why doesnt winamp read cd text
 

i cant get winamp to read cd text - am i doing something wrong or do i need to download a plugin

Nullsoft would have to pay Sony or whoever it is that holds the copyrights too much, so CDText is not included. However, you can always use the CDDB :)

does your cd/dvd drive even read cd text?

a lot don't...

yes my cd reads cd text, i know cause i've been using
Easy CD Extractor and it worked well and it just seems stupid - Easy cd extractor reads cd text and saves the information in cdplayer.ini but winamp still doesn't read it so i have to enter all manually, and when i turn on cd player from windows it works well. yes, there is cddb, but i get a lot of cds burned by my friends without any cover or any info except cd text - can i atleast do something to make winamp read data from cdplayer.ini?

As far as I know, the CD Reader plugin uses cdplayer.ini. Install this plugin, making sure that you follow the instructions in the readme file which explains how do disable the default plugin.