CD won't play in my car

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Windows 7, 64 bit, home premium; audacity 2.0.5.
I have a 1998 Plymouth Sebring, and no matter what I try I can’t get the music files to play in the car. I imported the files from a cassette tape and marked them to be saved as wav audio. I then exported to Windows media player and recorded to cd as audio disk, wav format.
Can anyone give me a clue as to why they won’t play? Could it be that particular player? Any cd that is store bought plays fine.

2

Audio on a music CD isn’t plain WAV format. Audio CD has its own format and you need an Audio CD Authoring Program to make them. There’s nothing wrong with the player in your car, but it is probably expecting a “real” Audio CD.

Once you make the WAV files in Audacity, pull them into Windows Media and there should be an option to prepare an Audio CD. There should also be options to manage the blank space between songs (usually two seconds) and the order of the songs. That blank space manager is the sure way to tell you’re doing it right. Regular file managers don’t have that.

Koz

3

We wrote up a thing about how to do this.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/burning_music_files_to_a_cd.html

Koz

4

Koz, thanks for your reply. I have done every step you mention (after several trial & error starts), and finally got it done as you say. It just won’t play.

5

Is there a step where you can tell the system what speed to burn the CD? The next step is to burn at a very much reduced speed and you just have to wait for it. Maximum Possible Burn Speed is usually a bad idea. That gets you into the Speed Race between makers and they sometimes sacrifice quality for speed. Try X12 or some lower number.

Another possible problem could be quality of disks. I use Sony, TDK and other name brands. If your brand features phrases like “Hi Q” and “Pro Kwality,” then you might get a short stack of name brand disks to see how that works.

You might also try somebody else’s car. What exactly does it do when you slide the disk in? Grind for a second and then come back out? Any messages like “Unable To Play?”

I’m going into heavy weather here, but when you put the disk back into your computer, does it open up as music in Windows Media or as a file device? The actual Windows people have a better feel for how this works than I do.

Koz

6

Thanks for the reply. I’ll try to answer each question you asked.

  1. I have the burn speed down to 4x. It won’t go any slower
  2. I have tried about 4 different disk makers. Right now I’m using Maxell. I don’t buy cheap disks, it’s not worth the agravation
  3. Haven’t used a different car, however I’m going to try that
  4. When I insert the disk, the player ejects it and the message is “----Err----” on the display
7

When I insert the disk, the player ejects it and the message is “----Err----” on the display

Which player is this? The one in your car, or the one on your PC?
What happens when you insert the disk into the player on your PC? Can you play this disk in Windows Media Player?

8

It is the player in my car. It plays on the computer, and it plays with any audio program including Windows Media Player.

9

Are you using cdrw or cdr cd ris the one you half to use or it wont play in car cdrw wont play in my car either cdr will no problem cdrw is more less a data disc while cdr is actually a audio disc

10

We may need to cast a wider net. You should try and play your disk in somebody else’s car and/or find somebody else that can make a fresh Audio CD and try it in yours. I can’t tell what’s wrong and we can go 'round and 'round for days without outside intervention.

Koz

11

I am using cd-r disks. I will try to play in another car and advise from there.
Thanks

12

Same problem! My discs play in PC & home player fine, but not in the 15 year old Alpine car player. Upon inserting the CD, the player displays “track 00” then nothing happens. It can’t find the beginning. I’m planning to experiment with the CTRL I, split command between songs. Maybe that will actually mark the start of the song.

13

Please let me know how you do. This is driving me crazy. There’s no reason it shouldn’t play.
Thanks, Sam

14

That sounds like you have made a data CD rather than an Audio CD.
Ensure that your CD burner is set to make an audio CD.

Are you sure that your CD drive works correctly (writing to disk)?
Are you able to make any type of CD that works in anything?