Subject:burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Posted by: aelson

Date:9/10/2005 6:55:16 AM

I've been developing a line of audio CDs excerpted from oral history interviews I've conducted over the last 15 years. I recently discovered that a lot of car CD players (including the one in my new Ford Focus) won't recognize the CDs, or will play a couple of tracks and then go silent or start skipping tracks. Sometimes I'll get a message that says "Bad CD." I'll take the CD out, slap it around a little, and it still doesn't work. These CDs play fine on my computer and in inexpensive boom boxes. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong, or what I might do to improve the relationship between my homemade CDs and car players? So far about one in 10 CDs has played okay in the car, but I've burned them on different computers and I'm not sure which one worked. Thanks for any suggestions.

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: aelson

Date:9/10/2005 6:59:41 AM

P.S. I forgot to mention that I'm using Sound Forge 7.0, and I convert the file using the burn-track-at-once-audio-CD option on the tools menu. With the last track I click on "close CD." And I generally use the microsoft .wav format for the original tracks, although I previously used the scott studios .wav format until I was told that was unnecessary.

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: drbam

Date:9/10/2005 7:21:58 AM

What kind of burner are you using, what brand of media, how fast are you burning?, etc, etc. All of these can factor into how well your audio CDRs will perform in other players. Have you tried burning your files from a program other than SF? Lots of troubleshooting and experimenting is usually needed in a situation like you describe. I would also suggest that you keep good notes on each step your troubleshooting.

Good luck,

drbam

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: aelson

Date:9/10/2005 7:31:20 AM

Thanks Drbam! I've been using various brands of CDs, usually 48 or 52 speed, Office Depot, Philips, Princo, Maxell, usually whatever is on sale! I've been using Nero Ahead, which came with my computer, to do the copying. Is there a more reliable CD copying software? I'll start experimenting and taking notes.

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:9/10/2005 8:17:37 AM

Try burning slower. Generally i burn all audio CDs at 4x in a CD burner or maximum 8x in a DVD burner. Any faster than that and the image can be too fuzy for many audio CD players to pick up.

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: drbam

Date:9/10/2005 8:46:12 AM

Burning slower is a generally a good idea but with some of today's media, sometimes a slow speed will produce more problems than burning at higher ones. I generally burn audio masters @ 8x with a Plextor Premium drive (Matsui media). For quick references I use 16x but I've found no differences in the error rates of these speeds using this or any good media. Do some testing and once you find a media brand that works well with your burner, don't be tempted to use anything else for burning audio. It seems that certain burners seem to like certain media and not others. . . you just have to experiment to find out. . .

drbam

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: rraud

Date:9/10/2005 9:19:00 AM

Some players have trouble reading CDs burned in Track-At-Once (TAO) mode. Try burning with the forementioned sugestions in Disc-At-Once..... which Sound Forge can not do. So to burn DAO CDs, you will either have to get CD Architec, (a nice program to have) upgrade to SF-8 which includes CD Architec, or use Roxio, Nero or other burning software that supports DAO.

(Nero can read SF markers and regions if that's an issue)

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: wymondham

Date:9/10/2005 12:31:15 PM

I have burnt many discs with CDA and mainly at 4 times as I started out with SF4.5/CDA and a slow computer. However I still had discs from time to time that would not play on some players and especially portable ones. After a complete renewal of all my computer kit, someone said his or her player would not play my disc. My next question was how old is your player and when did you last clean the laser lens? Oh. But going back to your problem, I have found that buying the best discs (see the Net) is important. A lot of these well known names in disc manufacture are in fact frequently made by one of the firms I chose not to buy from. I now purchase Toyo Yuden discs or similar. Its all about reflectivity of the disc, and I think there is always going to be problems from time to time, its something you have to live with.

David. H

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: Sound Dog

Date:9/10/2005 3:40:11 PM

I agree with David. Reflectivity is important, esp. with the "cheaper" players. They make CDs for "Audio" use--to my knowledge these are built for higher reflectivity (i.e., they might have a blue background instead of silver).

I also tend to use known brands. Lately I've been using TDK, and I don't generally have to use the "Audio" ones.

I also record at either 4x or 8x. If you keep your disk defragged you might be able to push it a bit higher--but I don't like to. I also try not to "disturb" the process (e.g., use other applications) during recording.

Oh, and....you ARE using "disk at once" recording, right?

Regards,
Sound Dog
Colorado USA

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: johnmeyer

Date:9/10/2005 7:19:49 PM

There are many good suggestions in this thread, but the only one that is likely to make a difference is the one suggested by rraud.

Track-at-once CDs are very incompatible. Basically, you should never use this mode, if you are in any way concerned about compatibility. Always use disc-at-once>

Subject:RE: burned CDs won't play in car CD player

Reply by: aelson

Date:9/11/2005 7:37:11 AM

You guys rock! The first experiment I tried, burning a disk-at-once using Nero Express (I haven't yet upgraded to SF 8.0 and don't have CD Architect) on an Office Depot CD at 8X speed, played perfectly on my car player. I still have more experimenting to do, but you've certainly gotten me onto the right track. Thanks for your advice!