Sorta OT - CD-R's in car stereos...

[Botch.]

Just got a new car, which included a nice OEM stereo with CD player. The owner's manual states to play commercial CDs only, that CD-Rs and CD-RWs would cause the player to overheat. Say wha? Anyone have a clue why this might happen? Do car stereos have an RIAA chip installed now?

[ITGITC]

Mr. Botch, in all my 22 years I have never heard that BS!! I have no clue what would make a CD player overheat if you tried to play a CD-R.

 

Try it! It's a new car & under warranty.

 

Ummmm, what did you buy? Another SAAB?

 

I think they are wrong. But whatdoIknow?

 

How 'bout a beer?

 

[Hendmik]

If a player can't identify a disc, it can spin the disc pretty hard when trying to est. a data link. I can imagine leaving this spinning hard for a few days might burn out the motor, I guess. If the player won't recognize a disc, take it out. Duh.

[Steve LeBlanc]

Originally posted by Hendmik:

If a player can't identify a disc, it can spin the disc pretty hard when trying to est. a data link. I can imagine leaving this spinning hard for a few days might burn out the motor, I guess. If the player won't recognize a disc, take it out. Duh.

ditto

[The Thrashole]

Never heard of that. I actually burn CD's to put in the car since they are always kinda beaten in that enviornment.

[Anderton]

I use CD-Rs in my car's player all the time, no problems. Then again, it's a VW, you can do anything with 'em .

 

Maybe they read something about people burning CD-R coasters, and thought they meant "toasters."

[Slowly]

A cd does have a standard for reflectivity. Most CDR's fall way below this standard. The laser has an auto-gain feature that sets the RF level to one volt. A good commercial cd lets the player reach the one volt RF output level easily. The low reflectivity CDR has the gain control working overtime to produce this one volt RF output, in most cases the gain is maxed out to produce an .8 volt output level. A lot of players are made sturdier to run at the higher gain level, or made to just be happy with this .8 volt output. Since the manufacturer of your unit doesn't want you to play CDR's but of course you want to, only buy good quality CDR's and things should be just okay. But don't tell them you did that. Kcbass

[js]

Wouldn't be surprised if they're just covering their behinds...

 

CD-Rs are nowhere as consistant in playback as CDs. This way, they don't have to deal with people asking to replace their CD players under warranty because it won't play a specific CD-R.

 

js

[whitefang]

Now, that is strange, but not uncommon. My sister claims that CDs she burns on her computer WILL NOT play in anything else but the computer she burned it in and her DVD player. The home CD player and the one in her car refuse. The CDr's I burn play in everything I put them in, so far. However, I noticed that some of the newer burns, on discs with a VERY obscure brand name, give me more trouble with "shake-skipping" while driving. The Fujis I've used up 'till I bought these never did.

 

Whitefang

[Jokerelli]

Originally posted by whitefang:

My sister claims that CDs she burns on her computer WILL NOT play in anything else but the computer she burned it in and her DVD player. The home CD player and the one in her car refuse. Whitefang

I have found that most CDs that you burn will play in anything younger than 4 years. I don't know when it happened but there must have been some upgrade done to CD/DVD players around 2000.

[Anderton]

<>

 

Could be an alignment issue.

[Slowly]

Originally posted by whitefang:

Now, that is strange, but not uncommon. My sister claims that CDs she burns on her computer WILL NOT play in anything else but the computer she burned it in and her DVD player. The home CD player and the one in her car refuse. The CDr's I burn play in everything I put them in, so far. However, I noticed that some of the newer burns, on discs with a VERY obscure brand name, give me more trouble with "shake-skipping" while driving. The Fujis I've used up 'till I bought these never did.

 

Whitefang

She might have burned them as WMA, or that Windows designation. Most CD players can't handle these unless they are MP3/WMA ready. Clarion is one brand name that I own and it will handle MP3/WMA files. It reads the disc just like a computer does with the artist and track name listed on the display. Tell her to convert to regular wave files before she burns them, the only other choice is to get players that are MP3/WMA ready. Clarion and Pioneer are two I know about. I like the MP3/WMA format, I have put up to 100 songs on one disc so I never have a suitcase of disc in my car. Kcbass

[Botch.]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. KCBass, your first post makes enough sense to have me heed the manufacturer's warning. Fortunately virtually all of my CDs are commercial releases, so I shouldn't have too much of a problem.

 

Yeah, Gas, I bought another Saab. At 6'5" my options are pretty limited. Almost bought a used BMW but learned they were asking $5,000 less than book value, the last thing I need is another problem car. This Saab is an '01 convertible (the brand new ones are nice cars but half the cost of my house, I can't/won't go there!) and has three years bumper-to-bumper warrantee left on it (minus tires, wipers, and audio equipment, of course ). Its got the high-output motor and a 5-speed manual, now if I can just keep my license!