When the OS/2 multimedia system is streaming multimedia information from a CD-ROM drive, attempts by other applications to access and control the CD drive for normal file system operations can be suspended until the streaming operation is ended. The stream can be interrupted by a pause or a stop command, the completion of playback, or the ejection of the disc. Once the stream is interrupted, any applications that were waiting can resume their attempts to gain control of the device.
If the CD audio device is being shared and the disc is changed on an application which had lost use of the device, any active play command may be aborted with an error of MCIERR_MEDIA_CHANGED when use of the device is subsequently regained.