Burning Audio CDs

[edonnelly]

I am hopeful that someone here can help me solve this problem.

I have several audio files in .wma (a windows media) format that I would like to burn onto a CD so I can listen to them in my car. I have tried Windows Media Player to burn them as an audio CD* (yes, they are definitely an audio CD). The CDs work on my home stereo, but they consistently (9 times out of 10) fail to play in my car CD player. I'm guessing that the problem is either (1) the Windows Media Player isn't burning a fully-compliant audio CD, and so it often fails, or (2) I need better quality blank CDs. It's just irritating since they always work in one CD player but usually (not always) fail in another. The car CD player consistently works fine for all other (i.e., commercial) CD's. Should I get new CD's, a new burning program, or something completely different?

Thanks,
Ed

*(All the information I find elsewhere on the internet insists that the problem is that a data CD is being burned, and the only solution ever offered is to try to burn it as an audio CD).

[Thucydides]

Not all CD players can read all kinds of CD. A CD Player can be:
-CD compliant
-CDR compliant
-CDRW compliant

What you burn is either cdr or cdrw, and older players sometimes can only play plain old CDs. Apparently.

[William]

...and older players sometimes can only play plain old CDs. Apparently.

Yes, I've had this problem, too. I had to upgrade the factory supplied cd player in the car to a newer unit. I went the cheap route and spent only about $200 including installation. My burned cd's worked fine after that.

WB

[GlottalGreekGeek]

However older blank CDs (if you have them) might work too. When they expanded the maximum memory limit from 650 MB to 700 MB, older CD players had trouble with the more compact format (this applies as much to new 700 MB commercial CDs as burned CDs). However, if you can play recent commerical CDs in your car radio, then this is not the issue.

[edonnelly]

Thank you all for the very helpful (though not exactly what I was hoping to hear) information. Basically, I'm probably out of luck, probably need to get a new CD player for the car, but maybe could get away with trying some old 650's if I can find them.

older CD players had trouble with the more compact format

Maybe it's just hopeful thinking on my part, but since it did work about 10% of the time, I'm interpreting this as my CD player "struggling," and having the occasional success. Now I need to go shopping (for blank CDs, I hope, and not a new player).

[blue]

i use nero, and i have to set it to burn the songs individually or they'll only play on computer. there's a setting, i think it's "disc-at-once" or "track-at-once", and i wasted a lot of time and money burning cds using the first one before i figured it out. it's got to be "track-at-once" to work properly.

you might want to see if you've got a similar problem since it's completely free to fix.

[Jeff Tirey]

how old is your CD player? I would guess that it can play burned media. Get a few disks from friend which you know work and pop them in.

Thumbs up too on Nero, it's quite nice. I also use the Napster media client for burning disks too because it's so easy to use.

[edonnelly]

Jeff - It's the factory radio in a '98 car. You are correct that it can play burned media, but so far my additional testing has failed to show any "new" (80 min) CDs that work. Most older CDs (74 min, I guess) play fine. It's looking like GGG is correct about the older vs. newer media format. Unfortunately, additional research has failed to show any place where I can buy anything other than 80 min CDs. Interestingly, although the sales clerks look at me like I'm crazy when I say why I want the older CDs, the new CDs are all stamped with a warning that says "may not work in older CD players" or something like that.

blue - Thanks for the idea. I tried both DAO and TAO on different machines (Windows and linux), and all have consistently failed. I even found one site where someone said that burned CDs wouldn't work in their car radio for the first 3 - 5 days after burning, but would be fine after that. I tried that, too, with no luck.

So...It looks like I'm in the market for a new radio. I found a $99 CD player that also plays MP3's. Installation is "free," but by the time they add on all of the other little kits and things they say you need, that "free" installation costs more than the CD player itself.

[GlottalGreekGeek]

Yes, it's hard to get older CDs. We have a stash of old 74 min CDs, mainly because my father thinks they made better quality blank CDs back when the market was smaller, but they are reserved for special occasions and we do not know how to replenish that supply.

EDIT : This website claims to sell 650MB CDs : http://www.meritline.com/arita-48x-cd-r ... 650mb.html though I have no idea how credible or reliable it is.

EDIT : The old (piece of junk) CD player from the 1980's we have used to be able to play at least part of 700MB CDs before it completely failed. By any chance, are the few burned CDs you can play in your car under 650 MB anyway?

[edonnelly]

Thanks again all. I concluded that it was hopeless and I went and bought the $99 CD player. I decided to install it myself - it turns out I only needed a $12 connector for the wires (not the almost $100 worth of other parts I was told) and it was easier to do than setting up most kids' toys. As an added bonus I can play MP3s, so now 1 CD can hold about 12 hours of music. Pretty cool.

And, if anyone is looking for a good deal on a slightly used car CD player, just send me a pm. (joking).