# Burning music (iTunes playlist) to 4.5GB DVD



## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

Depends on the format and the DVD player.

If the DVD player in question plays MP3 discs, that's agood start, but then you have to make sure your music is being burned in MP3 format. iTunes will just burn whatever file it has so you have to make sure the format is MP3, not .m4a or whatever proprietary garbage Apple has decided to saddle you with.


----------



## El Buey (Jul 31, 2007)

Tried it twice using a Phillips DVD-R. Although my PC had the option burn as "MP3 CD" the two discs I burned would only show up as "Data DVD" in my DVD players (Denon and Panasonic). It won't play. It will play on my computer. Back to the drawing board...


----------



## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

An MP3 DVD is just a data DVD. There's nothing special about it -- it's a bunch of MP3 files on a DVD. Your DVD player has to be able to read that and play the MP3s. When you put the DVD in the player, what shows on your TV? If your player supports "data DVDs" it should list all the files. If you "click" on one of the MP3s does it play?


----------



## iamrfixit (Jan 30, 2011)

I have a desktop computer connected directly to my stereo receiver with a 25' long cable. I can play music directly off of the computer through my stereo speakers. Lets me quickly make playlists however long or short I want. I can instantly and accurately fast forward, rewind, shuffle, or change the order around at the click of a mouse and without burning or wasting disks. You can just use a simple mini jack to RCA cable plugged into the headphone/speaker port or a usb interface adapter if you would rather. Since ripping all my CD's and buying most new music in digital format I can't even remember the last time I actually burned or played a disc.

In the truck I used an ipod connected to the aux input jack until I installed a pioneer head unit that has an SD card slot. I keep thousands of songs on the card, or I can connect the ipod via usb and control it right from the head unit.

If this doesn't work for you then an MP3 disk is your next best option, you can fit hundreds of songs on a regular CD. Most newer players will play them but not all. Older CD or DVD players may not recognize a burned disc at all let alone an MP3 disc. Itunes can burn either audio or mp3 discs and converts AAC files from the apple store on the fly, you just choose the correct disk format in the burn menu. 

I bought a $50 set of powered computer speakers with a subwoofer a couple years ago on clearance. I have them connected to my computer and they sound incredibly good for no more than they are. They definitely have plenty of volume and powerful bass, I rarely even turn the home stereo on just for music anymore.


----------



## El Buey (Jul 31, 2007)

Well, there's good news and bad news... I was able to get it playing on my living room system (Denon) after jumping through a few hoops. It doesn't play automatically like a CD or Video DVD would, but I found the data disc option and it worked. 
On my bar TV and DVD player (Samsung) I was also able to finally play it after forwarding through options like Videos-Data Disc-Music etc. It finally showed the playlist and I was able to listen. This system plays through a sound bar under the TV.
That was the good news...
Now for the bad news...
What I REALLY wanted was for the OTHER DVD player (Panasonic) that is connected to a stereo receiver (also in the bar) and has two pair of speakers connected, to also play this disc. I use the TV-DVD combo only for video(movies). The receiver-DVD combo I use for music. I can't connect my iPod to the receiver cause there's no USB port. If it had a USB port I could just use my iPod direct. But it doesn't. So it's either FM radio or CD's (which work perfectly in the DVD player). But, alas, this DVD player won't play the data disc and there's no TV screen to show me menu options (if any). Looks like I'm screwed, blued and tattooed. I may have to dump
this stereo receiver and go with a cheap 5.1 receiver that includes an iPod port and forget about the data disc.


----------



## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

You don't need a USB connection to hook an iPod up to a stereo. iPods have headphone jacks. You hook the headphone jack into the receiver, either directly with a 3.5mm male-to-male cable, or with a 3.5mm-to-RCA cable, both of which can be found for pennies.

79 cents at monoprice, for example : http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2

If you feel the need to be fancy you could get an iPod dock that had RCA outputs but that's needlessly complicated.


