Why will burned CDs play on my computer but not on a CD player?

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Level 1

8 points

Why will burned CDs play on my computer but not on a CD player?

CDs burned on my computer will play perfectly on the computer but not on a CD player. The discs I am using are Traxdata CD CD-R. The reviewers on Amazon all said they had been able to play these CDs on a CD player. So why won’t mine? I’m running the latest OS and my stereo, a Panasonic, is about a year and a half old. I have tried aiff and wav formats. Comments suggest trying a very low speed but the slowest my program will allow is 10x.

iMac 21.5" 4K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 2, 2019 7:51 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Roger Wilmut1

Level 10

131,320 points

Jul 3, 2019 4:53 AM in response to pauldsh

You are burning a data disc: no CD player will play data discs containing WAV or AIFF files. Some will play data discs containing MP3 files. If you want to be able to play the disc on any modern CD player then you need to burn an audio CD and for that you need use a program, not the Finder.

You can do this in iTunes. Import your files into iTunes, create a playlist containing them, the control-click the playlist and choose 'Burn playlist to disc'. Then make sure to select Audio CD:

Audio CDs run a maximum or 75 or 80 minutes depending on the blank. A data disc containing MP3 files can hold a lot more than that as the files are compressed.

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Answer 2

Jul 2, 2019 9:55 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

The problem is some CD players will play disks full of MP3's, but not AIFF's or WAVs. We need to know what he wants.

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Answer 3

Jul 2, 2019 8:50 AM in response to pauldsh

I have tried aiff and wav formats.

That is what the problem is. You have created a 'data disk', not an audio CD, and ordinary CD players won't play these. You have to specifically select an audio CD when burning: the format is completely different and, unlike data CDs, contains strong error correction and interpolation to make sure they will play reliably. (The format, not that it matters, is called 'Solomon Reed Cross interleave'.)

When you insert an audio CD into a Mac the Finder displays its contents as if they are AIFF files, but this is entirely an illusion: when you drag tracks out the Finder converts them to AIFF on the fly.

You shouldn't have any problem with a modern CD player, but some old ones won't play these disks because the actual data is held in varying reflectivity caused by the burning process, rather than the quarter-wavelength (of light) pits in a commercial CD, and older players can't detect the difference reliably.

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Answer 4

pauldsh Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 3, 2019 4:28 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Thank you Keith and Roger for your replies. Here, step by step, is exactly what I have done.

I create pieces of original music either using the Finale music notation program or GarageBand or a combination of the two. I then export this to the desktop as an audio file in aiff or wav format. I also have the option of mp3 but have not tried this. It seems to me that this is unlikely to work if the others don’t since mp3 is a compressed format. I’m not sure if my reasoning here is correct.

I then insert a blank Traxdata CD CD-R into the disc drive and select my audio file. Under the File menu I am now offered the option: Burn (audio file name) to disc. I select this. I am now prompted to name the disc and set the burn speed. The only possibilities are 24x, 16x and 10x. Then I press Burn.

pauldsh

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