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Has Sony ever said why the PS4 doesn't play CDs?
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Wowfunhappy
Member
Is the PS4 drive physically capable of reading CD's?
(Believe it or not, BluRay/DVD drive hardware is not inherently backwards compatible.)
(Believe it or not, BluRay/DVD drive hardware is not inherently backwards compatible.)
SodiumBenzoate
Member
Philips still holds the patent IIRC so Sony probably thought the couple cents per unit license fee wasn't worth it.
Edit: oh yeah the physical laser is different too. That's a real manufacturing cost reason.
Edit: oh yeah the physical laser is different too. That's a real manufacturing cost reason.
Some people say the BD drive is not compatible. Sounds crazy but it could be. I tested putting incompatible DVD and CDs and they were thrown into different sections of the library (CDs went to Games, as if it thought it was an unreadable Blu-Ray disc. DVDs with stuff other than movies went to Applications, as if it knew that it's not a game but wasn't sure what it is).
Not that crazy of an idea
Not that crazy of an idea
No big loss. Betamax is the better technology anyway.
Is this the worst first post ever?
It's so that they don't have to incorporate the laser for a CD-ROM into the design of the disc drive. They dropped PS1 BC so it would only be there to read audio CDs. DVD and Blu-Ray lasers read different wavelengths, neither of which is compatible with CD.
Sony got with the times, now we just need to send the message to all the JRPG devs (and Nintendo) that include a fucking music CD but no MP3 download code with their Collector's Editions. I'm surprised that doesn't piss more people off. I don't think I even have a way to play CDs in my apartment.
Beat me to it, I recall it being this as well. The console is mostly digital for content.
zephervack
Member
PS4 doesnt play legacy technology like 4k Bluray in the PS4 Pro.
Shil Pencer
Member
Xbox one plays cds....iam pretty shocked ps4 doesnt
Best.
sublimit
Banned
?
I never put an audio CD to my PS4...because i know it doesn't play them lol.
Or do you mean i am the only person who wants their PS4 to play audio CDs?
It's not, because the concept is correct. The PS4 lacks the hardware to play CDs.
TheShampion
Member
I'm with ya OP, I have to use the Xbox One to play CDs, and it has less functionality than the 360 player because you can't import the CD AFAIK.
itshutton
Member
Or is it the best?
That would be weird if it had a drive capable of playing VHS tapes.
In short, yes. They would have had to go to some effort to make a drive that can't; early DVD drives with just one laser tuned for DVDs could still read pressed CDs. The only reason multiple lasers were added to optical drives was a specific frequency was required for CD-Rs.
The real answer was Sony was pushing their streaming service really hard in the beginning. Even the web browser doesn't support any audio-only codecs, even after Sony added support for ogg and FLAC for the media player. And it took a lot of hair pulling just to get the bare-bones media player.
Sony's audio support is so bad, the way Plex plays music on the PS4 is to transcode the audio into a blank video container and then ignore the video portion on the client.
Wowfunhappy
Member
Excuse me for getting on my soapbox a little bit, but I don't understand this trend in the technology industry where anything that's "old" or "legacy" is inherently bad or inefficient.
Yes, putting a VHS player into a PS4 would be stupid. It would take up too much space and probably increase the cost of the machine a decent amount. Similarly, putting a CD drive in a small, lightweight laptop doesn't make much sense and (in most cases) would clearly make the device worse.
But giving a console THAT ALREADY HAS AN OPTICAL DISC DRIVE the ability to play CD's? That would probably add pennies (or less) to the overall cost of the console. It would take up no additional space and would not make the console any more fragile. So why not support it? Just because CD's are "old"?
Y'know the nice thing about, say, books? I can buy a hardcover book, and I'll be able to read it for the rest of my life. Yes, I know, technology is a lot more complicated than that—but why cut off legacy support where we don't have to?
(Don't even get me started on the headphone jack.)
Oh, I thought you tried it out and thats how you found out.
What I am saying is this: who the fuck uses CDs anymore? And to make matters even worse: who uses their console as their primary audio player?
lyrick
Member
If it could play CDs, they would have even less of a leg to stand one by denying compatibility with PS1 game discs.
They have never specified why it doesn't do a lot of things every other PlayStation console has been able to do in the past, but it probably has to do with selling you services that you wouldn't bother with if they provided a free alternative.
They have never specified why it doesn't do a lot of things every other PlayStation console has been able to do in the past, but it probably has to do with selling you services that you wouldn't bother with if they provided a free alternative.
Because they are cheapasses. That's it.
Could get around this by requiring a initial online activation of the feature.
That would be a good option, but the backlash alone here would stop this from ever happening.
Can't you just rip the CDs and play them from a usb drive?
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps4/music/usbmusic.html
http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps4/music/usbmusic.html
friskykillface
Banned
PS1 most likely is one of the reasons
$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$$$$
Yeah rally haha. Gamers would riot, despite 95% of them having no intention of ever using it.
Yeah, I believe they already do this for the DVD movie player (or BD, not sure).
CharminUltra
Member
Tried a mini-disc in mine with no luck
Haven't been able to get the UMD out of the drive, so I gotta stick with digital downloads. GDI Sony.
chronic_archaic
Member
It's how it works on Xbox One - at least it requires an app you need to download, it won't play them out of the box, or DVD/blu ray for that matter either.
On this topic however Sony has been really anti consumer with things like this and the lack of PS1/PSP BC - features that would be easy to add but they really don't give a shit with the sales they make.
Not much of a license fee since all the relevant patents have long expired, the redbook logo is about the only thing that needs a license and no one cares if it's there any more, and Sony would get half the tiny fee anyway.
Imbarkus
As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
I have a big imported song library on my PS3 that my kids and I used to groove on while playing stuff together.
I suppose Spotify integration is the new-and-approved form of that. Custom soundtracks is still a woefully neglected feature, even if you were forced to do it via streaming service.
My kids hardly own songs anymore, or understand the appeal of the distinction.
I suppose Spotify integration is the new-and-approved form of that. Custom soundtracks is still a woefully neglected feature, even if you were forced to do it via streaming service.
My kids hardly own songs anymore, or understand the appeal of the distinction.
FirmBizBws
Becomes baffled, curling up into a ball when confronted with three controller options.
Because its not 1999 anymore
This argument would make sense if CDs were not produced, bought or given shelf space in 2017.
Either way its probably better to just rip CDs and put them on a flash drive or something.
DarkConfidant
Member
I tried when I first bought mine. I also tried some PSone games. They worked on PS3s, 2s, and 1s. Wasn't 100% clear if they cut PSone support or not. It worked so well on PS3, PSP, and Vita through emulation.
sublimit
Banned
You heard it here folks!Throw you CD collections to your trash bins and buy all your albums again digitally because what the hell "it's not 1999 anymore".
iceblade997
Member
Well said, and I agree with a lot of your points. Adding CD playback doesn't sound much more complicated in the design stage than adding BC for PS1 (let alone PS3) and both of those latter two requests are requested rather often.
For as much of a multimedia device as the PS3 was (even a super slim - not just the fats), it's strange to see Sony go so strongly away from all of that considering how much of a media company they themselves are.
^ and how many PS1 games are available on PlayStation Store for PS4?
Why are there always answers like these when someone asks/criticizes something about Sony missing simple stuff?
Games' OST for Sony's own games are released in CD (because the quality is way better than what they sell you in the PS Store) and you can't even play them on their console.
Also I don't get this comment.
Rellik
Member
Then why not do it like they did with the DVD player? They don't pay for that until you activate it on your PS4.
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