Playing CD through bluetooth speakers

Hi meburgo4,

I can mention that I've been experiencing this issue since the release of Monterey. I listen to a lot of cd's and I use bluetooth headphones but this has not been possible since Monterey. I have raised support tickets, Apple support has received tons of logs up to the point that they are not replying anymore. It is still not working and I don't think it will ever will, it's broken.

I have used Apple Superdrive and now I use a Verbatim bluray/dvd/cd player and I've tested on macbook M1 and intel iMac, both with Airpods and AKG headphones. Same issue. It's a shame that they no longer can support audio cds over bluetooth.

I have the same issue... I will insert a cd into the Apple Super Drive and it will play it using the iMac speakers, but if I try to use any Bluetooth device, the CD will NOT play... I can play music from my Library just not the CD. I am on Sonoma 14.4.1... and there are no updates, the iMac is totally up to date, and I am at my wits end because I don't want to spend more money on anther drive when the Apple Super Drive is just a month old, as is the adapter that I was forced to buy because Apple doesn't make a Super Drive with USB-C even thou the iMacs and laptops all have USB-C. I hope someone can help.

Hey there meburgo4,

We'd like to help by ruling out some basics, along with learning more about what's happening:

1. We see you have macOS 11.7 installed, but the latest version for that older one is macOS 11.7.10. You can verify this by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, then on ‘About This Mac’. In case you needed it, this link shows how to first back up, then update: Update macOS on Mac
2. Sometimes unexpected behavior can be resolved with a restart. Check out the section ‘Restart ' here: Log out, sleep, wake, restart, or shut down your Mac
3. If you were able to play audio to your Bluetooth speakers while playing directly from the external CD drive in the past, when did this start?

Cheers!

Hey meburgo4,

Thanks for clarifying that for us.

You can play music from a CD connected to an external drive in on your Mac per the article, Play CDs in Music on Mac. However, you may need to manually select your Bluetooth speakers in the AirPlay pop-up menu at the top of the Music window, and the volume control on the speakers isn’t turned down after you start playing the CD.

Still not working? The coding and technology changes when you import or download content from a CD to Music on your Mac. Songs available from Apple Music, the iTunes Store, or imported and downloaded to your library uses an encoder to convert the song to the most compatible file format for Apple devices. You can lear more about this concept in the Apple Music User Guide article, If you have problems playing music on Mac.

This may also be why the music is playing to your Bluetooth speakers without issue when you download it.

Kindest Regards.