When I copy my favorite songs from purchased CDs to my computer, I use Windows Media Player in WMA format. Since the MP3 player in the car can't read those, I used Advanced WMA Workshop to convert the songs to MP3. Then, I burned the songs to a CD in data format.

Here's what's going wrong: The MP3 player treats the songs differently even though they were batch-copied and batch-converted. Some songs play normally, some play at a slightly speeded up rate, some play in super slow motion, some don't play at all... just skips to the next song.

I put the CD into my computer to test it, and a bunch of the songs won't "initialize", but a bunch of them are just fine. There does not seem to be a trend, such as the malfunctioning songs all being from the same album or whatever. All of the songs that I originally created in MP3 format are playable. The converted WMA files... it's a crap shoot.

What the heck is the problem, here? Do I have to start from scratch and recopy 800 songs directly to my computer in MP3 format? It took me hours and hours to get them on my computer in the first place. If that is what I have to do, what would be the best software to do it?

P.S. The MP3s on my computer play just fine. It's when I burn them to a CD that they no longer play correctly (I think).

MusicMatch JukeBox works excellent CD->mp3 directly

I'm pretty sure that iTunes for the mac and PC can take care of that, and fairly easily.

I'm really starting to think it's my CD burner. I went through a bunch of the converted MP3s on my hard drive and they play just fine. It's on the burned CD that they don't play... so that has to be the link.

I use Adaptec Easy CD Creator. Can I use a different software to burn CDs or are you only able to use what is installed with the CD burner?

Naw, you can use anything. I'm using Ahead Nero 6 on my computer and it works flawlessly. Plus I can use it to burn all my DVD's too (I've got an external DVD burner for my laptop). Definately a good investment. There's a trial too, so check it out. www.nero.com

Ok, thx, will do.

does anyone know if a song that can only play on realplayer can play on our radio?

Naw, you can use anything. I'm using Ahead Nero 6 on my computer and it works flawlessly. Plus I can use it to burn all my DVD's too (I've got an external DVD burner for my laptop). Definately a good investment. There's a trial too, so check it out. www.nero.com


Hes right!! I use the same program and its very affordable and works perfectly if you decide to buy it.

I have a home-studio and I am constantly recording samples, cds, and other things. Nero 6 is what use to burn my cd's, convert my sound files, preview tracks, mix mp3 tracks, and burn dvds! You cant go wrong.....

it is definately best to rip all your tracks as Mp3 in the first place. I have also had a ton of trouble converting wma to mp3. But i love our mp3 player. I managed to cram 12 and a half hours of music on 1 cd! Thats around 80 hrs of music in my changer!...just set that baby to random, and your set! :wink:

I use Ahead Nero 5 that came with my burner. It works great. www.nero.com. good luck with getting your mp3s in order.

I have a home-studio

What do you work on Proto?

Well, I downloaded the Nero program and burned the CD again. Same exact problems as the other CD I burned using Adaptec. That must mean it's the song itself. For some reason the song will play on my hard drive, but won't copy correctly to a CD.

I guess I will have to break down and recopy the songs from the original CD to my hard drive in MP3 format.

Realplayer or *.rma files will not play on our decks. I'm not even sure if they can be converted to mp3's. I've found that rma format isn't extremely good quality anyway unless you're making your own rma files. If you're downloading that off the net, the quality will DEFINATLY not be there, so even if you could convert them, I would reconsider.

Are you sure that it's not the drivers for your CD burner? Sometimes you run into problems if you drivers are out of date or corrupted. Try re-installing them... or actually first uninstall them and then re-install them. Did that make sense? Before you do that though, I would definately try and re-encode them just to be on the safe side. Hopefully it's just something simple like that.

I have a home-studio

What do you work on Proto?


I make samples, beats and ryhmes.

I work some sh*& out using Reason, Recycle, Acid Pro, Soundforge, Korg's Ms2000, my MkII's, and some other stuff. I have all kinds of gadgets.......


I can tell by your name that your into sumthin also, what about you Urban?----

Well, I downloaded the Nero program and burned the CD again. Same exact problems as the other CD I burned using Adaptec. That must mean it's the song itself. For some reason the song will play on my hard drive, but won't copy correctly to a CD.

I guess I will have to break down and recopy the songs from the original CD to my hard drive in MP3 format.


Some songs are copyrighted, so in fact yes you own the song but not the rights. It probobly is the songs that are having the probem and not your process. I have never had that problem, where are you getting this music?

Hey.. I do all that stuff too!!... We should hook up at the NORCAL SOCAL meet and have a little cypher session. I'm actually in the process of trying to get myself a keyboard/workstation. Those things are expensive.... We should hook up and make a scion track... and we can email beats and vocals back and forth until the song is finished. Acid would probably be the easiest way. If your interested PM ME!!!!!

As far as your question. Sound Forge it what I use. I also tend to find that some CD-Rs arent as reliable as others.. HTH

I had a problem with ripped Audio tracks, after being converted to a compressed format, that wouldn't play or even intialize on the Scion head unit.

I came to find that the problem was after the program I use to compress it is finished compressing the files, it still keeps a RIFF-WAV header on each and every "compressed" audio file. I thought this was already MP3 format, since they were MP3 sized, and would play on my pc just fine BUT, it had the RIFF WAV header attached.

