I have a '05 Scion XA that I have burned mp3 discs off my computer to play on the road. I am having problems with audio artifacts/errors when playing the disc in the car. I use a bit older Accoustica wave to mp3 converter to do the encoding, but recently I have just used the straight mp3s that I have downloaded off bit torrent.

I have created the compilation with Roxio express (I have the full Nero burning rom as well). I have been creating the compilation with just a straight hundred or so files on one CDR. When I get to about track 25 or so I get this strange cheeping sound and other track problems along with the whole track and any others from that point stopping. When I take this disc to the computer it seems to have no problem. Is this a buffering issue, or should I place each album/number of tracks within folders? For an average car CD player should I re-encode these files to a particular/optimum bit rate? Would just like to enjoy my music without these problems. If someone can give me solution to fix it I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thank you all!

-Gregg

It could be that the head unit doesn't like VBR and will only play CBR files.

I agree, try burning a CD using only CBR mp3 files. I would also use Nero as I trust it more than Roxio. I would try using Nero's mp3CD profile and their data CD burning profile.

Also, what bitrate are your songs encoded at (or VBR setting) and what mp3 encoder where they made with?

Looks like the files that had problems at the track numbers that had issues were encoded at 192kbs. Remember, I haven't encoded them as they've been already encoded at that bit rate, and when looking at the file details it doesn't say from what I can see if it's CBR or not.

If I re-encode do I need to do anything special like expanding the file before re-encoding? Also, is the files in folders? Would that help for the playback of the files if the player can detect folders?

Re-encoding the file/s should be your last option. You can't "expand" lossy (mp3, AAC, WMA, etc.) files. You can convert an mp3 to a WAV File but that WAV file will have the exact same audio quality as the source mp3.

As I said, try using Nero's mp3CD burning profile. Folders should have nothing to do with whether the file plays or not. From my experience, car CD decks can handle only a couple of layers of folders. In other words, you can have a folder inside of a folder but that is about it. You can't have a folder inside of a folder inside of a folder. My older Sony decks would not support multiple folder layers but my Kenwood deck does.

I think it is best to avoid all of that mess and just burn the files on the disc without using any folders. Most mp3CD devices these days go off of the ID3 tags of the mp3s anyway.

So try using Nero's mp3CD burning profile. You can also download foobar2000 if you want to know more information about your mp3s such as their bitrate, whether they are CBR or VBR, and the encoder that was used to make them.

Thanks. I'll try that method with Nero. When I meant folders I meant a number of them on the root drive, not any subfolders besides that. So you are saying that If I re-encode there is more loss? Should 192 be fine, and if they are not CBR should I make sure to re-encode if they are not?

Re-encoding the files will introduce more quality loss. It is known as lossy-to-lossy transcoding. You can read more about it here in the Hydrogenaudio wiki page. You may not be able to hear the difference though. Read through that page and if it comes down to re-encoding, conduct a blind ABX test to see if you can hear a difference between the source lossy file and the transcoded one.

You can try folders as well as long as they aren't too complex. There are more things you can try out too before you transcode your mp3s.

Thank you for the information. Can you tell me what the optimum encoding rate is for most standard players?

That all depends on your ears. I would say that a good chunk of people cannot distinguish between Lame at -V 3 --vbr-new (~170kbps VBR) and the source CD. Again, that is just a general statement. It all depends on your ears, your equipment, and the type of music that you are encoding.

The best thing to do is to download foobar2000 and conduct a blind ABX test. Rip a track using the WAV format and then rip it using various settings with Lame. Since you are talking about mp3's, I suggest that you use the Lame mp3 encoder. I would start off by comparing the WAV with a -V 5 --vbr-new rip and then move up to a -V 4, -V 3, -V 2, and -V 0 rip if necessary. You want to use a setting that will be indistinguishable from the WAV.

Also note that cars are not the best listening environments. You have noise from the road, the wind hitting your car, your car's engine, other various outside noises, the speakers are not always placed in ideal locations, and cars aren't acoustically tuned so audio bounces off of everything. People often think that, because car stereos are loud, then need high bitrate music. That just isn't the case. In fact, it is the opposite as lower bitrate music will work just fine in cars.

When I was encoding music for my phone which many as you know are mp3 players, the highest suggested compression was 128k, as it was easier for the decoder to do it's job and avoid issues. What I was asking more is what is the best rate for the players sake, not the ear. I'm not as picky, unless the echo ringing starts in overly compressed audio. I would expect the less compression the better for the player. Honestly, even 128k sounded pretty good to me but that was on my phone. The accoustica wav to mp3 converter uses the lame encoder.

An effective mp3 player shouldn't really have any issues with any bitrate settings (or VBR bitrate setting) between 32kbps and 320kbps. I used to encode using -V 2 --vbr-new back in the day when I first had my mp3CD player in my car (this was in 2004). I am about to switch to Nero AAC once the new encoder comes out but that should give you an idea that you should be safe encoding at whatever you want.

Since you found 128kbps to be acceptable, I would go with -V 5 --vbr-new with Lame 3.97 or 3.98b8.

Have you noticed any issues with tracks before track 25 at all? It doesn't sound like a decoder problem unless the first 25 tracks happened to be low bitrate mp3s.