MP3 cdr question

[Stefan Wood]

I have a bunch of mp3 cdrs -- old time radio shows -- that play fine on my Mac, my ipod, but when I put them in my Philips SACD/DVD player, I get mixed results. Some play fine, others will just run through the track listings without playing the content, and others won't play at all. I burned a new disc using Toast, and I get an error message. The Philips isn't that old -- 2 years at the most -- but could it be that MP3 discs just won't play well on a component machine? I mean, I can spend $10 - $15 on a patch cord from my ipod to the stereo, but I like the idea of being able to play the discs directly. Suggestions?

[md655321]

For some reson, Ive had alot of problems with playing mp3s on dvd players as well. Not sure why.

I bought a 1/8 in to RCA stereo out chord for only 4 bucks, and serves me pretty well. Especially with already low quality radio it should work. I think I got it in the electronics department of a mall department store (sears?)

[Claude]

You should read the manual of the DVD player on the compatibility requirements. There are players which don't support certain bitrates, or mono files, or multisession CDs. Sometimes even the caracters used in folder and file names can cause problems.

Edited December 7, 2005 by Claude

[Stefan Wood]

Yes, I did check the manual. It's up to date as to what they can accept (the bit rate is fine), though I was thinking along the same lines about file names and such.

[Stefan Wood]

I got this response from a friend of mine, when I asked him the same

question:

Many players won't play mp3's encoded below 64/44. Some won't play less than

128/44. knowing that most of the sellers out there use anywhere from 16/22

to 32/22 on their mp3s it does not surprise me that they don't play

correctly outside the computer. It would be necessary for you to convert

those files to a higher bitrate and reburn them.

[Claude]

Many players won't play mp3's encoded below 64/44. Some won't play less than

128/44. knowing that most of the sellers out there use anywhere from 16/22

to 32/22 on their mp3s it does not surprise me that they don't play

correctly outside the computer.

Yes, I forgot to mention the sample rate (not to be confused with bitrate), which is the second number. The standard sample rate on CDs is 44.1kHz, and that's also the rate that MP3 players expect.

Some users convert their CDs to MP3s with non-standard sample rate, to get a smaller file size (22kHz) or simply by error (48kHz, which is the standard sample rate for DVD sound). But this should be a rare exception, as the default sample rate proposed by CD-to-MP3 converters is 44.

BTW, 16 or 32 kb/s bitrate is unrealistic, as the sound quality will be horrible.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Claude

[Stefan Wood]

Believe it or not, 32 and 64 bits are the going rate for a lot of Old Time Radio shows. Stuff in the mid to late 50's are light some times, maybe 96, but the belief is that they are for the most part poor sounding mono recordings that don't need a high bit rate. I disagree, as I know there are nice sounding radio shows from way back when. I grew up listening to the Big Broadcast in the 80's, and they used vinyl and tape sources that sounded great.