ive noticed that when i made a cd using a CD-RW it plays upstairs in my panasonic stereo and not downstairs in my mums cheapo alba mini system, now theres nothing strange about that is there? BUT my mums alba seems to play CD-R's? i thought if it didnt play RW's then it also wouldnt play R's either but obviously not? what is the point of being made to play R's and not RW's aswell?

 

R's and RW's have different layering (think thats the word I am looking for) and many CD player's cannot play RW discs because of this... I know NONE of my CD players, beit in the house (3 different CD players) or in the car will play RW discs, even if I finalise the disc and "close session" after burning... They will play R's tho...

The only machines I have been able to play RW's on have been the three DVD players in the house (tho my PS2 wouldn't play them), and the two PC's...

 

Just had a look on the front of my panasonic stereo and it does actually say on the front, CD-R/RW playback, never actually noticed until i wanted to know!

 

Yeah some do - my bro's Kenwood plays CD-RW discs, but the majority don't play em.... Has to do with what the laser can read, and CD-RW's use something different (don't know if it's the layer material or the burn procedure, therefore data write) so that they can be wiped and re-recorded on... So the player has to have the data/info/software to be able to decipher the data on the CD-RW, and might even have to have a better/different laser to pick it out...

 

Thrush is right but also sometimes it can be just the laser condition and age. If its an old appliance it could be very dirty and sometimes the old disk cleaner packs won't do. I had a similar issue and took the cd player apart got to the laser and wiped it fairly firmly with a clean dry cloth. Then it ran them.

But again if its a new unit or it won't play them from the start then its the RW disks.

 

Good info as my sis has got this problem