IsoBuster supports Analog Play Audio. Right click and Audio Track and select Play Audio.
This will instruct the CD playback device (CD/DVD-ROM drive) to play the audio analogue.
Pros en cons :
Pro :
- Drive does it all. The system resources are not used at all
- It also works via the front jack of your CD/DVD-ROM
- No Digital Audio Extraction done by the system at high speed.
- Drive can play at 1x, so no spinning noises etc.
Con :
- (*)The audio cable needs to be connected at the back of the CD/DVD-ROM drive and must be connected to the Audio card.
FYI, all devices have such an audio output and all Audio cards have such an input.
(*) That is if you want to hear the sound via the sound card and boxes (not if you want to listen through the front audio jack).
If you're wondering, Analogue Audio playback is what is done by Windows 95 and 98. As of Windows ME however, Audio playback is done digitally which means that Windows is actually reading the audio data and is processing and converting the data by itself. As of WinXP the user can choose again in the advanced device properties.
Reading the Audio data is also known as DAE (Digital Audio Extraction). It is what IsoBuster does when it converts a track to a wave file, it is what other programs do when they rip the audio (e.g. to convert to mp3).