I burned a cd yet it would not play in the stereo at the gym. All my cd's I made with Express 5 play fine.
I tried to re-burn it at a slower speed.
Also, the "help" menue does not pop up when I click on it.
I've filled out a help request but MM has yet to respond.

While you are awaiting response from Tech Support, you may want to try uninstalling Express and then reinstalling it.

Problems with CD burning (usually driver issues) sometimes crop up when a new program is installed on your computer; one way to deal with that is to reinstall the program so it can restore its driver to working order ... if that doesn't work, Tech Support has other cards up their sleeve

Does it play in anything? like in the pc or other radio? Remember some cd players might be old or not so cd-r friendly. I have a radio that refuses to play them most of the time but in my car is fine.

Thanks for your responses.
Tech support sent me a "beta version" so I uninstalled/re-installed the software. I also tried burning it at a speed of 8. It plays on other players... but I need it to play on this particular system b/c that is where I teach the class.
I'm using Memorex CDs and I also tried Maxell. What is the best brand... does that even matter?
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

quote:

Originally posted by terispins:
...It plays on other players... but I need it to play on this particular system b/c that is where I teach the class.

Well, there you have it ... some (usually older) boombox systems can't read computer-generated CDs ... we had the same issue at a local gym here in the town where I live ... the player which the facility made available was just not capable of reading the CDs people made on their computers ... the management didn't care because, if left to their own devices, they would've just played some local radio station or some commercial CDs ... they were very resistant to the idea that there might be a better player for the facility.

What about where you are working -- can you bring your own player to hook into the system there?

In any event, you should now realize this is not a MixMeister issue ... this is a hardware issue, as you have established by noting that the CDs produced by MixMeister DO play, but it depends on the player.

Quality of CD media can be important, but it is not the issue you are dealing with.

I was afraid of that!
MM support said MM Studio 7 is more compatable with VISTA. Do you think this would make any difference?

I don't think Vista would make any difference in the quality of the boombox in your exercise facility, and since we just said it's not a problem with MixMeister, it's a problem with the boombox that can't read CDs made by computers ... then I assume that means even computers running Vista.

But if I'm wrong about that, someone will pop in and set us straight.

BTW, this is the first I've heard that Studio 7 is more compatible with Vista. Just for the record, I use XP and have no problems with MixMeister or with the CDs I burn being playable in the audio equipment (including the boomboxes) I own.

I see your point BUT my old computer had XP and MM Express 5, I never had a problem with those cd's playing on the stereo in question. Now, riddle me this, I just made a cd (VISTA) using Windows Media Player and it did play with no problem.
Do you still think it's the player? I'm trying to figure this out by process of elimination. Someone, somewhere recommended using Verbatum cd's or cd's specifically for music. Is there such a thing? I went to Office Max and there was one brand that said this but it looked more like a gimmick to buy the pretty colors so I chose not to.
Again, thanks MadameFLY for all your advice. Please keep it coming.

quote:

Originally posted by terispins:
I see your point BUT my old computer had XP and MM Express 5, I never had a problem with those cd's playing on the stereo in question.

Just like me ... no problems burning from XP.

quote:

Now, riddle me this, I just made a cd (VISTA) using Windows Media Player and it did play with no problem. Do you still think it's the player?

And you mean It did play in the specific player that won't play a CD burned out of MM?? And also -- did you make the playlist in WMP also? Or did you export a MM playlist to .wma and then use the WMP to burn that to CD?

quote:

I'm trying to figure this out by process of elimination.

Understood ... so here's the civilian approximation of "the scientific method" ... First rule is: refer to processes specifically -- e.g., like my question above: you don't say where the file came from that burned successfully using Windows Media Player ... there are a number of variables in each operation (what software, what OS, what type of blank CD) that you have to track specifically, so you have an idea of which one is always present when you have the problem ...

Now, you have the CD you made that will play in SOME players but not the one at the exercise facility (the EF) -- this would be CD-A. Then you have the CD you made ("CD-B") using Windows Media Player (WMP) that will play in EVERY player -- or, at least, every player you've tried so far.

Then (if this isn't what you did already) you use MM to export your playlist to .wma and use WMP to burn that to CD and see if a MM mix will produce a playable file when that file is burned thru some third party software ... that helps identify if it's a MM problem. And you need to always try every CD you make using every combination of software in every player (like the one at the EF, and two others you might have, like the one in the car, a little stand-alone boombox and maybe a shelf system such as your primary audio set-up in your living room or wherever, plus playing it in the computer itself.) This part can be tedious but you are establishing whether there's some certain player(s) that routinely can't handle the CDs you are using ... and hopefully you can figure out a way to eliminate them from your set-up. If you don't need track indexing, you can export to wma and burn thru WMP and at least know your disc will play in the funky player....

quote:

Someone, somewhere recommended using Verbatum cd's or cd's specifically for music. Is there such a thing? I went to Office Max and there was one brand that said this but it looked more like a gimmick to buy the pretty colors so I chose not to.

