Closing
a Device
The close (MCI_CLOSE) command releases access
to a device or file. MCI frees a device when all tasks using a device have
closed it. To help MCI manage the devices, your application must close each
device or file when it is finished using it.
When you
close an external MCI device that uses its own media instead of files (such as
CD audio), the driver leaves the device in its current mode of operation. Thus,
if you close a CD audio device that is playing, even though the device driver
is released from memory, the CD audio device will continue to play until it
reaches the end of its content.
Note Closing an
application with open MCI devices can prevent other applications from using
those devices until Windows is restarted.