it could both rip and burn CDs.
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