I bought a Sony CD-CD burner so that I could make mix “tapes” from my CD.
The burning part seemed easy and the resulting disk - a Memorex CD-RW - played perfectly in both sides of the CD player, after finalization.
But I’ve tried it in two different car stereos and neither one recognized the disk at all.
What’s even weirder is what happened when I tried it in my computer’s DVD player. The disk gets recognized and the songs play. But then they stop playing after a maximum of 45 seconds.
Anyone have an idea of what’s going wrong and how I can fix this?
Don’t know about the computer, but most car audio CD players have no support for CDRW discs unless they are specifically advertised as such. Try a CDR.
That is true. Also, I would like to verify that you are burning the full, uncompressed songs instead of MP3 versions. MP3’s can only play in car stereos designed to handle them.
These are cuts off of standard CDs. I don’t own any mp3s.
I found that trying to make a CD-R was an exercise in frustration, because it just wasn’t possible to copy two dozen separate songs without making a mistake that would ruin the disk. Why would CD-RWs be different? Once they’re finalized, aren’t they the same thing?
No they’re not. I believe the laser/optics has to be of a special kind to be able to read data from the material they use for CD-RWs(it’s a different material from CD-Rs)
Is it a straight Cd to copy jenk or are you using software to arrange, format, and compile the files? If so, what software? You may want to check that it is burning to the correct format (as already suggested). Also make sure your CD-R’s or RW’s are capable of burning at the speeds specified by the burner/software. Also, if your computer blows, you try to close other programs while its burning so you don’t over run your read/burn buffers (assuming it’s software and not a hardware copier).
What the others said. Many systems (esp cars) will throw up all over CDRWs.
Re burning mixes I’m must admit I’m somewhat confused by
You’ve a* very * smart guy and copying a bunch of random separate (CD or MP3) songs onto a CDR is something most 12 year olds can do without problems given the capability of even basic player/burner software.
I think the missing element in your case is that you’re (I think) trying to handle to CD songs as wavs or in their native format, and that would be a huge PITA if you’re trying to pluck off and create custom mixes of individual CD songs without conversion to MP3s.
Here’s a suggestion. Use some playing ripping software like MusicMatch, Winamp etc to convert your CDs to MP3s. The process is usually fairly quick. Once you have the tracks as MP3s use the software to create mixes and burn them as playable music CDs on CDRs.
Trying to handle CD tracks without conversion to MP3s can be done, but it’s a big PITA, takes up gobs of disk space, and is kind of unnecessary, esp. if you intend on playing these mixes on car systems.
Again, I think the OP is using a CD recorder device, like a set-top box with two CD drives and a small hardware menu that allows you to rip and burn. No computer involved.
If that’s the case I can understand his problems. I can’t even fathom what a PITA it would be to try and create custom mixes on direct clone box like that.
Expano if you need/want a nice CDRW drive I’ve got a fast & new one you can have free.
May I ask why you suggest he converts the wav files to mp3 first, removing up to 70% of the musical information, and then burns them to a redbook CD-R, which will convert these bit-reduced files back to wav? That’s akin to taxidermy.
With a standalone CD writer, it’s no harder to make compilation CDs than it ever was to make cassettes; probably easier. If the unit has no internal hard drive to store and edit your mixes on, there must be a button that facilitates Auto or Synchro Start for record on one deck and playback on the other. Make a list of the songs you want, transfer them one at a time, hitting Pause at the end of each track. If you make a mistake, I believe these machines also come with a Skip Track function, before the disc is finalized. You can instruct it to ignore any track you wish. I can’t think of how it could be any more involved than this.
But yeah, you can’t use CD-RW discs in anything but a CD-RW drive.
CD-RW disks have different physical properties that CD-R. Hardware that can read CD-Rs do not necessarily read RW media. Unless the equipment you are trying to play the disk on SPECIFICALLY is documented to be able to pay RW media, it almost certainly will not play it.
Ease of handling and far more compact storage. If they’re going to used for car mixes the difference in fidelity will be imperceptible.
Actually, many of the latest combo CD/DVD/MP3 decks will handle CDRWs with no problems, and so will many of the the most recent car CD/AMP head units. I assumed his were at least a few years old.