Why do you hurt me iTunes?

April 24, 2006 12:52 PM

What happened? I burned three cds on iTunes and they won't play in my car stereo at all.

It's just horrible noises, and scratchiness. They still play in iTunes and on my home stereo. The CDs were Phillips 80 minutes, but I have older CDs that work perfectly recorded on these same discs, so what gives? Could this be because of an update I installed in iTunes (6.0.4) on March 3? Everything worked until then. I couldn't find anything about this at iTunes support. Just for complete info: I have a 2003 BMW 530i. If it is because of an update what do I do? How do I go back? If it's not listed in any iTunes support areas,which I find a bit odd, will they even try to fix this?

posted by generic230 to computers & internet (14 comments total)

Sounds like you burned MP3s as data files, not as a music disc.
posted by unixrat at 12:53 PM on April 24, 2006

I'm testing that right now. Gonna burn me a CD and see if I done did it wrong.
posted by generic230 at 12:57 PM on April 24, 2006

How many tracks were you able to fit on the CDs?
posted by Malor at 12:57 PM on April 24, 2006

Eighteen. It didn't work again. But, looking at the disc, they burned as mp3s. So, they aren't as data files. However--I have two NON iTunes songs on it. They have a Quicktime logo. These are really old mp3s I got in the days of Napster. Would iTunes cripple any CD that has a non iTunes song on it? No. I just checked a second CD, it's got all iTunes songs on it and it doesn't work either.
posted by generic230 at 1:25 PM on April 24, 2006

Are you looking in the iTunes preferences under Advanced | Burning and selecting the "Audio CD" option? You do not want them as a MP3 or Data CD as neither is readable by a normal CD player. If you're seeing anything with a .mp3 extension, it wasn't burned correctly.
posted by mikeh at 1:33 PM on April 24, 2006

Is it a Mac or PC? If PC -- if you put the disc in your computer, and then browse to it (My Computer -> CD Rom), what do the files show up as? Are they listed there as bla.mp3? (Sorry if I'm saying stuff you've already checked, just want to be sure all the bases are covered.)
posted by inigo2 at 1:34 PM on April 24, 2006

to the best of my knowledge itunes does not have an issue with mp3s that where ripped with another application. i have not had issue at least
posted by phil at 1:35 PM on April 24, 2006

Just to make sure all troubleshooting bases are covered and my apologies if these are remedial questions for you.

1. does your home stereo play MP3s as well as "regular" CDs with aiff files?
2. does your car stereo play MP3s as well as "regular" CDs with aiff files?

Putting an MP3 CD into a device that only plays regular CDs would behave as described. MP3 is not the standard data type for regular music CDs that you buy in a CD store. Let us know more details about what CDs work and what CDs don't.
posted by jessamyn at 1:35 PM on April 24, 2006

Remember that you can't fit very many songs onto a CD if you're burning them in WAV format.... there's about 65 minutes on an average CD. (You can get extended 80-minute ones, but I don't know if iTunes will support them.) 18 songs might fit, but only just.

I have a Mac right here, I'll check out how to do this real quick.
posted by Malor at 1:45 PM on April 24, 2006

...looking at the disc, they burned as mp3s. So, they aren't as data files.

If they're MP3 files, they are data files, and the disc won't play in a standard CD player. As others have noted, standard audio CDs are made up of AIFF files, not MP3s. Note that most DVD players (and an increasing number of home stereo CD players) will play MP3 discs, which might explain why the discs work at home but not in the car.
posted by Acetylene at 1:46 PM on April 24, 2006

Okay, mikeh, that fixed it. I didn't look there. Thanks. That saved me a $250 service call.
posted by generic230 at 1:48 PM on April 24, 2006

Yes, you guys were all correct. I was burning data files, not audio files. Mystery solved.
posted by generic230 at 1:49 PM on April 24, 2006

Ok, under Preferences, look in the Advanced category, and then on the CD Burning tab. Make sure you have 'Audio CD' chosen as your desired format. If you choose 'MP3 CD' or 'Data CD', you'll get the issues you're describing.
posted by Malor at 1:51 PM on April 24, 2006

Heh, oops, should have previewed instead of leaving the window open. :)
posted by Malor at 1:52 PM on April 24, 2006