Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?

Subject: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 08:02 AM

Just bought a 2003 Nissan Micra, which has the original factory CD player. Unfortunately it won't play the Sony CDRW discs I used in my old car, does anyone know which make of CDRW will play in the Micra CD player if any?

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: GUEST,Peter
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 09:21 AM

Won't play or won't go into the slot? I often had the latter problem with the CD player on my Almera when I played CDRs that bands had self published. I always put it down to stuck on labels making the discs too thick.

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 10:43 AM

No they won't play, and now I've found that cheaper supermarket brand CDRs won't play either! I expect it's down to the age of the CD player.

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 11:25 AM

Question #1: Do you have any CDs that play in this player? (Is it possible that the player is worn out or damaged?)

Rumor #1: While most CD "brands" have their own specifictions, most of the mass market sellers buy their CDs from a variety of manufacturers, and the CDs in one lot frequently are a little different than those in another. Relying on one brand to always be "better" than another is risky. There are reportedly some "premium" brands that are claimed to be more consistent than others, but all the sellers claim theirs are the best, so it's difficult to know which ones of them really are the "premium" ones.

Many "portable" CD players, especially those used in vehicles, had a "damper" pad (sometimes more than one), usually made of fairly hard felt, that rode on the outer rim top surface of the CD to prevent it from "bouncing out of place" when the car hit a pothole. Some paper labels left a clear rim of about 1/8 inch or a little more on the CD that was sometimes sufficient to accomodate these, but any paper label, or rarely even a label printed directly on the CD too close to the edges, would often prevent playing the CD in a "vehicle" player. Even a slight "wrinkle" in a paper label could result in a CD being "stuck" in the player, and removal often involved screwdrivers and hammers that resulted in damage to the player. Even more competent removal of a "stuck disk" could change the "tracking" of the dampers so that "other details of structure" would prevent the CD from playing. The "damper" function was accomplished by more versatile methods (largely mysterious and unknown) in later players, and 2003 might be recent enough to have a better method of providing this "feature," but "prior use with some damage" is still suspect in any 2d-hand device.

CD "formats" have changed a couple of times, mostly with the intent of getting a few more seconds on the CD. So far as I've seen, this was more likely to be a problem for the recorders than for players, but if the CDs you're wanting to play are older than 2003 it's possible there's an incompatibility - although I would think that to be unlikely.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 01:28 PM

Very interesting many thanks, in fact none of my CDRs or CDRWs have labels. Looks like I may have to replace the unit.

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 02:46 PM

I think I'll try a CD player lens cleaning disc as the next step.

Subject: RE: Tech: Which CDRW works in Micra CD player?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 Jan 14 - 01:55 PM

Good news, after some searching I found a suggestion that I use Imgburn at 4x speed to burn CDRs, which worked in the Micra stereo. It will definitely not play CDRWs though.