flyern767 Most factory CD players are nowhere near the quality that are offered by the aftermarket. It MIGHT be a CD player problem. Most of the time, a long aquisition time is due to dust on the laser. First, try changing media, if that doesnt help, have a qualified tech clean the laser. Store bought CD cleaners DO NOT WORK. If you decide to replace the player, there are players out there that will play most popular formats. Including MP3, WAV and others
flyern767 I had that exact problem (my car player is an Alpine, probably about 8 years old) - the same CD would play fine on other players, even newer car players, but not in my car - could hear it searching for the track, but it might take anywhere from 3 seconds, to 30 seconds, to 3 minutes, to never to getting around to playing ... I downloaded the demo version of Nero 6.6.0.16 - free from nero.com. I created an audio CD, but also selected the options of "Normalize all audio files" and "No pause between tracks", when building my burn list. This solved my problem about 98%. I even burned directly from a CD that would not work in my car with these options selected and the newly burned CD plays (nearly) perfectly in my car. Very rarely, I will still get a pause as my player tries to find a track, but the vast majority of the time it plays the CD imediately upon insertion or when I advance to specific tracks. I'm no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, so I can't explain it - just hope it works for you. ciao
Cars are dirty environments. The best way to prevent problems with car CD or DVD players is to ALWAYS keep a disc in them. This will prevent dust from getting on the laser. Most car CD player repairs that I do consist of cleaning the laser with a Q-Tip and some Eye Glasses Cleaner. Fixes 75% of problems.
