How to Make an MP3 CD For Your Car Player

Playing MP3 music in your car allows you to add several albums on one CD. It’s very easy. Read my article to find out what you how.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Car deck that plays MP3 and/or WMA files
• CD burner and software
• CDR blank media

1. Check the car deck’s owner manual or look at the faceplate closely for logos of MP3 or WMA. If you have either or both, move to step 3, if not read step 2
2. Need a car deck that plays MP3 or WMA files? That’s easy. Just visit your local electronics store and look at the faceplates for the MP3 and WMA logos. Sony has several but so does JVC, Kenwood, Alpine, and most popular brands.
3. Ok so now you have your car-deck installed that plays MP3 and WMA files. Lets make a CDR. Open your favorite CD burning program. I like NERO but you can use your favorite.
4. For this tutorial I will use Nero
   Open Nero Smart Start and click “Make MP3 CD”.
   Open your music folder and drag some songs (with short file names for this test)from the "My Music" folder over to the Nero Window. You will see the capacity bar fill up so you know how much room you have left.
5. There are some rules we need to observe here:
   #1. We need to be using ISO 9660 or Juliet
   #2. MP3's should be at a bit-rate of 128K and freq or sample rate at 44.1Khz
   #3. No long file names with long folder structure
   #4. No spaces, special characters or anything odd in the folder or file names.
   NOTE: These are base line settings and your player may be able to do much more but there is no reason your player can't handle this test disc. Once you see this test disc work, you play with long file names and check your results later.
6. Making a Basic Test Disc:
   Use a CDR from a well known brand if you can such as Verbatim, sony, philips, memorex etc. Please avoid imation, windata,Ridata, and Taiyoyuden. (You can use a CDRW if you car-player supports it. Check your players manual. If it does not specify CDRW, don't use it for this test.)
   Remember this is only for the test. If it works you can always run media tests later by copying your test cd to your low cost media.
   Now use the option in NERO-startsmart to make an MP3-CD.
7. * Before you press the burn button, set your relaxations all to OFF.
   * Set all ISO standards to ISO 9660 or Juliet.
   * Relaxations are: Allow long file names, Allow things outside of Juliet standards.
   
   Ok, Hit Burn and test your CDR in the car! If it works, you are done.
   
   If not, read my article over and look for any mistakes you might have made. Some car players are very sensivitve to too many folders be nested or long file names. The newer the player the better results you will see.

Tips & Warnings

• Start your test with CDR not a CDRW. Some decks can not handle CDRW.