Just got a new car (2005 Subaru Outback LL Bean w/ 6 disc changer) and while I love the car, I miss the line in plug on my old crappy radio. The iPod is the perfect solution for the long car ride. Anyway, looking through the owner’s manual, it says my radio is supposed to handle MP3 discs, but when I insert the disc, it says track one and ticks off the time playing, but no sound comes out. All my songs are in iTunes at 192kbs with a 44.1 sample rate.
This is the first time I’ve tried to play an MP3 disc in a CD player of any kind. Are there some unwritten rules to making this work? Is there a recommended bit and sample rate? Does iTunes or Apple computers make discs that are weird somehow to the average CD player?
I don’t have an iPod or shop on iTunes, but their songs aren’t mp3, are they? If they are, it’s possible that the DRM doesn’t jive with your car’s player.
I guess you just have to experiment to isolate the problem. Try a disc of 192 kbps MP3s (not VBR) ripped using an encoder other than iTunes. If that disc doesn’t work, try a disc of MP3s ripped at a lower bit rate. If that one doesn’t work…I dunno.
This has nothing to do with, well, anything here, but I just thought I’d mention that players can be really picky about formats. I just bought a Creative MuVo, which claims to handle all MP3 and WMA formats, but it actually doesn’t do WMA lossless. Of course, this isn’t mentioned in the manual, or on the packaging, so I spent a good two hours trying to figure out why my music would upload to the player but then not play.
Anyhow, like JMJ said, play with different formats, rates, etc.
