The HK stereo in my '03 MCS is finnicky about playing burned CDs. I am a dual platform computer user, Macs at the office and a Dell PC at home. I have noticed that when I burn discs on my Mac Mini, which organizes the music at my office in iTunes, I get discs which skip terribly. They will hardly play at all, actually. It doesn't have anything to do with physical vibrations or jarring, it's just that the head unit doesn't read the information on the disc well. I have been able to take the same discs which don't play, put them into my PC and burn a copy of the faulty disc using Roxio software and they play perfectly. This is a bit of a pain, but very useful information.

Now, I have tried yet another experiment, which is using Toast software to burn copies of original purchased discs in my Apple desktop computer, a new 24" iMac, and they play perfectly. What I'm beginning to see is that my stereo in the car just doesn't like something about discs burned using the iTunes software. Anybody else noticed similar results? If any of you are having problems with skipping or what sounds to me like "Max Headroom" digital artifacts in your HK stereos, you might try different software or platforms for your burns. I have found this to be very consistant for me.

 

I've burned MP3 CDs to CD-RWs with iTunes and haven't had a problem with the stereo reading them. *shrug*

 

Yes, but your stereo is in a 2006. Mine is in a 2003. I bet your stereo supports MP3 format discs, as well. Mine does not. I have read other postings regarding skips and digital artifacts in burned CDs and just wanted to share my findings. "Shrug" back at ya.

 

I had a similar problem in my '04. Memorex discs would play on everything but skip on the HK. Switched to Maxell and it was better. The skipping wasn't like the normal skipping of a bad disc though. Bothered me enough that on a dealer visit I told them my problem and they put in a new head unit ('05). All the discs played great. Of course at the time I was lucky enough that it was still under warranty.

 

..

 

Sorry if I came off as trivializing your info--it was meant as "I don't know what could be the problem, I wish I could be of more help." I will burn a test audio CD and post back with the results.

 

But I thought Macs do everything perfectly the first time no matter what and work perfectly with any possible other device you can think of (at least that's what the commercials on TV told me).. . . . .

But seriously, try switching to different brand of media. I've had burned discs act weird with my 2003 stock stereo too. Some are just fine, others are weird.

 

You know, I've been trying different kinds of media, some played badly and some not at all. It just amazed me that albums burned in iTunes using the proprietary burning software skip badly in my HK head unit, but albums from the same collection of files, dragged to the desktop, ripped to audio files and burned using Toast on the same Mac Mini computer play without artifacts. The troublesome discs that the HK head unit doesn't like play fine in my Alpine head unit in my truck as well as the Panasonic head unit in my wife's Subaru. The HK headunit in my 2003 MINI is just finnicky. I bring it up only to help others who may have experienced the same problem and hadn't thought to try different burning software.

 

Are the burn speeds the same in iTunes as in Toast? I've had players in the past that didn't do a good job of playing discs burned at maximum speed.

 

I would check the configuration in Itunes for burning. You are using the same disc burner with two different pieces of software. It must be the software config as the post above says...I would look at the burn speed, make sure you are only burning the disc and not using other programs while burning, and burn after a fresh re-boot to clear the RAM. While all of this may be obivious I am just thinking as I write this...just trying to help....I use a PC and I am typing this on my MAC laptop...I use Itunes but I have the 2006 model so I can't be too much help with testing my ideas...I am interested in any fixes though as this kind of stuff is interesting to me...good luck with your trials....

 

After a little research, I decided to burn the discs in iTunes at 4x, thinking that a slower burn might be easier for my HU to read. Didn't seem to make any difference. I allowed Toast to burn at "best" speed, which is quite a bit faster.

 

Skipping or coaster disks are usually the result of too high of a burn speed and/or cheap media.
Try Imation disks, they import a very high end disk and rebrand it. Sounds like you're already trying a slower write speed, that should also help.

 

I don't think that's his problem. He's using the same computer, same burner, and the same discs for all of his attempts, but the discs he burns with Toast work, and the discs he burns with iTunes don't. And he's even using a faster burn speed with Toast than he is in iTunes, and it's still the iTunes discs that are giving him the problems.