WMP thinks a CD is a DVD

[glenncz]

I've used my Windows 7 media player for a long time to burn discs. When I add a couple of hours of mp3s to my burn list, it always separated them into multiple CDs.

By mistake I put a DVD into the CD/DVD drive and since then, when I add a couple of hours of mp3, and place a CD in the drive, it doesn't separate the mp3s and when I burn the mp3s there is nothing on the mp3 but a music folder and another file in the root, but no mp3s to play.

I removed media player from control panel, then re-installed it, and still it won't separate the mp3s into separate CD discs.

Please help.

[glenncz]

The reason I received no answers is because this might have seemed like a dumb question. I get that.
Here's the situation. For the past year I've made dozens of mp3 CD's to listen to in my car. The CD says 80 minutes and that is what it always burned to. WMP separated them into multiple CD's.
But now, "good news", WMP is burning CD's that are much longer. I just added 2 hrs of mp3 using a 700MB CD and it burned it all into 1 CD. Another thing that happened is that my car CD player now lists what's playing in the display. This is all good. But I just want to know why a 80 minute CD is taking much more than 80 min of mp3. Did I change a setting? This all seemed to happen after I burned a DVD by mistake instead of a CD.

[werds]

I honestly don't have a response just wanted to let ya know I have looked at your post a few times. I assume you are burning your cd's using the built in windows/wmp burning ability? If so maybe a windows update changed how it formats the burn? Since the formatting is slightly different between the types maybe this is what is going on?

If it was a windows update that possibly caused this or if you could pinpoint when this started occuring maybe using a system restore point and testing out if the symptoms are still there could help to narrow or resolve the issue. I honestly don't have much experience in this as I haven't burned cd's in almost a decade as I went to using just mp3 players or the like a long time ago and I maybe burn one or two dvd's with photos or video montages for birthday parties per year.

[CyberSimian]

For the past year I've made dozens of mp3 CD's to listen to in my car. The CD says 80 minutes and that is what it always burned to. WMP separated them into multiple CD's. But now, "good news", WMP is burning CD's that are much longer. I just added 2 hrs of mp3 using a 700MB CD and it burned it all into 1 CD.

The maximum capacity of a CD that holds 16-bit uncompressed audio is around 80 minutes. But that is using CD-format data (not MP3-format data).

MP3-format data is compressed data that occupies much less space that CD-format data. For example, in my car I have a single physical CD disk that contains the entire contents of 10 CD disks, all compressed into MP3 format.

I would surmise that either:
(a) previously you were recording in CD format, or
(b) you were recording in MP3 format, but storing only one CD's worth of music on each physical CD (so most of the space on the physical CD was actually unused).

Check the recording format that you are using. Note that with MP3 format, you can usually decide on the degree of compression. High compression (= low data rate) will give audible artifacts, although they may be unnoticeable in a car. I think I selected 192Kbits/sec as the data rate for the CDs that I recorded for use in the car (I like high-quality sound!).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[barnabas1969]

I think CyberSimian is correct with answer "a". That would also explain why the OP is now seeing music titles on his car stereo. He is now creating data disks which contain MP3 files. In the past, he was buring CD Audio disks (CDA). There is a setting in Media Player where you can choose the burning format.

[glenncz]

Thanks folks. I think I have this figured out now. I guess I was a dummy before, yes, I was creating Audio discs before, because I didn't realize that my car can read data discs. I'm still a little mixed up on this, but will experiment and check my settings, but i'll save some discs and hassle. I like to listen to a lot of youtube video's on subjects that interest me and try to keep a steady supply burned to occupy my driving time.

[barnabas1969]

If your car stereo says that it can play MP3's from CD or DVD, then it can play data disks. Many MP3-capable car stereos also have a USB port that can be used with a flash drive. Most car stereos have limits on the bit rate of the MP3. Check your manual for that. You can find the bit rate of an MP3 file by right-clicking the file in Windows Explorer and choosing Properties.