----------



## jimn (Nov 13, 2010)

You can also get an airport express (apple) which you then use apples AirPlay to play music. You connect the airport express to your wireless network and attach the audio output of the airport express to an Ananlog or optical audio input on your receiver. In iTunes on your computer or any other apple device and select AirPlay as the output and anything playing through iTunes plays through the airport express. If have iPhones or iPad you can play from those as week or download the apple remote app and you can remotely control your iTunes and select any playlist you want and control the volume . This is what I do


----------



## iamrfixit (Jan 30, 2011)

The only thing you need USB on the receiver for is to *control* the iPod *from* the reciever. To simply get music from the iPod into the average stereo system you only need a cable like the one TheBobman or I posted. They are available anywhere electronics are sold and can be had for only pennies up to ridiculous Monster cable prices.


Plug the mini-jack into the earphone jack on the iPod 
Plug the RCA jacks into an input on the reciever
Turn the volume on the ipod down below 50%
Select the correct source input on the reciever
Control the music from the iPod.
Adjust the volume of the receiver and the volume of the iPod until it suits you.

I like to set the volume on my iPod around 30% and control the volume at the receiver/amplifier. If you have the volume of the iPod to high the music will distort.


----------



## El Buey (Jul 31, 2007)

Whoaaa, educational overload here! Actually, why didn't I think of that? Probably because I'm not familiar with every type of cable/adaptor/connector out there. But, how simple. 
It sounds like (please correct me if I'm wrong) that both the possibilities presented (iPod-direct to receiver using mini jack/RCA connection) or the Apple Express (Apple Express to receiver using mini jack/RCA connection) use the same physical connections. The difference is one (iPod) uses the iPod to selct/play, while the Apple Express uses playlists (sent wirelessly) but controlled from my computer. 
Do I sort of get it?


----------



## El Buey (Jul 31, 2007)

Another thought here... regarding the iPod to receiver using the mini jack-it doesn't seem like this method will keep my iPod charged as would a USB port.


----------



## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

El Buey said:


> Whoaaa, educational overload here! Actually, why didn't I think of that? Probably because I'm not familiar with every type of cable/adaptor/connector out there. But, how simple.
> It sounds like (please correct me if I'm wrong) that both the possibilities presented (iPod-direct to receiver using mini jack/RCA connection) or the Apple Express (Apple Express to receiver using mini jack/RCA connection) use the same physical connections. The difference is one (iPod) uses the iPod to selct/play, while the Apple Express uses playlists (sent wirelessly) but controlled from my computer.
> Do I sort of get it?


Pretty much. The Apple thing may only work with Macs, so if you're running iTunes on Windows it might not work (but I'm not sure).

We all forget about the simplest solutions sometimes.


----------



## Bob Sanders (Nov 10, 2013)

El Buey said:


> Well, there's good news and bad news... I was able to get it playing on my living room system (Denon) after jumping through a few hoops. It doesn't play automatically like a CD or Video DVD would, but I found the data disc option and it worked.
> On my bar TV and DVD player (Samsung) I was also able to finally play it after forwarding through options like Videos-Data Disc-Music etc. It finally showed the playlist and I was able to listen. This system plays through a sound bar under the TV.
> That was the good news...
> Now for the bad news...
> ...


There is a difference between a data dvd and a real one. *ALL* dvd players support video dvd (obviously) but only some dvd players support data disks with a limited number of formats.

In order to burn a music dvd that works on ALL dvd player then you you need a dvd author program to burn a real video dvd (less the video part). Lots of them out there from cheap to very expensive. ($40 to hundreds of dollars)


----------



## djlandkpl (Jan 29, 2013)

El Buey said:


> Another thought here... regarding the iPod to receiver using the mini jack-it doesn't seem like this method will keep my iPod charged as would a USB port.


The mini jack won't keep it charged. I have an iPod connected to my stereo with a mini jack. I bought a plug in cube charger like the one that comes with the iPhone and use it to power the cord to recharge the iPod.


----------

