Definition: CD-ROM audio cable

A cable used to send audio CD sound to the computer's sound card. When playing audio CDs, CD-ROM drives output analog sound to both a headphone jack and external connector just like a CD player. This method is still the way audio CDs are played on a computer, but it was the only method available on earlier CD-ROM drives for extracting data from an audio CD. By the mid-1990s, most CD-ROM drives could pass the digital data over the computer's bus (see digital audio extraction).

PCs today use a standard four-pin cable; however, earlier cards and drives used connectors with three to six pins. Finding the right cable was a problem, and the earliest drives had no connector. An advantage of the multimedia upgrade kits that were popular before CD-ROMs were standard issue on a PC was that they included the card, drive and the correct cable. In lieu of this connection, a stereo cable from the headphone jack of the drive to the AUDIO IN of the sound card could always be used.

Digital and Audio Outputs

CD-ROM drives convert audio CD data to analog and send it to the sound card and headphones. They also send audio CD data to the computer's bus, which is known as "digital audio extraction."