bof

So I'm driving and listening to mp3's on cd with the stock single cd player, but then my player starts introducing blips into the soundstream. I'm pretty sure its not the media, because I can take out the media and play it on my computer just fine, not to mention the media is TDK. The car was only on for about 10 minutes before the blips started occuring and i know for a fact its not in the music because i have the same files on my computer. I was wondering if anyone else had this problem? It seemed to start when I had my cd player on for a nice long 4hour drive (driving from norcal to socal). The cd's I had in my unit felt hot that time so I assumed the cd player laser was overheating them, but this current problem happens in cold weather with short playing time and with different discs...

-j

fearturtle44

Every player is different. I would suggest burning the CD again and see the results. Sometimes a player just doesn't read a CD as good as it should.

Good luck.

Kevin

indianenvasion

i think that the cd players in cars are alot more sensitive then one in a computer try burning a cd slower and see what happens.

melongunner

^^^ I'm with him

chipmOnk

same thing happened to me so i burned another copy... same song had the same thing happen...

integsrtite

some softwares even out discrepancies in mp3 files so for example if you have a skip on a file, it might be left alone in car but it might be evened out/covered up by winamp/someother media player.

that's only if it happens at the same spot over and over again.

bof

I forgot to mention, I played the cd previously in the car's cd player without a hitch. But all of a sudden the mp3's started to play with blips. I'll try reburning the cd and playing it again tho...

bigmouth2008

It seems that the mp3 files encoding is having issues, or at least the DEC chip inside the Pioneer is not able to read it properly. Try a different song, or encode the files in different bit rates

TurboMe

how do u burn the CD? Do you burn it as data?

240SXtoTC

Some mp3s are encoded with a variable bit rate that does not agree with some cd players. The same thing happens on my cd player at home, and in my car it's fine.
Others are constant bit rate 128kbps or 196kbps, etc.
That's just my guess.

sciontc_mich

couple things..

- slow the burning speed down to 16X
- try burning another disc.. tdk is not manufactured by tdk but by a not so good comapny cmc magnetics.. try some fujifilm cd-r's (at best buy) they say they are made in japan..

- burn the cd as a "disc at once" and finalize the cd after burning..
- burn the cd as a data cd (just drag and drop the songs)

- i had a burning problem as well, i was using Roxio easy cd creator, switched to Nero 6 and never had the problem again. Was having some songs that could be read and others wouldn't.. depended on the "mood" roxio was in.. very strange.. i have burned at top speed with Nero, nothing ever wrong, no errors on the disc.. plays fine..

- take the burned cd to your scion dealer, pop it into any scion they have there (all the same radio) and see if it has the problem as well.. if those don't have a problem playing it then your headunit is messing up.. mine did as well but with any cd.. mp3 or regular.. had it replace twice and now it's fine..

let us know how it goes..

240SXtoTC

Whereabouts in Michigan? I'm in Toledo, OH

bof

ok, maybe i should make it a little clearer - I used the latest version of nero (6.whatever), burned cd's at 16x and at 32x, with TDK media (supposedly the best) and imation media (which works in everything else i have). The TDK was burned at 16x by my laptop, the 32x by my desktop's NEC ND-2500a drive. Its not the builtin mp3 decoding chip or the files per se, because i tried the same exact cds in my car and the mp3's play fine, without any blips. At least at first. Later on, the same cd will play the same song file and there will be noticeable blips in the music. I'm beginning to think it has to do with the reading of the cd, so maybe my laser is offset or there's dust in my drive that gets on my cd? But the strange thing is that I can leave a cd in the player overnight and then turn on my car the next morning and the mp3's will start blipping even though they weren't doing that the night before... I think i will take it to a scion dealer and see what they say.

