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Windows Media Player CDs don't play in my car?

Dave, I'm using the latest release of Microsoft Window Media Player and am having a problem I thought you could help me with: the CDs that I burn in Media Player don't work on my car's CD player. How do I fix this problem?


Dave's Answer:

There are a bunch of reasons that your CDs might not work in your car. First question, though: does the CD work on your computer? If not, then you might be burning it incorrectly or have a spate of bad media.

If the disk does work, though, then you probably have a media formatting problem that's related to how you're burning the disk itself.

For an exact answer in this situation, I popped over to the Microsoft support site to see what they recommend in this situation, and here's their best advice...

Your CD player might not be able to play the CD for several reasons, including the following:

  • It can't play data CDs. This type of CD plays only in your computer and in some newer CD players. When creating data CDs, the Player does not convert your Windows Media Audio (.wma) and .mp3 files to another format. Instead, the Player burns the files to the CD in their current format. Consequently, the CD player that you use to play a data CD must be able to play .wma or .mp3 files.
  • It can play data CDs, but can't play the type of files that are burned on your CD (for example, it can play .wma files but not .mp3 files).
  • It can play data CDs, but can't play protected files (for example, you burned a licensed .wma file that you purchased from an online store to your CD).
  • It can play data CDs, but can't play the particular brand or type (for example, CD-RW) of disc that you used.
  • It can't play data CDs that haven't been finalized. For more information about this issue, see the Windows Media Player FAQ.

Review the documentation that came with your CD player to determine its playback capabilities, and then do one of the following:

  • If your CD player can't play a data CD that contains either WMA or MP3 files, or it can't play protected content, then burn the tracks to an audio CD (not a data CD) on CD-R (not CD-RW) media. An audio CD plays in most CD players (in your home stereo, your portable CD player, your car stereo, your computer, and so forth). When creating audio CDs, the Player converts your .wma and .mp3 files to the pulse code modulation (PCM) format that standard CD players can play, before burning them to disc.
  • Follow the instructions in the next question for burning a CD in your version of the Player. However, make sure you click the Audio CD option to burn an audio CD.
  • If your CD player can play data CDs, but the files in your library are in the wrong format (for example, your CD player supports WMA playback, but the files in your library are in MP3 format), you can use Plus! Audio Converter, a feature in Microsoft Plus! SuperPack for Windows XP, to convert your .mp3 files to .wma files (this also works in reverse—from .wma to .mp3). Then follow the instructions in the next question to burn the converted files to a data CD in your version of the Player.
  • If you are using Windows Media Player 9 Series, in addition to purchasing the Plus! SuperPack, you must purchase and install an MP3 Creation plug-in that's compatible with the Player.
  • If you are using Windows Media Player 10, in addition to purchasing the Plus! SuperPack, you must install a free Plus! Audio Converter Update. Purchase and installation of an MP3 Creation plug-in is not required.

If your CD player can't play data CDs that haven't been finalized, you must use another CD burning or authoring software program to burn a finalized data CD.

You can learn more about this complex subject at the Windows Media Knowledge Center.



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Comments

I had this problem with my Nissan Titan. I inquired at my favorite computer shop and was told to burn the CD at the lowest speed possible on my burner. I tried it, now my CD plays. I think it has something to do with the quality of the burn at the slower speed.

Posted by: R W Driskill at March 5, 2005 12:05 PM

Great point, R.W. Modern CD burning software has "overrun protection" and automatically prevent this from happening, but the built-in burning software in XP might just blindly stream data to the CD device as fast as you specify, without checking to see if it's inundating the device and consequently producing burn errors. I always burn at slower speeds than my software recommends, actually, just for good luck. :-)

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 5, 2005 4:10 PM

I have trouble using burned CD in a GM truck only if I put a paper lable on them. OK if no label.

Posted by: Ray at March 6, 2005 3:51 PM

An excellent point, Ray. While it may be visibly cool to have printed labels on your burned CDs, you'll notice that commercial CDs have the image screened onto the plastic, so that there's no issue with the paper curling and the disk not spinning properly or, worse, getting stuck in your player.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 6, 2005 11:19 PM

You mention "buffer overrun", but burning at a slower speed can also prevent "buffer underrun", probably more common with very high-speed burners.

In essence, the drive can process the data in the buffer faster than the burning software can supply it, so the buffer becomes completely empty and the drive just writes garbage data. The result is a CD that won't play on any player.

Setting the drive's burn speed to a lower rate will ensure that the software can keep up with the hardware.

--Bob.

Posted by: Bob Jonkman at March 7, 2005 3:39 PM

Ah, thanks for that clarification, Bob. Seems like a pretty poor interface when you have to get the speed "just so" for it to not produce garbage, I must say!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 7, 2005 3:54 PM

some cds dont work on my stereo is it because the steroe is old?

Posted by: bob at October 9, 2005 7:55 PM

That's quite possible, Bob. Some CD players are very picky about computer-burned CDs. Make sure you're making Audio CD format disks when you burn too!