CD quaility can be an issue (but forget the bit about "CDs specifically for music" -- that should be immaterial in terms of hardware.) I used to have terrible luck with cheap CD blanks and read a lot about the various dyes used and how the blue / green dye Taiyo Uden's were the best blanks ... used to get them online. OfficeDepot generic blanks had a 30% failure rate; Memorex was terrible also. Verbatim was best and you could buy it online (Google it) ... eventually I started having really good luck with TDK blanks and I still buy them today (especially because I can get them locally ... Circuit City). I buy the stacks of 50 or 100 and rarely have more than a 1-3% failure rate.

But if the CD media is bad, the outcome is more likely to be that it won't burn at all -- not that it will burn in a way that only plays in some players but not in others...

If MM starts making CDs that have no sound at all (no matter what player you put them in) then that's completely different problem that usually is an issue with software driver conflicts and for that you need to contact MM Technical Support and they will assist you.

Good luck with all this ... I know it can be frustrating but there are often work-arounds to get you a usable product until you can figure out what the technical issue is and get it solved.

Actually, I tried to export my file and bring it in thru WMP but it wouldn't accept it. I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't know if that was even possible so I didn't spend too much time on it.
SO...... I did the same thing and burned the cd thru Itunes. I'm off to the gym now... wish me luck!!

quote:

Originally posted by terispins:
Actually, I tried to export my file and bring it in thru WMP but it wouldn't accept it........ I'm off to the gym now... wish me luck!!

Good luck .... just one question,to be sure I understand: You exported your playlist to .wma format and Windows Media Player would not open/play the wma file?

I exported the file and burned the disc from Itunes AND WMP (did that this morning w/o a problem).
I didn't really play... what I mean is, it didn't play so I was playing w/ the buttons, pressing the next track/previous track buttons (yes, I know it reads a one continuous file). Then... it started to play but I couldn't replicate the process. It was the Itunes cd that was flirting w/ my sanity.
My next step is to burn onto a TDK brand disk and put a call into Dell.

Previously, I exported the file, opened Itunes and dragged the file to the playlist. Just now, I was in MM and saw "export playlist to device" It only gave me the Itunes as an option so I clicked to export directly to Itunes.
Here is the error I got when the file was about 70% exported, "MM was unable to create the mixed file(s). Possibel causes include insufficient disk space or disk errors."
My track list is only 74 minutes while the cd accomodates 80 minutes of music.
What do you make of this??

Export to mixed file and Export to Device are essentially "save as" options -- neither one has anything to do with CD burning, so the error message you receive is not about a disk as in "CD" ... it is about a disk as in your hard drive.

We don't know anything about your system, and (with all due respect) you may not know either. For instance, when was the last time you defragged your system? How much available hard drive space do you have? What sort of antivirus program do you use and do you update it regularly?

These are all issues that could impact your ability to use this computer to do the things you want ...

I got it (I think). From Mixmeister, I exported it as a WAV file. I then right clicked the exported file and opened it w/ Itunes. I burned it onto a TDK disc and it PLAYED!!!
I see your point but this computer is brand new, just a few weeks old. I haven't done enough to warrant running the defragment tool.
I have 170GB free space (of 222GB). All my music is stored on an external hard drive.
I have Macafee (loaded by dell) and set for automatic updates.
Does this make any sense? I can hardly keep up with everything I've tried.
What do you think??

I think I should've suggested "export to wav" a little earlier

Yep, the computer's age/condition do not sound to be at risk ... so that's one thing off the list. You have multiple burning software, which can sometimes cause issues, but generally, they are issues where you cannot burn from MM at all -- your situation is different, in that a CD you've burned from MM will play in some CD players but not in others.

Apparently, CDs you burn from iTunes will play in every CD player -- keeping in mind that when I say "every" we are not talking about a very big sample, so eventually you may find an iTunes-burned CD that also will not play.

But for now, it sounds like you have a reliable way to get your CDs to work.

Because I don't have Vista on any of my computers, it's harder for me to guess what else may be happening ... early reports in the forum from users that went with Vista indicated a variety of problems, but we've stopped hearing so much about those ... at this point, feedback from some other Vista users, especially about their CD-burning experiences, would be useful....