my 03 mcs is not playing burned cds

I just bought the car and just found this out....is this normal?

 

I don't believe your car will play MP3 cds, but it should play normal burned cds. Are you making sure the cds are finalized at the end of the burning process?

 

There are actually different laser/pickups requirements in order for a player to be able to play "burned" CDs in addition to factory-"pressed" CDs.

Most modern players will play both, but I've had older aftermarket and factory head units that wouldn't play burned discs.

I'd try playing the burned disc in a newer car and see if it works. If in fact your head unit won't play burned discs, you might be able to swap in a used head unit from a newer MINI.

 

The CD player in an '03 will not play a burned CD - it is a different format (usually MP3) and you will need a newer player designed for that.

 

That's strange: I have no problem playing burned CDs in my '02. (standard head, not HK)

Check your burned CD in another CD player (not an MP3 player) to see if your computer is actually burning good discs. I don't believe that any 5 inch discs are mp3 format, so that should not be an issue. But if that is the case, you should be able to specify the burn format (CD vs MP3) with your burning software.

 

I can play the burned CDs in my Subaru. It is a MP3 format though. Oh well, I guess I have to use regular CDs then. thanks for the info.

 

Well, you may still be able to use burned CDs in your MINI - you'll just have to burn them in the "regular" audio format (about 17 songs per disc) rather than the MP3 format.

I don't know what software you're using to make your discs (or if you're just dragging MP3 files into a folder on the CD-R), but if you use Toast, iTunes, Nero, or any of the other popular burning programs, they should all be able to burn a conventional audio disc. I know iTunes will automatically convert from MP3 to standard audio format when you burn the disc - I don't know about the other packages, though.

 

My 03 MCS with Harmon/Kardon plays burned CDs just fine. Something must be amiss with the formatting. I've received numerous homemade compilation CDs from many MINI pals, and all of them have worked. There must be some sort of incompatibility or wrong formatting issue here.

 

Yes - I think the original poster's issue isn't that he can't play *burned* CDs, it's that he can't play a burned CD *of MP3 files*.

I bet that the discs you've received from friends are probably burned in the conventional "80 minutes of music per disc" ISO format, and that's why they work in your MP3-unaware factory head unit.

 

It'll play burned CDs, just not MP3 CDs. MINIs produced 2/2005+ started arriving with this capability.

To the OP, verify you are finalizing your sessions and that the audio files are in CDA format.