Inspiron 3881, CD music will not play

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How old is this PC? Have you ever replaced the motherboard battery?

It's possible the CD laser failed but the (separate) DVD laser still works.  Put a data CD (not a commercial audio CD) in the drive. Then shut PC down normally. 

Power on and tap F12 when you see the Dell splash screen. Select the option to run the diagnostics from the menu. Run diagnostics on the optical drive with that data CD in the drawer. (Note, if you don't put the data CD in the drive first, and then reboot, the diagnostics will "fail" even if the drive is still good.) 

@RoHe​ Thanks for that. The result was no problems with CD player which is a result of sorts. It still will not play a CD using 4 different software types. I assume that the optical drive [CD] is ok based on this test result?

@4a4ids  -

The test says it can see the disk, but doesn't necessarily mean it can play it.

Version of Windows?

Does "4 different software types" mean 4 different CD players?

Have you run the Windows Hardware Troubleshooter?

Is the drive correctly identified in Device Manager?

You could try this:

1. At desktop, open a CMD prompt window, Run as administrator
2. At the prompt, type in: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter.  Be sure to include a space in front of each / and note any error messages when that's done.
3. Assuming no "unfixed" errors in #2, at the CMD prompt again, type in: sfc /scannow and press Enter. Be sure to include a space in front of the / and note any errors when that's done.
4. Assuming no unfixed errors in #2 or #3, reboot and try audio CD again.

BTW: You didn't mention when/if you cleared BIOS and installed a fresh motherboard battery...