i've made 3 different mp3 cd's since i have had my car and they have all had skipping problems on some level. 2 i have made with folders seemed to have the least skipping problems. i had one mp3 cd that had no folders and it was awful at skipping. it would skip entire songs. the tracks 60-90 were pretty much all FUBAR'd and i had to skip them entirely. does anyone else have this problem?

i can't determine if the problem is the mp3 player in my car or the quality of the cd itself. i have tried to burn them at a slower speed which doesn't help, but i didn't think there was anything wrong with the cd quality itself. in fact, i've used them on many different cars previously and never had problem with mp3 cd's skipping. my mp3 player in my bmw was replaced under warranty by the previous owner as well, so it seems odd this would be the 2nd cd player to fail/have problems on the car.

also, completely separate and unrelated question, but usually when my iphone is connected to my bmw via bluetooth, it shows a signal bar in the middle with the actual strength bars to the right of it. today and yesterday it shows no strength bars and instead of the little "T" antenna signal bar, it is showing a picture of a cellphone. i can still access my contacts, i just don't have any signal strength. any idea what this means?

sorry for combining two ideas in one thread, but i figured that was better than posting 2 separately. thanks.

 

You haven't said whether you're using CDRW or CDR. I found that if I tried using CDRW discs, they would skip quite a lot. If I use CDR discs instead, I hardly get any skips. Same MP3s, same computer, same speed. Sure I'm making discs that I'll end up throwing away rather than re-using the same one over and over, but I only make one about every 4-6 weeks or so. Costs only $10 a year in discs, so still way better than spending $500 on a Dension Gateway.

 

my discs are CD-R, not RW. anyone else have any problems?

 

First try writing the data at a slower speed (1x or 2x to test). If the issue persists, try a different brand of media, or a different burner, or both.

 

Use a different brand of CDR's... Some are prone to skipping...

 

pssst...so i went and looked at the brand of the ones i have. nexxtech??? wtf is that? i have no idea why i own cd-r's from a brand called nexxtech, but nevertheless i went to best buy and bought some verbatim's. so far so good...

 

I have found that the CDRW's skip as well, so I used a good quality CDR and it seemed to clear up my problem.

 

Most imporatnt rule - make sure the mp3s are NOT Variable Bit Rate - these skip like crazy

 

how do check/fix that?

 

In XP, bitrate is a selectable column for windows explorer. If the rate is Variable, and you want to change, then you should re-rip, using the rate you wish. However, Ive not seen problems with most VBR files.