Posted by: Dave Taylor at October 11, 2005 6:51 AM

Thanks for giving that great answer on playing mp3's on portable cd players. I want to buy a religious audio disk that's in mp3 format and was wondering if it will play on my Sony portable radio. Take Care. hurel

P.S: I thought maybe that math was a playful trick question and was wondering if you wanted the answer in digital,hexidecimal or Octal. :)

Posted by: hurel (female) at August 19, 2006 3:34 PM

i have a 94 pontiac grand prix and not all burned cds work in the factory cd player. i have well over 150 burned cds and only 2 work in the cd player. however, factory cds work fine. ive tried different brands of cds and cleaning the laser reader. if you have any helpful tips i would love a comment! Thanks: adawg!!

Posted by: adawg at September 11, 2006 5:18 PM

I am using WMP9 with Nero Fast Burning Plug-In to make audio CD's. Of the 4 CDs I made, 3 are perfect, but one plays 10 of 18 songs in the car, then starts stuttering on the 10th track, and ultimately stops, not playing at all during the 10th track through the 18th track. I tried using different CD's (3) and they all turned out the same. Playing on the computer (Windows XP Home) has all the tracks there and plays with no problem. I have even tried replacing the track with a different song where the problem begins, but each time the same thing happens. They are all MP3 files with no copy protection. Also, I have tried different car CD players....all results the same. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Andrew at September 29, 2006 11:58 PM

Hi Dave
I have a problem with Media Player 11 as I try to burn my music to a cd it comes up in the right hand corner with a arrow saying connect to burner and restart Player. It seems to me it does not see my cd player or my DVD player when I do but in a movie it plays very choppy is there something missing in the program itself. Hope you can help me out on this.
Thanks
Jules

Posted by: Jules at February 11, 2007 12:53 PM

I use media player 11. I bought music from Walmart in WMA format. How can I convert it to mp3 format to use on my Sony telephone/mp3 player? Thank you.

Posted by: Joe at March 4, 2007 11:44 AM

I use media player 11. I bought music from Walmart in WMA format. How can I convert it to mp3 format to use on my Sony telephone/mp3 player? Thank you.

Posted by: Joe at March 4, 2007 12:11 PM

i want know how to copy to cd in windows media player 11

Posted by: sali at March 9, 2007 1:38 PM

Dear Sir I am talking about my CD Audio player mucic system and not the cd player of my computor. Can my audio cd player be converted into mp3 player

Posted by: Nadia at March 10, 2007 6:04 AM

I'm totally clueless about this... I found a website where the music files are mp3. How do i convert mp3 to a cd? Can I do it with the windows media player? what's the best software to use...especially if it's free? Thanks.

Posted by: erica at April 1, 2007 11:36 AM

Hello,
I am having problems with my burning my car stereo is capible of playing mp3s. I am using windows media player and they are in mp3 format but they still will not play in my stereo do you know why that might be??

Posted by: Crystal at April 17, 2007 12:03 AM

I have windows XP & a dell computer. can't get windows media center to create my own cds. also tried windows media player & roxio. i used to be able to do it w/windows 98 just drag & drop. i need something simple if there is such a thing. if nothing else pls recommend some software that i can use to create my personal cds with selected music from my cds. also can i delete the music that came with the program in categories of my album, artists, genre etc.? thanks. for a great website i just happen to stumble upon.

Posted by: barb at August 15, 2007 12:10 PM

I am having audio problems with Windows Media Player 11. The sound is very "staticky" or has a sound of the speakers being over driven. My OS is Win ProXP SP2, my sound card is Creative SB Live (don't know release). I don't have this problem with any of the other playback devices, such as QuickTime, Creative Player, Music Match. Thanks.

Posted by: Keith Jones at August 27, 2007 6:53 AM

My windows media player doesn't play anything it syas "Opening nedia" and then says "ready" but nothing happens this usually happens when I try to play videos from the internet. Does it make a diference whether you are on a wirkless network or not?b Also Windows Media Center wo'nt paly videos. Do you know what's wrong? It did work for a while but not now. Help would be much appreciated. No really REALLY it would be appreciated. THANK YOU.

Posted by: a at September 21, 2007 8:09 AM

my windows media player (ver 11) cant burn anything at all. When I put in a cd-r it still says insert a blank CD. when i had the previos ver i could burn with that but with this media player i cant burn at all. Does any1 no what is wrong with it

Posted by: B.G at November 4, 2007 11:57 PM

Dave

Just a quick note to say thanks for your help, my CD's now play in the car. It was a simple thing I did wrong but being a computer thickie, your advice was a real help.

Thanks again

Kind regards

Ian

Posted by: Ian Howarth at November 30, 2007 12:58 PM

I had a CD that I used for five years in my car. Bought a Vista equipped computer. Put CD into it just to see if it wud play and then when I tried to play it in car again, it kept ejecting.

Posted by: Dave at March 12, 2008 8:49 PM

dave, in windows media player (10) i try to burn an audio CD for my mom but it stops when i click start burn and says "inspecting" next to the first song and on the other side goes back to: No files on the CD. Please answer i need CD for tomorrow!

