MediaMonkey forum

What is a Virtual CD?

I already read that and didn't understand it. I need a simple explanation in simple non-techy English.

You don't need it.

If you use it (ie. rip CDs to the Virtual CD) MediaMonkey will recognize the files on the PC as belonging to the CD when you insert the CD again. However using it means you don't have control over the folder/filenames after ripping the files to the Virtual CD thus it is for most better to just rip and audio CD.

An alternative use is if you have files stored on a network location, and thus not available when you're not connected to the network to, to copy selected files to the Virtual CD as a local copy. MediaMonkey sees both copies as one and the same and will play the Virtual CD copy if you're off network.

Ok, that may have made perfect sense to you but it didn't to me.

What part doesn't make sense?

All of it. I still don't know any more than I did before.

In that case I suggest you don't use it as most users don't need it.

That's not an answer. How do you know I don't need it? So far, all you've said is what it is used for (which I still don't understand, probably because I still don't know what the heck it is), not what it is. Is it a special kind of physical CD, a regular CD formatted in a special way, a folder on the computer being called a Virtual CD? Does one create it first (in which case, how?), then use it, or does MM create it automatically in certain circumstances?

Guest wrote:That's not an answer. How do you know I don't need it? So far, all you've said is what it is used for (which I still don't understand, probably because I still don't know what the heck it is), not what it is. Is it a special kind of physical CD, a regular CD formatted in a special way, a folder on the computer being called a Virtual CD? Does one create it first (in which case, how?), then use it, or does MM create it automatically in certain circumstances?

It's just a way of ripping CDs so that you can catalog your physical CD collection, while also having a digital copy on your PC. When you put the CD into your computer, it will play the tracks directly from the CD, but will record the playcounts, and use the metadata that you have saved in your library from the same set of the ripped tracks. When the CD is not in the tray, it will play whatever digital version is on the PC (it could be any format, it's specified in the options).

TL;DR: A way to catalog physical CDs and link them to a ripped set on your PC without managing two separate sets of tracks.

No it isn't a type of CD, it is a way of ripping the CD to the computer. You can either rip (Tools > Rip Audio CD) or send to Virtual CD (Tools > Save to Virtual CD). The only difference between the 2 methods of copying files from a CD to your computer is that the Virtual CD remembers that the tracks on your PC belong to the CD when you insert the CD again at some point in the future. The price you pay though is that you can't move Virtual CD files around your PC, thus it is not recommended unless you really need MediaMonkey to recognize the tracks on the PC as belonging to the CD.

Sigh! So far, all anyone has said is what it does and what it isn't, not what it is.

It is a way to rip tracks to your PC. An alternative way to traditional ripping. The difference being that the ripped tracks are recognized as belonging to the CD they came from when you re-insert the CD in the future.

Guest wrote:Sigh! So far, all anyone has said is what it does and what it isn't, not what it is.

It's a feature in MM that does what I described above.

Guest: You're not alone; I don't get it either. Maybe more accurately I can't grasp it because I don't see any use for it; I don't play CDs on my computer. Congrats to those who do understand it.