I went through, and removed the header, and they all turned into normal MP3's.

That solved my problem...don't know if it will help any with you though...good luck!

How did you remove the header? Need instructions so I can look at that, please.

As to where I got the music, I have about 150 or so CDs that I have purchased over the last few years. I only like certain songs on them, so I use Windows Media Player to copy the songs in uncompressed WMA format to my computer. I unlock the "personal rights management" thing so that I can also transfer the WMA file to my Nomad Jukebox and still be able to play it. (Then my Nomad is hooked into my stereo receiver and speakers, bypassing the need for a CD player.) I needed a program to batch convert these WMA files to MP3, so I got "Advanced WMA Workshop" for that.

I doubt that the copyright is the issue, here. Why would I be able to transfer the song in WMA format onto a CD which will play in any computer? Why would I be able to burn new music (not data) CDs from my hard drive that convert the WMA file back into a music file with no problem?

I think I will sit in my car and make note of which songs won't play, then go burn those songs from the original CD to MP3 on my computer; then burn a new CD to try to play in the car. I think I have to test a few different areas in order to pinpoint the problem.

It may be in the fact that you're encoding the songs twice. You need something that'll rip the CD and then just create mp3 files not go to wma and then to mp3. I bet something is going screwy between that conversion. That Nero program has a CD ripping utility (or I'm pretty sure it does) that converts the songs directly to mp3 format. Try taking out that middle step and see what happens.

If you have DSL or cable... look for Sound Forge 6.0 on the net...

*I am not telling you to find the hacked/ripped copy* *hint*hint*COUGH*

:wink:

You can rip straight from the CD them save as a MP3. HTH

yeah try Nero thats what I use


Doc

Obz, some of the files that have been copied from the CD to WMA then converted to MP3 and burned to new CD actually WORK. So how can that process work on some files but not on others? That's what's so confusing. And ALL of the files I converted from WMA to MP3 play just fine on my hard drive. It's when I try to burn them to a CD as MP3s that some/most of them don't work. It's just plain weird.

I will spend the time to recopy the files from the original to MP3, but when the Nero program's demo period is up, I will have to switch to a new program. They want $100 for that software and it's just not worth it to me.

I never bought mine to begin with!


Doc

naughty boy... did santa bring you coal?

I wish, did you know solid coal is worth $500 a pound?



Doc

why would you convert a song out of mp3 format in the first place?

All i do is use Nero to burn a new cd.. as "Data" and just copy over folders and subfolders and what not... Or just slap all the mp3 on there without any folders....

ScI-

If you want email me a couple of those songs and I will try to run them through my system. I will make them work forsure..... I will tell you how to do it yourself for the future wit no probs!!...I just cant make an intelligent hypothesis without checking it out...Ignorance is a killer....

why would you convert a song out of mp3 format in the first place?

All i do is use Nero to burn a new cd.. as "Data" and just copy over folders and subfolders and what not... Or just slap all the mp3 on there without any folders....

Same here..


i hate all the songs i download with no title or artist, I have to manually enter each one. SUX
But in the end it is EXCELLENT to scroll through artist folders and see names of songs.

I love this feature of the Scion Car Stereo. And it has been problem free for me. I have thousands of songs on my hard drive that I have downloaded and also from my own private cd collection. I use MUSIC MATCH and Create a cd using any ordinary blank CDR. Since my songs are already in MP3. format , all I have to do is make add the songs to my playlist, save it, make sure the songs have titles,etc. and burn to a disc. The important part is when you burn to a disc, make sure you choose the option to Record from MP3. to MP3. and NOT .WAV.

It really is very easy. Although, I have to admit that using Adaptec EZ CD create works just as well, it is just a little more complicated to ensure that you are not saving the file as a .wav.



I have 10 CDR's in my XA, and I have over 1650 songs to listen to at Random. How great is that?

Ok im using simple reasoning here... The MP3 format works on her PC then its burnt to a CD-R and dont seem to work? Try this... Play the CD-R (with the MP3s) on you PC.. from the disk.. if it plays like it does in your car it means its not burning correctly.. and I would say it hardware... bad burner... you have used two differant peices of software and got the exact same results.. this should say that it isnt a software problem.. now if it plays good on your PC (the MP3 Disk) and you put it in your car and it plays bad then I have to go with the deal that the head unit in your car is malfunctioning... Work your problems from one end at a time.. If you have a home DVD player thats MP3 compatable or home CD player thats MP3 compatable try those too.. Maybe your computer is the only thing that reads it right.. then you got a box of worms...just my .02 :roll:

Well, after re-burning the CD with Nero, I tried playing it in the car on the way to work and it didn't play correctly. So, I took the CD into work and tired playing it on my computer at work, and it would not play on there either. I just assumed it wouldn't play at home, as well, but maybe I better try it out.

If the problem is the burner, then why would it have an error on the same songs? Wouldn't it most likely have errors on varying songs?

The other thing I still need to try, just haven't had time, is to grab the original music, copy to my computer in MP3, then burn to a new CD and see what happens. It could be that converting from WMA to MP3 is the culprit. I will test it this weekend.