Reign_Man

try the old boot to the face trick...it fixed my cd player

sciontc_mich

i gave the info just as a test to see what it might be in case it was a burning issue, but you already eliminated that. it's the radio then, i had some problems in the beginning too and it turned out the radio was bad.. pioneer has a quality problem to say the least!! let us know what the dealer finds, most likely they'll replace the radio..

bof

ok so get this, i finally managed to go to the dealer, and this is what the service rep said: "so you used a burned cd?" me: "yep" service rep: "well, thats why. if you read your manual, then you would have known there will be errors with burned cd's" me: "even when its hot and cold?" service rep: "yes" me (thinking): "well, i used a tdk cd, I tried about 3 different cd's, it happens when its both hot and cold, and this guy just seems like he wants to get rid of me." Needless to say, I was kind of ____ed, but I didn't really argue. I'm planning on calling the scion customer service number and to see if that's really the issue or if that guy just totally blew me off. If so, I'm planning on complaining until they replace my unit... Really, why should burned cd's crap out? They work fine everywhere else, on all different machines...

maxsin

lol

sciontc_mich

hey bof..
yeah they did blow you off, since in the headunit's owner's manual it clearly states that burned cd's CAN be used.. so they just don't want the warranty costs, find another dealer to work with. I had the first dealer give me excuses the 2nd one replaced 2 of them and said they would continue to do so until i had one that worked right.. i have used tdk's cd-r 80min and tdk's cd-rw 80min.. both do work in this headunit, so yeah burned cd's shouldn't crap out.. this headunit is supposed to work with them.. it's the headunit.. pioneer turned out some crap, keep replacing it til you get one that works..

let us know how it goes.. i think a call to scion is very important, makes these dealers actually do something.

bof

so an update...

I ended up calling the scion national customer service line, who then called the dealer and followed up with them. I met with the service manager for the department. He tried my CD in his car (he has an xB, 6-cd changer, which is basically the same as the tC's, though mine's only a single cd player). It worked - which seemed to stump him because he was dead set that it was my cd that was wrong. Then he said that because I couldn't reproduce the problem (since its random) that I need to try normal cd's (aka professionally pressed) until i get a blip. He also thinks that mp3's are supposed to be blipping because he thinks there's no buffer system so that when the mp3's are read, they are more susceptible to misreadings than a normal audio cd. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be the other way around, since mp3's are technically much smaller than a normal wav file, so they should be buffered somewhere? (the whole notion of no mp3 buffer is a load of crock in my opinion, but i humored them). Anyways, scion national has been following up with me and I told them that the service manager basically told me to try to reproduce the problem with professionally pressed cd's otherwise they won't replace my cd unit. What I thought of lately is to try to make a "normal" cd (aka non mp3) and see if i get the blips - if so, then its the laser. Otherwise, it might be the mp3 decoding unit having problems. In any case, they're placing the burden of proof on me, because they are afraid that if they send in a unit that works to the shop, they will get hit with a charge. Oh, also, the national scion representative said he'd call me back and tell me whether or not the stereo unit has a buffer (he said he'd call pioneer). Which is nice, but this whole servicing deal is leaving a bad taste in my mouth with both the dealership and scion in general.

So is it true that the audio system in scion is inherently flawed (cause that's what everyone in service is telling me)? Oh, btw, the service manager said "other" people have had the same problem and he always told them it was their media. He says it was always their media which was why he was suspicious of my TDK media cd. But since he doesn't use mp3's he had no first hand knowledge of the problem. This is really beginning to ____ me off because they're wasting my time and they never seem to accept that perhaps the system is NOT supposed to work that way...

Any suggestions on what else I should do?

sciontc_mich

basically.. this is ridiculous.. sounds like you're dealing with morons.. i would be done with that dealership and go to another dealership. I had the same sort of problem first time out, first dealer didn't want to do anything.. 2nd one had no problem getting me as many radios as it took until it was fixed properly.. That's what I would first do is to try a 2nd dealer.. plus the people at scion customer service? what's up with them?? they should be telling that dealer to replace it.. just for the simple fact to make you happy.. You have a legitimate complaint that your radio refuses to play mp3's.. i had that same problem on mine and i thought it was how i burned the cd's.. tried all different manufacturers of cd-r's cd-rw's and different burning methods, like disc at once.. or track at once.. nothing worked.. it would blip and not play the whole song.. basically here it is.. pioneer made some bad units and they are out there. you have one.. there is no basis for the story the dealership guy is telling you. The fact is, there is a bad buffer in the unit (yes mp3's can be buffered and i'm pretty sure this pioneer has a buffer) and it can't read the mp3 data correctly..

i would tell scion to stop making excuses and get you a radio that works as promised.. plain and simple.. and i would really find another dealer.. is it possible to try another, better dealer?