2003 Expedition Radio

It'll read a .wmv, (I don't know what else) but also be sure you're using a CD-R and not a CDRW.

Spdloader

To the best of my knowledge, the rewriteables don't work in anything except other computers. Regardless of the format.

CD-R only in a vehicles stereo system, DVD-R in the onboard DVD player, if you have one of those.

Spdloader

I've not yet had a CDRW work in any of my sound equipment, be it in a vehicle or in my AV rack here in the house. Conversely, I've only got one device that doesn't like CD-R and that's in a dying head unit in my wife's old car.

FWIW, Kevin, you might get a CD-RW to work if you use the more expensive "Audio" or "Music" CDRW's. I have a Sony standalone CD burner that will only write to "Audio" CD-R or RW's (not the standard Data ones), and whatever it burns will work in whatever equipment I try to play it in.

CJB

"The OTHER Kev>

With the cost of blank CD-R media, it's not worth digging for Audio CDRW. I can't remember the last time I even burned anything to CD-RW..

I remember reading something about CDRW, that it is not even SUPPOSED to be used in a vehicle or home stereo, but I don't remember where I read it or why. It isn't worth the effort, when most CD-R's will work.

I know that some players don't like certain "colors" of CD-R's either.

The stereo in my '99 F350 doesn't like the green-tinted ones, but all the other colors I've tried work just fine, so long as it's CD-R.

FWIW.

Spdloader

By that same token; my wife's car's deck (older Kenwood)handles CDRWs just fine. It wasn't even supposed to handle CDR media by KW's spec. I've got a much newer unit in my Bronco II that won't handle CDRWs.

Go figger..

hehe, the dying head unit in the wife's old car is Kenwood, probaby circa 1993/94

You're right about DATA CD-RW's, which is what 99% of them are. Music or Audio CD-RW's are supposed to be compatible to other equipment.

CJB

I don't even know if the "music" CDRW had even come out then. It was back when I worked for a computer company part time, and the CD-Burner was "new and all the rage".

Probably around '98 or '99. Don't recall for sure.

Spdloader

I know this might sound dumb but just make shore your burning them like a "audio CD" and not burning a "data disc" to make shore you you get the formatting right some newer players will play data discs but most older ones probably won't

there really isn't a difference between "data discs" and "audio CD" the only difference is the way the way the files are put on the disc.

I have nero burning ROM and for best compatiblity would burn a CD Audio disc which should work in almost any player unless the discs give you trouble i've burned plenty of discs and used them in CD players from the early 90s. that back when the CD player was a new thing!

hope that helps mike

<pet peeve>

um, SURE, not "shore" Shore is where sand meets water at a pond/lagoon/lake/ocean etc...

</pet peeve>

=_NextPart_000_0048_01C65720.EEA5A180 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

I'm going to write one post to sort of combine the comments and = questions I've seen in this thread. I hope this helps all of you. My = background is this: I am a former contract engineer for a radio = broadcast group. Now, I work for our church to produce a syndicated = radio broadcast that's heard on 40 some stations around the country and, = by shortwave and internet, around the world. Weekly I produce about 50 = cds of 4 different recordings. I've been working around this stuff for = a long time.

The original problems of compatibility between cd burners and cd players = were caused mostly by a weak laser strength. That's why in the earlier = days of home cd burning, i.e. the mid-late 90's, even the color of the = media that the CD-R was made of made a difference as to whether or not = your player could read it. As the technology evolved, lasers got = stronger and stronger. Now, players will play just about every CD you = put in them, so long as the CD is recorded in the right file format.

Now, the problems of compatiblity are more likely caused by file format = issues. CD players were originally designed to play files recorded to a = very specific file type standardized as what is called the "Red Book = Standard" Older players, and cheaper players, will only play files that = are compatible with that standard. Only in the last few years have you = seen players that can play .mp3 files or .wma files. Those types of = files are technically "data" files; they have been "encoded" by a = different standard. MP3, or MPEG Layer 3 , files are highly compressed = files that are recorded with a software "codec" and requires software to = decode it. The compression algorithm was developed by the Motion = Picture Experts Group.

The same type of situation exists with .wma files. WMA, which stands = for Windows Media Audio, is a proprietary compression algorithm designed = by Microsoft. It requires yet another software codec to decode. If = your CD player does not have the software to decode .mp3, .wma, or .aac = (Apple's proprietary compression algorithm), it will not be able to play = those types of files.

The advantage of these various compression algorithms is that the files = take up MUCH less storage than "uncompressed" CD standard audio. A CD = usually will hold 700MB, and will hold 80 minutes of uncompressed audio = at 44100 bits/second, 16bits/sample Stereo audio (the CD standard). The = various compression methods will allow you to compress the file sizes = dramatically. The average listener won't much notice a difference in = audio quality if you use a ratio of something like 5:1. That means that = you could hold 400 minutes of audio on that one CD instead of 80, and = not notice much difference. A lot of people use compression ratios of = more like 12:1, which would give you 960 minutes of audio on an "80 = minute" cd. That's why people use those types of files, although the = more you compress a file, the worse it sounds.

The latest addition to this phenomenon is that people are using DVDs to = hold audio files. A single layer DVD will hold 4.7 Gigabites. That's = nearly 7 times the capacity of a CD. Dual layer DVDs hold 8.5 GB, which = is over 12 times the capacity of CDs. Some "CD" players now will play = audio recorded to DVD using one of those aforementioned compression = algorithms. One of these days, someone will post to usenet to ask why = their "cd" player won't play their DVD.

