Audiobook Builder tells me it’s unable to eject a CD because something’s still using it. Wha?

Have you seen a message like this after importing a CD?

Audiobook Builder 1.5.6
 Unable to eject disk
The disk or some of its contents may be in use by another application.
Disk:  I Am the Pretty Little Audiobook That Haunts Your Subway Commute [Disc 13]

It’s been on our radar for quite a while but we were flat stumped because it never happened on any of our Macs.

Until yesterday.  A very helpful user reported the error and almost immediately they realized it was only happening when their Mac’s display went to sleep during the import.  So we set a Mac to let its displays sleep after 1 minute and bingo!

A couple of hours of testing on various versions of macOS later and now we know:  since OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion no process can eject a CD while the display is asleep without resorting to brute force.  We’re not brutish so…

Wait.  Are we?

Of course not.  And so a most elegant fix is on the way:  Audiobook Builder 1.5.7 will prevent the display from sleeping while it’s importing a disc, but not while it’s waiting for the next disc.  That way it’ll be able to eject discs just like old times – and your display will still sleep if, while waiting for the next disc, your Mac is left idle the requisite time per your Energy Saver settings.

The fix is already in a pre-release build you can download right now if you’d like.  Shoot us a message at support@splasm.com and we’ll get you set up.  Otherwise, the official 1.5.7 release should be out in a matter of weeks.

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