# CD player doesn't like CD-R's



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

Does anyone know why CD-R's that I make on my PC don't work as well as a standard CD. The CD-R's I make have the following problems........when I skip tracks, the track I select doesn't start playing right away. When the CD is started it could take from 30 seconds to 5 minutes to start playing. This never happens with standard CD's.

Anyone experience this problem? Is there a solution?


----------



## Mantis (Sep 7, 2004)

No,
I have only had problem with mne with CDW's. I can play CDR's fine.


----------



## Daver (May 13, 2002)

Recommendations I've heard include burning the CD-R at the slowest speed supported... for some people, this fixes the problem entirely.


----------



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

I tried burning it at 12x, my fastest speed is 40x.........I'll try 4x and see if that makes a difference. Hope so.....thanx for your help and suggestions.


----------



## e46shift (Oct 12, 2002)

bmw's are pretty good in playing cdr's and cdrw's for me. definitely burn at a slow speed. it'll be a 'deeper' burn that will make it easier to read. you can see the difference on the cdr. or try different media, not all are created equal.


----------



## shizat63 (Feb 14, 2002)

I burn things at 16x and 40x and they are fine.

Try different media and/or different color dye


----------



## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

My understanding is that there are some CD players that just will not play CD-R's. My parents have one of those. The same CD-R that I made on my computer that does not play in their CD player will play in my car and my home CD player.


----------



## sp330i (Dec 26, 2001)

Make sure you have the latest firmware installed for your writer and the latest version of your burning software (patch - not upgrade).

I had a similare problem at 32x. stepped it down to 26x and don't have the problem. Then again I use cheap media


----------



## snagger (May 28, 2004)

I had better luck by using both slower burn speeds and better media. Try Memorex CD-Rs, they're good quality and usually can be found pretty cheap.


----------



## Bobby 325i (Oct 18, 2002)

I've never had any problems playing CD-R's and CD-RW's in all of our cars. Try burning at a slower speed :dunno:


----------



## kurichan (May 1, 2004)

At any speed my BMW CD player skips CDRs. I've tried the same disc in our other cars with no trouble. The problem, at least in my case, is with the BMW equipment, not the burn or media.


----------



## allaboutme (Dec 22, 2003)

try copying a cd and see if that works. if it works fine then try closing your session. if it doesnt then its probably the cd you are using. try a different color dye


----------



## anon (Jul 8, 2003)

kurichan said:


> At any speed my BMW CD player skips CDRs. I've tried the same disc in our other cars with no trouble. The problem, at least in my case, is with the BMW equipment, not the burn or media.


 ditto.

store bought cds are fine
burned cd-rs skip when i change lanes...

figured it's the price i pay for pirating...?


----------



## Typervirus (Aug 24, 2003)

i have that same problem on my 325ci 04, to fix it i brought cd's that are made from japan... all the others i have problem with.. like it'll play the first 6-10tracks and nothing at the end.. and alot of skippin ....



kurichan said:


> At any speed my BMW CD player skips CDRs. I've tried the same disc in our other cars with no trouble. The problem, at least in my case, is with the BMW equipment, not the burn or media.


----------



## AlexM520 (Sep 27, 2002)

Try using SONY cd-r they seem to be more compatible with more cd players ... or at least this was true a couple of years ago.


----------



## FenPhen (Jan 13, 2004)

kurichan said:


> At any speed my BMW CD player skips CDRs. I've tried the same disc in our other cars with no trouble. The problem, at least in my case, is with the BMW equipment, not the burn or media.


Man, you don't seem to be having any luck with your ZHP. 

A few suggestions for anyone having CD-R/CD-RW problems:

Use *high-quality media*. There are *many brands*, but these brands get their media from a few CD factories. Historically, Taiyo Yuden and Kodak factories produce the best quality discs. You can't go wrong with *Sony*-branded CD media. Memorex, on the other hand, tends to be bad, at least that is the conclusion of an experiment my CD class conducted in college.

If you'd like to identify the manufacturer of your media, use the *CD-R Identifier utility*.

Use 74-minute CDs. 80-minute CDs don't conform to the Redbook CD standard, and as such, are more vulnerable to write/read errors.

When the above doesn't work, burn at the slowest speed possible.
After all that, either the reader does not work, or your burner sucks. As for the BMW Business CD head unit, I've burned CD-Rs from TDK and Sony with success and have been re-burning Sony CD-RWs many times and have had 0 problems (using a Plextor burner with Nero).