With that background information, if you have a problem with a = particular player playing a CD, it could be due to several causes. = First, it may be that the file format you're recording to, i.e. .mp3, = .aac, .wma, is not supported by your cd player. Second, it may be that = you're using an old cd burner with old software and it's either not = burning it well enough or it's not really burning to the Red Book = standard. Third, it may be that you're burning a multi-session disk, = and not finalizing it. There are other possible problems, but I'd think = you're looking at one of those.

Sorry if I bored you all...

CJB

Not boring at all. Couple of questions. Are CDRW discs physically thicker than CDRW? The ones I buy sure seem to be.

I noticed (when digging stuck CDs out of Ford stereos for people) most every one was either a CDRW, or, a CD-R with a label (stick on type) on it.

I wondered if thickness played a role.

Spdloader

I'm going to write one post to sort of combine the comments and questions I've seen in this thread. I hope this helps all of you. My background is this: I am a former contract engineer for a radio broadcast group. Now, I work for our church to produce a syndicated radio broadcast that's heard on

40 some stations around the country and, by shortwave and internet, around the world. Weekly I produce about 50 cds of 4 different recordings. I've been working around this stuff for a long time.

The original problems of compatibility between cd burners and cd players were caused mostly by a weak laser strength. That's why in the earlier days of home cd burning, i.e. the mid-late 90's, even the color of the media that the CD-R was made of made a difference as to whether or not your player could read it. As the technology evolved, lasers got stronger and stronger. Now, players will play just about every CD you put in them, so long as the CD is recorded in the right file format.

Now, the problems of compatiblity are more likely caused by file format issues. CD players were originally designed to play files recorded to a very specific file type standardized as what is called the "Red Book Standard" Older players, and cheaper players, will only play files that are compatible with that standard. Only in the last few years have you seen players that can play .mp3 files or .wma files. Those types of files are technically "data" files; they have been "encoded" by a different standard. MP3, or MPEG Layer 3 , files are highly compressed files that are recorded with a software "codec" and requires software to decode it. The compression algorithm was developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group.

The same type of situation exists with .wma files. WMA, which stands for Windows Media Audio, is a proprietary compression algorithm designed by Microsoft. It requires yet another software codec to decode. If your CD player does not have the software to decode .mp3, .wma, or .aac (Apple's proprietary compression algorithm), it will not be able to play those types of files.

The advantage of these various compression algorithms is that the files take up MUCH less storage than "uncompressed" CD standard audio. A CD usually will hold 700MB, and will hold 80 minutes of uncompressed audio at 44100 bits/second, 16bits/sample Stereo audio (the CD standard). The various compression methods will allow you to compress the file sizes dramatically. The average listener won't much notice a difference in audio quality if you use a ratio of something like 5:1. That means that you could hold 400 minutes of audio on that one CD instead of 80, and not notice much difference. A lot of people use compression ratios of more like 12:1, which would give you 960 minutes of audio on an "80 minute" cd. That's why people use those types of files, although the more you compress a file, the worse it sounds.

The latest addition to this phenomenon is that people are using DVDs to hold audio files. A single layer DVD will hold 4.7 Gigabites. That's nearly 7 times the capacity of a CD. Dual layer DVDs hold 8.5 GB, which is over 12 times the capacity of CDs. Some "CD" players now will play audio recorded to DVD using one of those aforementioned compression algorithms. One of these days, someone will post to usenet to ask why their "cd" player won't play their DVD.

With that background information, if you have a problem with a particular player playing a CD, it could be due to several causes. First, it may be that the file format you're recording to, i.e. .mp3, .aac, .wma, is not supported by your cd player. Second, it may be that you're using an old cd burner with old software and it's either not burning it well enough or it's not really burning to the Red Book standard. Third, it may be that you're burning a multi-session disk, and not finalizing it. There are other possible problems, but I'd think you're looking at one of those.

Sorry if I bored you all...

CJB

I meant, are CDRW discs thicker than CD-R.

Spdloader

That's an excellent question, and I can't seem to find an empirical answer to it. Anecdotally, I'm holding a CD-RW and an CD-R side by side on my desk and it seems I can feel an ever-so-slight height difference. I can tell you that the thickness of the plastic disk itself is very critical, because the laser has a fixed focus length. Therefore, the recordable layer must be at a consistent height from disk to disk. I can also tell you that CD-RW's have more layers of material above the plastic carrier than does a CD-R. Therefore, it's possible that some CD-RW's are microscopically taller.

The matter of the label is very important. I've noticed that there's a something like a 1/4" to 3/8" difference in the height of a 50 cd spindle of unlabeled cd's and labeled cds. You wouldn't think that there would be that much difference, but there is. Take into account that a lot of people don't properly affix the labels, and you will conclude that paper-labeled cd's really shouldn't be used in a player that "loads" the cd's into itself. I think the owner's manuals usually state that.

CJB

I don't know for sure, but, my wife, mom, and sister all own Ford Explorers, a 2002, and 2- '04's.

The all jam on CDRW's, and on any CD or CD-R with a sticker.

I keep telling them, and they keep doing it over and over again.

Of course, it keeps me feeling "needed".

lol

Spdloader

I mic'ed a few CD's and came up with the following:

Optimum brand CD-R 80 min. @ .0475 inch thick DuraBrand CD-R Digital Audio @ .0480 thick Verbatim CD-RW 74 min. @ .0475 thick.

After checking a few of each, I found they were within .0005 in. of each other. Both brands of CD-R's play equally well in my '02 Escape w/ 6-CD changer while the CD-RW's won't. When trying to play the CD-RW, it constantly displays "seeking. . .".

Just a little more info. . .

SC Tom