burning CDs

[D. Michael McIntyre]

On Tuesday 19 June 2007, Tim M wrote:
> I am trying to figure out how to burn CD's for my nephew, who is a long
> haul truck driver,

http://flickr.com/photos/arborvitian/sets/72157600215635649/

> I have put together a bunch of his favorite songs and a 
> reading I had done. I would like to burn them to a CD so that he could play
> them on his CD player in his truck. However every time I try to burn a CD
> it will work on my computer but NOT in a CD player. How do I use K3B to
> write to a format that a typical CD player will recognize? And would it be
> okay to use CD-RW to burn them so I can change the playlist at times.

Two things come to mind.  First is burning a data CD instead of an audio CD, 
second is using a CD-RW instead of a CD-R.  Both of these have already been 
covered, but I have first-hand knowledge of playing CDs in a truck, so I 
thought I'd chime in anyway.

Did the CD player come with his truck, or is it an aftermarket add-on?  I've 
never actually driven a truck that was born with a CD player, so I've always 
had aftermarket add-ons.  The first couple would not play CD-RWs at all.  
They didn't recognize them as anything, and just kicked them out with an 
error code.  The most recent one (purchased in the last couple of years) will 
play CD-RWs and even data CDs, and it will even play data CDs full of MP3 
files.

You probably need to burn CD-Rs to solve the current problem.  Forcing them to 
burn at the slowest speed possible (1X, 2X, 4X, as slow as it will go)  
improves the chances that they will play well in the extremely hostile 
environment that is the inside of a truck

If your nephew is in a position to upgrade his gear, he might do well to buy 
one of these newer players.  Swapping CDs gets old fast.  The longest of them 
only go for 80 minutes, and then you have to listen to the same tracks again, 
or go rooting around for another one in the middle of 5:00 traffic.  I don't 
like lossy compression, and I can definitely hear the difference between CD 
quality and MP3 files sitting here in my den, but with the whine of the 
turbo, the bass thrum of the big diesel engine, the wind noise, the tire 
noise, the chassis noise, you'll never notice the difference in a truck cab.  
You can pack a lot of MP3s onto a CD-R or CD-RW.  I think I got most of my 
Pink Floyd boxed set on one single disc that way.

Highly recommended, although not mandatory, and certainly not worth getting 
him in trouble if he's a company driver, and is not allowed to make such 
modifications to the equipment.

-- 
D. Michael McIntyre