----------



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

Well, I have been using Sony CD-R's and have a Sony burner and have used Nero and NTI software with the same result. I will try burning at the slowest speed I can (4x) and then see if that works. If that doesn't solve the problem, I will go out and look for CD-R's that are made for audio use only. I noticed on one of the links from a previous post that Sony makes such a thing. I'd never looked for these before. Maybe that would help. Who knows. I do know that I can take my Sony CD-R's, burn them at 40x, and play them in my $15 no name portable CD player, and they work just fine. 

Keep in mind that my CD player is only about one year old and is a BMW model. It's installed in a 1995 325i, which is the last non-IbUS version. Starting in 1996, IBUS versions were produced. IBUS vs. non IBUS........I have no clue what this really means. Just thought it might help to know this.


----------



## Waverz (Aug 11, 2002)

FenPhen said:


> [*]When the above doesn't work, burn at the slowest speed possible.
> [/list]
> After all that, either the reader does not work, or your burner sucks. As for the BMW Business CD head unit, I've burned CD-Rs from TDK and Sony with success and have been re-burning Sony CD-RWs many times and have had 0 problems (using a Plextor burner with Nero).


FenPhen,
Have you ever had problems with your Sony CD-RW's when its really hot out? I use Maxell CD-RW Musics (74 Minutes) and they work most of the time, however, when the car is left out in the sun or the head unit gets hot, I just end up getting CD-errors... and I have to resort to changing to a CD-R


----------



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

Never use RW's............


----------



## FenPhen (Jan 13, 2004)

Waverz said:


> Have you ever had problems with your Sony CD-RW's when its really hot out? I use Maxell CD-RW Musics (74 Minutes) and they work most of the time, however, when the car is left out in the sun or the head unit gets hot, I just end up getting CD-errors... and I have to resort to changing to a CD-R


Hmm, no. Hottest day I can remember having the car parked out in the sun all day was probably in the mid- to upper-90s (dry heat). If I'm using the CD player, it's usually a CD-RW.

The media I use are Sony CD-RW650 that I bought in early 2000. The CD Media World link I posted earlier says it was made by Mitsubishi Chemicals. The speed rating is for 1x, 2x, and 4x, and I write at 4x. The burner I'm using is not a Plextor (my bad), but a Lite-On LTR-52246S drive, that's rated 52x/24x/52x.

If you guys are using Nero, try playing around with the Nero CD Speed utility. Besides burning testing CDs to test your drive, you can also test your burned media, scanning the surface and file structure, or just doing a basic quality check which will count read errors (I believe it includes correctable errors).

Here's a quality check on a Sony CD-RW audio CD I burned at 4X, up to 73:55 (the green line is the read speed, the error line is at 0):


----------



## nickeltong (Mar 16, 2004)

A possible solution: clean your CD head and when creating CD's on your PC make sure you have disc verification enabled. Some CD players will maul over error tracks.


----------



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

Well, tried burning a CD-R at 4x, and that does not help. Going to look for some audio CD-R's and try one of those.


----------



## Clarke (Oct 21, 2002)

I always thought the only difference in "audio" CD-Rs was the cost(a fee to the RIAA added to each).TDK and Fuji CD-Rs play fine in our 325Cics head unit but skip going over lane dots etc in the X5s changer. The dealer has checked and will be swapping out changers next week,says it is a "known" problem and fix.We'll see.


----------



## wavewuver (Sep 25, 2003)

I hate PC's.......the audio CD-R is no different......I give up.

thanx for all your suggestions.


----------



## shizat63 (Feb 14, 2002)

wavewuver said:


> I hate PC's.......the audio CD-R is no different......I give up.
> 
> thanx for all your suggestions.


Did you "close the session" ?

Try a different burner?

Try a buddies known good CD?


----------



## Typervirus (Aug 24, 2003)

try some cd's that are made in japan...look in the back of the packaging it will tell you... 
i found that are 25pack fuji cd's..... 80min/700mb/48x CDR


wavewuver said:


> I hate PC's.......the audio CD-R is no different......I give up.
> 
> thanx for all your suggestions.


----------



## jzmix (Oct 19, 2004)

Try burning in a 640 MB CD. It worked for me in a Volvo.


----------

