zulusafari

I have been having trouble with my 2001.5's CD Player. It doesn't read CD's I have made from my personal library stored on computer, or from copies made from my master discs to CD-R's (direct Copy). I have no trouble playing the discs in my computer or in my Entertainment center, but not in my Truck!! This is frusatrating. Do I need to find a program to burn the files in a different format?? My folks have newer vehicles that can play copied CD's with no trouble, either. I figure that something must be off in the file type. I tried to have the discs copying a straight .cda file, but I think maybe they are converting to .mp3 or .wma's instead.

Any one else have any idea or advice??
Thanks!

phox_mulder

Try different brands of CD-R's.

Some just arent' up to snuff, especially the "store brand special" you get some places.


phox

Dr. Evil

I usually use the Memorex CD's.....Ive never had any trouble with either direct CD copy or the .mp3 conversions....they've ALL worked. (my truck is an 01 also)

bulabula

A 2001 factory Dodge truck radio/CD probably doesn't have the bios to play mp3's or wma's, but they all will (should...) play the typical CDA formatted audio disks (... store bought music CD's - copied or not). My '03 factory CD player can only play CDA's.

In your case, its not the software, but could be the hardware.

Without trying to read into your post too darn hard, I have a couple of questions in no particular order:

Have you burned CD's before that worked, or are you using a "new" CD burner? The old ones could be fussy and their burned CD's could be difficult to read in some players.
Have you cleaned the CD player lately?
Can you play a CD that someone else burned?

zulusafari

I have some copies that do work. Strangely, they are Memorex disks. I have a great copy of my Metallica Black Album that plays perfectly. These others that I am having trouble with in my truck are on Khypermedia (sp) disks. They play perfectly in other players but not in my truck. I burned these disks using my Mother's new computer while on vacation last month. I broke a few master disks in a tragic accident packing, so I wanted to make some copies for transporting around. I would prefer to scratch or break a copy rather than my originals!! The Metallica CD was copied using an ex-coworker's burner, since I didn't own one then.

willysrule

my 01.5 with the infinity sound system would play some burnt CD's and then not play others....I'd say 90% of my music is in Mp3 form so I switched the head unit out for one that plays Mp3's...nothing like having 600 songs on one CD...organized by artist, song or type of music...I've had the same CD in my truck for weeks now...

zulusafari

SixHundred songs/disc? That would be sweet! What type of head unit did you use. I have the Infinity system also and have heard mixed feelings about it when it comes to replacement/upgrades/etc.

bulabula

Zulu, its hw related, and like phox said in the first place: try another brand of CD's. Don't forget that old saying - "you get what you pay for". Maybe your truck simply has a taste for high priced CD's.

I usually fit only about 120 mp3's on one CD, but I rip them at a 192k rate thats at a near-CD quality sound.

If you want to rip them at a 64k rate (or something of the ilk), like if you want to fit a bunch of songs on a little mp3 memory fob, you can put lots of music on it but at a lower sound quality - which is unacceptable to me when listened to on a quality sound system.

Everything is a tradeoff.

I've also seen that many folks preference of music quality is more fanatical than their preference of engine oil. If you can imagine that.

Before I went to Xm radio, I just used a portable mp3 CD player plugged into the cassette deck to listen to mp3's. But since Xm, I've only listened to a few CD's; and Xm is going on the sport bike soon.

zulusafari

I know what you mean about sound quality! I used a cassette adapter with my other truck (no cd stock) but this truck is cd only -- no cass. deck. I will try some Memorex discs I have here at home.

willysrule

that is the same rate I rip them at....

I guess I should have described my set up a little more....

Sony has a program that comes with there mp3 players that will rip Mp3's at 192k onto a "DVD-R" witch most DVD-R's are capible of 4.5 to 4.7 GB of space vs. the 700 MB or so on CD-R's........thats how I fit so many on...The head unit I bought will also play DVD's if I had LCD's I could watch them, I don't need or want LCD screens in my truck, but the nice feature is that it will now play music from a DVD-R also...When I bought it I figured that someday I may want screens in the truck, but it worked out to my advantage i guess...

my head unit is a Clarion ProAudio


does that make a little more sense?...

bulabula

Makes a lot of sense *****! When I read your post my first thought was burning them on a DVD, but didn't realize the head units for vehicles could play DVD mp3's. Heck, its still tough to find home DVD players that can play mp3's (umm, under $50 anyways ...).

jfpointer

As a couple of people have suggested, some brands of CD-Rs seem to work better than others. I've had pretty good luck with Imations, even in stock players. Another thing to try is burn the CD at a slower speed, like 4x or 2x, sometimes that helps.

Like Willlyrule, I've got a Clarion ProAudio head unit in mine that plays MP3s. Mine's not the DVD player one, though, it's a DXZ735MP. AM/FM stereo, CD, and MP3 player, also has an AUX input, Sirius tuner controls, TV tuner controls, DVD/CD/MD changer contols, and a built-in subwoofer crossover. I've had it for just about a year now, and I love it. Not terribly expensive, excellent sound, and as you can tell from the laundry list of inputs above, more source capability than any reasonable person really needs.

At ~150-200 songs per CD, if I get bored with a mix I just make a new one from my digitized CD collection, which stands at about 15 GB right now from the CDs I've ripped. What I'm sort of lusting after right now is one of those 20 GB hard drive MP3 players that I could connect to one of my auxiliary inputs and carry my whole MP3 collection with me at once.

Begle1

Just stay away from Creatives. We have a Creative Jukebox III, 20 GB. We loaded it up with stuff, and it works fine, but the software it comes with is HORRENDOUS. We couldn't get it to work on any of our computers after a while, but it worked perfectly the first time we used it. Their tech support is non-existent, and I'd shoot myself in the hand before I'd try to navigate their website.

Actually, I've had problems with Creative speaker drivers and Sound Blaster drivers before, too. Creative stuff all has good sound quality, but it's support is terrible. I' m boycotting everything Creative. (Even though I have $200 worth of Creative stuff on my computer. )

Get an I-POD. I usually make fun of Apple users, but GET THE I-POD!

What you need to do is figure out how to get one of them military vibration-proof hard drives (Not as expensive as they sound) and a head-unit that can play songs directly off of it. 200 GB's of songs at your fingertips for about a $400 hard-drive- that would be sweet.

jfpointer

I'm actually leaning toward the Archos GMini 120 right now. In addition to being a hard drive MP3 player, it's also got a CF slot so you can download pictures off the digital camera card if it's full. Could be handy. I like the looks of the iPods, but not the price. I guess if I was bored enough and had enough money lying around not doing anything else, I could put in a Car PC of some sort, with a ton of hard drive space. I'd be a bit worried about driving down the road trying to navigate Windows Explorer to play music, though...

joefarmer

Jim,

I don't think anyone would regret buying an Archos. From the decription, I thought it was going to be heavy/bulky/clumsy. When my boss showed it to me, I was pleasently surprised. It's fairly light weight and well balanced. He uses his gmini 400 to watch movies on longer flights. I was impressed since he had 20 movies stored in divx format and numerous photos.

JMO,
brandon.