Posted by: nik at May 10, 2008 1:47 PM

srry i got it it was bcause i had 2 songs in the list that werent on my computer bcause of an entirely different problem i havent fixed yet (All 5 star songs disapear from my hard drive?) ne ways thank you anyways peace :¶

Posted by: nik at May 10, 2008 1:52 PM

no, dave, its Vista. I've been burning CDs for years using itunes on XP and playing them in my car. the second i got Vista, the same stack of CDs will no longer play.

apparently, this is a widespread problem.

Posted by: Tom at June 11, 2008 7:34 AM

Hello Dave,
I have a problem with my stereo playing my MP3 discs. It's a 6 month old Kenwood. My success rate is roughly half. If I burn a disc with 150 files, my stereo 'sees' only 80. This happens in a friends stereo as well. I've tried different burning programs and different pc's. All files play fine on the pc. Any ideas??! I'm going crazy!

Thanks, Andy

Posted by: Andy at June 13, 2008 3:33 PM

OK, I am at my wit's end. I have tried reconverting all 156 songs thru an mp3 converter to get them all in the same converter definition. Still my Kenwood only sees 80. Have tried the slowest burn setting, different brands of CD's, and different computers and burner programs. Tried putting files in a folder, and not putting them in a folder. Tried deleting all extraneous album art files. ALL with the same result. Only 1/2 to 2/3rds success. Can some of these MP3's be locked??!! I can't identify if they are.

Frustrated....

Andy

Posted by: Andy at June 16, 2008 8:21 PM

Hi

I have a peculiar problem in my XP machine. Mp3 files written thru my Samsung DVD writer (model 202j) are

not playable in other DVD or audio players. The tracks are jumping and disturbed. These tracks play ok

even when you play on the PC from the same CD on which they are written. But not outside the PC. It does not play even in any other PC.

What could be the issue? Recently I formatted my C drive and reinstalled the XP afresh and applied all

the patches. Still the problem persists.

Would appreciate if some one help me out.

I have checked, there is no issue with the DVD writer.

Thanks.

Posted by: KN at August 4, 2008 3:29 AM

Hi, I also cannot play my home made CDs in my car. I've done all of the above tweaking. I've made an MP3 and a WMA copies at slow speed with Ativa brand cd and now Maxell. Both sound great in my home cd player and DVD player but don't work in the car. My car CD is a Delco digital/EQ and has a gorgous sound with factory cds. I cleaned the lens with a special cd cleaner several time also.
The car manual (Buick Riviera 1992) doesn't give any info on what kind of cd it can read. It does mention that it needs a 4 second gap in between tracks. Is this significant?

Please help
Lynda

Posted by: Lynda G at August 18, 2008 3:37 PM

I have a problem with WMP (V11)in burning CDs of video clips - I have a Dell laptop with Windows XP and I get the following message - 'it is not possible to burn this list of files because all of the files have errors or are missing burn rights. To learn more about the problem click the icon next to each file in the burn list' I've tried to find out more but no icon exists next to the file. I've checked in the file properties and it says the file is not protected. Please can you help. David

Posted by: David at September 2, 2008 10:58 AM

Hi Dave,
My car is 1997 toyota avalon having dollby digital sterio. But when I use shop bought CD it is working fine. When I burnt CD using Roxio or vista its not playing. I burnt CDs 1. mp3 to AudioCD 2. WAV to Audio CD 3. mp3 to Audio CD with 4x speed. but one good news is that when I burnt using 4x speed the tracks are moving but songs are not playing. Can you sugges...
I created nearly 11 CD-R for this.

Posted by: dev at October 2, 2008 12:26 PM

something really simple. I couldnt play cds that I burnt on win media player. lokked at this page and you gave me the answer, i was burning data cds not audio cds!! thank you for your help.

Posted by: Gaz at January 4, 2009 1:37 PM

just converted wma to wav after 2 hours trying,find the file, left click,`save target as`send to desktop and use mp3 to wav convertor

BINGO IT WORKS

Posted by: fred whan at January 31, 2009 4:37 PM

i am burning audio cd using nero. when i play on cd player it doesn't start auto playing. so many times even selecting and playing also not responding. I have dvd player

Posted by: kaushik shah at February 10, 2009 5:47 AM

dave i need your help. i've burnt cd R's on fast burn and slow burn using windows media player on an XP system. these cd's still won't play in my truck. i've also used nero which i don't like and was unable to get it to play. how do i fix this?

Posted by: Richard at April 8, 2009 3:28 PM

I would like your help Dave, if you could. All I want to do is burn a Cd on Windows Media Player. I've done it several times before. Now, all of a sudden, it tells me I have to connect a burner and restart the player. My cd burner is internal. My cd drive works, it can plays cds, and on the properties, there is a recording tab and i've enabled cd recording. So what is going on?

Posted by: ALM at June 3, 2009 10:27 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!









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