Alpine cd/mp3 head unit

[NIZ30]

I have one of these new alpine head units that can also play mp3's (sorry not going to garage at 11pm to find out which one). After making up a cd with 100 or so mp3s on it i have now tried it in my head unit and it doesn't work quite right.

The problem is that each song takes up about 7 or 8 tracks. So when playing there is a pause as this changes track. This shits me as it can play for 2 seconds then pause again, and do this about 6 times during a song.

I thought is may have been cause i record songs from cd in wma format. I then converted these to mp3 before copying to cd. I thought maybe the problem was in this program. But the songs i have downloaded from winmx in mp3 format also do the same things.

It didn't do this in the shop with their cd.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me?

[RUX]

I can think of a couple of things that could be causing this:

(1) Try a different type of CD-R - I know that from previous experience Alpine's are a bit fussy when it comes to CD-R / RW.

(2) The WMA to MP3 conversion (why use WMA at all - it is dodgy) - use a good CD Ripping program like CDex to rip your CD's.

(3) Don't use variable bit rate encoding unless your sure the headunit supports it otherwise it will cause problems. I'm not too familiar with the headunit so i dont know if this is the case.

If all else fails take it back to the shop you got it from and get them to check it out - thats what they are there for.

cheers,

Jase

[NIZ30]

WMA's sound better and are smaller files. Plus media player uses this as standard, and I don't like the other media players that I have tried (realplayer, winamp).

Will give the different cd's a go.

And...thanks for the advice.

[hippy]

yeah last time i went to some audio shop and stuck a cd full of mp3s in and the alpine didn't work ... so i think alpines dont' handle cdr's too well ... most probably the really cheap ones ... try something that you know will give a better reflection of the disk ... i know its hard to find out which ones do, maybe cdrs with an opaque back might be better, i dont' know ...but i guess its the only way ... alot of the cds which are made are from the same manufacturer anyways ... just rebranded ... and different dye colours ... i also stuck the same cd in a jvc and they worked flawlessly, didn't try any other brands .... hope that helps ...

[Guest INASNT]

wmas sound better than mp3's?

pfft r u serious?

i am assuming u have heard the 192kbps mp3's? wma's dont even come close to that quality!

And with alpine head units u cant use those 20 cent cd-r's.

Use TDK, Song or Verbatim cdr's!

[GTST4G]

I haven't had any trouble loading mp3s on my alpine hu.

You can also get 320 kbps mp3s, they are sizeable but sound quality second to none.

[NIZ30]

My 64k wma's sound as good if not better than 192k mp3's. At about one half the size too. I got windows xp if that makes any difference.

I've got Sony CDR's. They work fine with normal music on them, just not mp3's.

Anyone got a decent program that converts wma to mp3?

[Guest INASNT]

U CAN USE MUSICMATCH JUKEBOX TO CONVERT WMA TO MP3

but they will sound shitter once converted, wma is just for listening on the comp not on a real sterio!!

[hippy]

yep i agree .. do not convert wmas to mp3 .. or vice versa ... it just gets shittier and shittier the more you do it ... so i say for best results ... only 1 conversion directly from a cd ... or download a new one from the net ... have any of you guys compared the mp3 quality between pioneer, alpine and jvc?? what would u say is the best?? and maybe bang for buck??

thanks