Hello there,
I drive a 2000 Toyota Corolla that came with a burned CD-R inside the radio for some Celtic womens band and it works. The other day though I figured I'd burn a CD with something a little more enjoyable. Instead I opened up a rabbit hole of confusion.
I've burned 3 CD's now and nothing has worked. First one was a CD-RW but I just threw on MP3's (shoulda figured it'd be more than that). Second one was another CD-RW but I converted everything to WAV (after reading that was the better format). After a bunch more research, I made a 3rd with CD-R, used Audacity to convert to WAV and change sampling formats and speeds to what I read car CD players worked at, and burned it at the slowest speed possible using windows media player. STILL NO DICE!
I've got the same spec CD-R disc as the one that works, only difference now is the brand, I have Verbatim and the one that works is Memorex.
Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or missing here? I don't know what the guy before me did to get his disk to work, but every one of my disks my radio just spits back out at me without any error.
Any help is appreciated, thanks guys!
The CD needs to be burned as an audio CD, not a file storage CD with audio files. If that makes any sense at all.
sorry, I forgot to mention I have burned them as audio CD's!
An audio CD is not just a collection of MP3 or WAV files, it is a specific format. You need to use a CD burning program like Brasero or K3B and use the option to create an audio CD. (I'm not familiar with Windows Media Player and don't know if it has that capability.)
Aside from the issue of disc format, some CD players are very picky about the brand of CD-R and even the drive that they're burned on. If your player is original it is obviously very old and can be expected to be even more picky than when it was new.
Sorry I forgot to mention I did burn them as audio CD's! But maybe Windows media player sucks for burning
You could try another burning program or burning the discs on another computer.
Unfortunately a laptop and a plug-in CD player is all I've access to haha. I will try one of your suggested programs though. Spent $12 on empty obsolete media discs so might as well try!
There are a lot of CD burning programs out there, a lot of them free, so it's worth trying some out to see if they work any better.
Your first mistake was probably using the CD-RW. 17 years ago I had the same problem with a portable CD player, only my computer could read the CDs, not a CD player. Typically only a computer can read those. They're formatted for data.
See what the file formatting is on the CD you have. It may be MP3 or MP4 formatting.
The disc that works has CDA files. I haven't checked how to convert to that, but that might be my issue
I'm pretty sure the CD writing software you choose is supposed to ask you what your intended use for the CD is. An audio only CD should be chosen. Windows Media Player used to do that, but I haven't burned CDs in probably 10 years at least.
Quality of CD-R's is very inconsistent and ridden with incompatibility problems. You had to have the right brand of CD-R media, the right brand of CD recorder, and the right player. Too often, they didn't play well with each other, causing skipping, lost tracking, or just nothing at all. Plus CD-R's were unreliable, and degraded quickly causing data loss. I'm so glad it's obsolete technology now and there are far superior options.
I recommend you get a new head unit with modern features. The can be obtained so cheaply now.
Or since, you're using MP3s anyway, get a cheap portable player and an audio cable or FM transmitter.
Damn, I didn't realize there was that many problems with them to begin with. I'll keep experimenting with the empty discs I've left and if nothing comes of it, I'll probably go with an FM transmitter. I looked at a new radio unit but I'm not the most electrically handy of dudes, even if it is just colour matching wires lol. Plus the cars coming on 23 years old now so the cheaper the option the better I suppose.
you can buy plug&play wiring harness adapters. No matching of wires or electrical knowledge required.
Ex:
https://scoche.com/
You can always transfer the stereo to your next vehicle.
Try using another software like Windows Media Player.
Try another CD manufacturer, maybe even the same brand as the burned CD that works.
If that doesn’t work, try another CD burner.