MP3 / WMA Overview

This unit can play back files recorded in MP3 or WMA format on CD-ROM, CD-R (recordable) or CD-RW (rewritable) discs. There are some limitations on the files and media that can be used, so before recording files on a disc please carefully read the following information.

ISO9660 Format

The unit can play back data recorded in ISO9660 format. ISO9660 is an international standard for representative CD- ROM file formats determined by ISO (International Standard Organization).

The media formats that can be used by the unit include Level 1, Level 2 and the extension format known as Joliet.

What are MP3 and WMA?

•An MP3 file stores audio data compressed using the “MPEG 1 / 2 audio layer-3” file format. We call files that have the “.mp3” extension “MP3 files”. Likewise for WMA files. WMA is an abbreviation for Windows Media Audio. WMA files have the extension “.wma” and are compatible with MP3 files.

•The unit cannot read files that have a file extension differ- ent from “.mp3” or “.wma”.

•The unit cannot read files without an extension even if the files are MP3 or WMA files.

Furthermore even if a file has an “.mp3” or “.wma” exten- sion, the unit cannot read the file if is not recorded with the MP3 or WMA data format.

Playback Limitations

• The number of tracks and number of albums (folder) that can be played back from a disc are as follows.

Tracks	: About 250 depending on file contents.
Albums(folder)	: A maximum of 250 depending on the num-
	ber of tracks.

The unit also recognizes up to eight album(folder) levels.

•The unit can playback MP3 files with compression bit rates from 32kbps~320kbps. However for the best balance of file space and sound quality we recommend 128kbps. When files compressed at less than 128kbps are played back, the sound may have breaks in it.

Sampling rates are supported as follows.

MPEG 1	48k	44.1k	32k
MPEG 2	24k	22.05k	16k
MPEG 2.5	12k	11.03k	8k

In the case of WMA files, play back is possible only for files encoded with a compression bit rate of at least 64kbps and a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

•Please note that the unit cannot play files encoded using the WMA copyright protection function.

•When playing WMA files, song, album and artist tags can- not be displayed.

•The unit allows the playback of CD-R and CD-RW discs containing a mixture of music CD data (CD-DA), MP3 and WMA files. However playback of both types of data is pos- sible only for Mixed Mode CDs/CD Extra created using Disc at Once Method. (See below.)

•The unit also supports files compressed using VBR (vari- able bit rate).

•The unit does not always play back MP3 and WMA files in the order in which they were recorded.

•When many folders are recorded on a disc, the time required to retrieve information from the disc becomes longer.

•We recommend that multi-session discs be limited to 10 sessions.

The packet write method is not supported.

The following three methods are used to record data (files) on a disc. As the unit does not support the “Packet Write” method please be aware of this.

The unit supports discs recorded with the “Disc at Once” and “Track at Once” methods.

Disc at Once Method

With this method, all the data to be written is prepared in ad- vance and then recorded on the disc in one go. Additional writing of data is not possible.

Track at Once Method

With this method, data is written in file (track) units. Addi- tional writing of data is possible.

	Packet Write Method
	With this method, tracks are sub-divided into packets depend-	ENGLISH
	ing on availability of space on the disc. Additional writing of	ENGLISH

	data is possible.
	Display Information Limitations
	• The unit can display folder and file names, ID3 Tags of length
	up to 64 characters including the extension. However, cer-
	tain special symbols may not display correctly.
	• During playback of MP3 and WMA files, there may be occa-
	sions when the elapsed playback time is not correctly dis-
	played.

Important Points

•Please take care not to append the extensions for MP3 and WMA files onto files of any other type. When a disc contain- ing such files is played, the files will be incorrectly recog- nized and played back. This will result in extremely loud noise that may damage the speakers.

•Depending on the state of the disc or recorder or writing software used to write on the disc, there may be cases when the disc cannot be correctly played back. In such cases please refer to the user manual for the tools you are using.

•When using a Macintosh personal computer, the file exten- sion will not be added, so please add the extension “.mp3” to the end of the file name.

•This unit does not support WAVE files.

•This unit does not support m3u playlists.

•The unit does not support “Emphasis”. (See “Glossary” on page 15.)

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