Possible Good News Re: MP3 CD problems.

[Dennis94XLT]

I've read about some problems ejecting CDs and playing home made CD's and/or MP3 CDs in some of your radios. When I was looking for an 05 Explorer, I brought an MP3 home made CD with me and I found several 05 Explorers that had the Radios that appeared to play MP3 discs (they say "Folder" or "Folders" on two of the radio quick tune buttons. If yours says that, it's possibly one of the ones that will play MP3 made CDs. Anyway, when I tried the CD I brought - I got read errors and the disc got stuck and wouldn't eject - and also would let me load any other discs. I thought I had run across a bunch of lemons. What I found was these Ford radios don't seem to like memorex CDRs and I couldn't get them to play if I burned them as MP3 discs - and they always got stuck with read errors and wouldn't eject. The way I finally figured out to reliably eject them was to turn off the key and cut power to the radio (you may have to open the drivers door if you have the circuit that keeps power supplied to the radio after the key is removed) - then put the key back in and turn on the radio - don't try to play the disc - instead eject it immediately. In my case - it worked (ejected) every time I did it this way. I also found that if I burned the MP3 CD using a Sony CD (with the green tint) - the stereo would easily and reliably load, play and eject the discs. Hopefully this information will help some of you. I didn't use paper labels - just a black market to ID the disc. The Sony CD's I used are standard off the shelf - just make sure they have the greenish tint.

Good Luck everyone - I hope this solves some of those mysterious stuck CD and MP3 failure problems.

Dennis

 

[tex599]

Maxell CD-R Music CDs work

I was having the same problem with generic cd-r, but bought the Maxell CD-r Music and they work fine. Just use a sharpie to label instead of paper and they won't get stuck

 

[Dennis94XLT]

Maxell CD-R Music

Hi - are you burning MP3 music CDs or regular music CDs? I can play any music CD - it's the MP3 burned CDs that are troublesome.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[tex599]

Mp3

Burning both MP3 files and also using iTunes format.

 

[Dennis94XLT]

After posting my first message, I discovered I was wrong - I burned two more MP3 CDs thatfailed with read errors but I kept experimenting and so far I have made 3 good ones. The difference appears to be a a need for the radio to see a folder or folders on the MP3 disk the CD should be in Joliet format. Creating folders on the MP3 disc might be the fix - I had created one on the first disk that wokrig. If I create folders and put at least one song in them (can be just one folder with ong- and I still put all the songs in the normal place - that seems to be working. Once I've made 10 working MP3 discs in a row that work, I'll consider the mystery solved.
Cross your fingers - I'll post again tomorrow.

 

[zamboni]

Just posted this in another CD player thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149421

What I found, is that SOME CD-R's are slightly thicker than normal. If one is stuck coming out, it is because the top edge of the CD is getting stuck on the top inside edge of the slot. I merely insert another CD about 1/2" on top of the stuck CD, to slightly bend it down, and it ejects.

Sadly, my 2002 radio won't play MP3s (does sort of recognize it and say "Data CD"). It will play 80-min CDs.

 

[Dennis94XLT]

I bet you all I've solved the MP3 issue. Here's what you need to do - when you burn an MP3 CD, make sure there is a folder on the disc. Call it "Folder" - it doesn't have to have anything in it but the folder has to be on the disc. I don't know why it's a requirement for reliable MP3 playback but I had endless trouble with playing and with ejecting MP3 discs until I put that folder in the disc along with the songs. Once I did that, I burned 25 CDs - all MP3 and all with well over 100 songs and I used various media. Not one CD got stuck again and every one of them played the music start to finish with no problem. I experimented and made two discs exactly the same except one had a folder called Folder and the other didn't. The one without the folder got stuck in the player over and over - seemed to jam to player and would only come out if I turned off the key, turned it back on and immediately ejected that disc. The other disc that had the folder in it - played perfectly.

This is worth a try for those of you still trying to solve this issue.

Why the folder? MP3 CDs can play folder by folder with each folder having it's own music - like a folder with only Cher's music and another folder with only the Moody Blues. It can also play the entire disc. It seems that the radio needs at least one folder - empty or not - in order to play MP3 CDs correctly.
The radio I'm working with is a 2005 later model Audiophile 6 disc changer with MP3 capability.

I have noticed what I think is a bug in this radio though and would like others to give feedback if they have the same problem.
The Problem: Play one song and press the repeat button - the display will say Repeat On. Now turn off the ignition - wait a minute and turn it back on. The repeat function no longer works but it is still on. To test this, I pressed the repeat button after the radio had been off and was back on and wasn't repeating. The first press turned it off, which I assume means it was still on. The second press turned it back on.
Every time I turn off the key and then turn it back on, I have to turn off the repeat, then turn it back on again or the music wont stay in repeat mode. Is this a bug? Seems like the radio should remember it's in repeat mode. It doesn't loose power when the key is off. Any takers on this one?

 

[IAmTodd]

I've had quite a few MP3 discs through mine with no problem.