is this possible?

if your car has an mp3 compatible head unit that is capable of reading dvds, then yes.

if you are doubtful that your head unit has these capabilities, you are probably right.

i'd try an MP3 CD-R first, cos its much more likely that you have an MP3 compatible head unit than it is that you have one that will read DVDs.

last edited by Mr Hardware at 10:06:01 24/Mar/08

if your car has an mp3 compatible head unit that is capable of reading dvds, then yes.

not necessarily true unfortunately :(

is this possible?

depends on the head unit.. Why don't you just try??

not necessarily true unfortunately :(

orly?

i can play CD-R MP3 no probs.
already use these
i gather it's a different "head unit" that reads DVD?
i should give more info.
i am trying to burn some of the ABC conversation hour which i get via podcast for a long road trip next week.
i tried to burn onto a CD-R from Itunes (as MP3) and it wouldn't play in my car but i can see the files on my laptop from the CD and play them...so that confused me
so then i thought i'd try and use WMP but in it's burn screen i can only put one conversation on it and it's nearly full. WMP is working via minutes in it's burn screen. i got a heap on CD via itunes??
the files are anywhere around 47-49MB and go for 45-50 mins each.
i'm now totally confused!!!
thanks if anyone can clear this up for me or has a suggestion

last edited by crazymorton at 11:12:57 24/Mar/08

Just try burning the files directly onto the CD without using WMP/iTunes/etc. Or perhaps another brand of CDR - some of the pioneering car head units were a bit fickle when it came to which blank CD's you used.

WMP is not burning it as an MP3, that's the difference. WMP is burning it as CD Audio, which is burnt on time, not size. As i believe all CD Audio is burnt at a set bit rate etc, and CD Audio files are huge in size compared to mp3's. This is the same encoding and stuff that a bought cd would use.

When you're burning it through iTunes it's burning them as mp3 files on the cd, with all the compression and magic stuff that mp3's have, meaning that the files are much much smaller.

Odds are your cd player in your car WILL recognize the cd you burnt through WMP as "cd audio", but if it didn't recognize the mp3's as burnt from itunes, it probably can't play mp3 files.

dvd reading requires completely different optical hardware.

if your head unit can play dvds then fine but if it says it can play mp3s on cd-r/cd-rw then u cant play dvds coz itll just spit them out when u try to play them.

iow: ur head unit will be like "wtf is this weird 5gb cd s*** ur giving me foo?! gtfo"

I have a DVD H/U in the car, never watch dvd's but 4.7gb's of MP3's ftw

iPod hooked upto headunit ftw.

I don't even have a radio of any kind in my car :(

iPod hooked upto headunit ftw.

agreed

how does one hook ipod to headunit!?

how does one hook ipod to headunit!?

A lot of headunits are coming out with usb ports allowing you to just plug it straight in.

There are some that also come with some controller that allows you to control your ipod through the head unit too, so you can skip song and so forth without having to touch the ipod.

or if you're really cheap the belkin itunefm's aren't too bad. For about $90 it plugs into the ipod and broadcasts over an fm channel then you just tune your radio in. Comes with a charger and all. Obviously not the most premo sound quality but when you're running it through average stereo gear whats the difference :D

i'm not sure what hardware ipods have but you can also get head units with a 3.5mm headphone jack for "auxiliary". i've just wired mine so the cable comes out the glove box so it looks clean when closed. but if i want to listen to music on the laptop then i just plug it into the headphone port.

Harmon Kardon Drive + Play ftw!

same mines just a male-male auxiliary jack.