Recently, I was at a show where as part of the programme, a school kid was to perform a dance. The kid was on the stage, but the CD that had the song refused play. The guy handling the sound system said the CD was ‘faulty', but the teacher who had come along insisted that the CD had been used for rehearsals.

It turned out that the CD was perfect. It was the sound system that was at fault. It was either too old to play the latest audio formats or was not recognising some codec. The kid, who was almost in tears, was called back. A young girl, who was helping the organisers had a brilliant idea. She fished out her laptop and the optical drive read the CD played without a hitch. She pleaded with the chief organiser for one more chance for the kid. A mic was placed near the laptop's speaker. Though the sound quality was not up to the mark, the kid finished her performance and was visibly relieved.

The lesson to be learnt is that if you have a CD, it doesn't mean it will play in all music systems. Some music systems, especially the ones brought by the neighbourhood soundwallah, may not play all formats. Even if they play the format, it may not recognise some rare codecs used in the CD. It is better to be well prepared and have at least two or three formats - MP3, WMA - of the song(s) ready - in separate CDs.

As far as possible, while buring a CD, don't use the ‘data CD' option, but use the ‘audio CD' option. You could also test the CD in a portable CD player. If it does, take the portable player along with you to the programme as a backup. . Yes, it is a pain to create multiple CDs in different formats or carry an audio system, but it is worth it. You can avoid unnecessary confusion for the little one waiting on the stage.

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