Question:

I am having problems making my CD (or microphone or other audio) programs work. They seem okay, but no sound comes out. How can I fix it?

Answer:

Did you make sure to "Enable" or "Unmute" the CD Audio channel on your sound card? This is done with the Volume Control panel applet. Double click the tiny yellow speaker in the tooltray, then look at the Volume Control dialog closely. Here is a copy of mine:

As you can see, my CD Audio volume slider is fairly high (yes, I crank the tunes. <smile>). But you can also see that the "mute" checkbox is unchecked. Some sound cards use the reverse logic, preferring to have an "enable" box instead. Make sure yours are set appropriately.

If you don't have a CD Audio volume slider shown, you can display it by using the Options->Properties menu and then selecting it. The following shows what that dialog will look like:

Here you can see that the "Playback" controls are selected (very important) and the CD Audio control is selected (checked). Once you have the CD Audio slider displayed, you can make sure it is properly enabled and its volume is set properly.