How To make A Burned CD Work With Boombox

Learning how to make a burned CD work with a Boombox isn't an exact science. The CD readers in older CD players can be very temperamental. Sometimes they even have a hard time reading a store bought CD. So making a burned CD work with a Boombox can be difficult. You'll know the Boombox is trying to work with a burned CD if you can hear that little computerized scratching noise. If you put a burned CD in a Boombox and you don't hear anything, it obviously means that the Boombox isn't reading the burned CD. There are a few ways to trick the Boombox into working with a burned CD. Let's check them out.

1. Clean the player. One way to attempt to get a burned CD to work with a Boombox is to clean the Boombox. Just get one of those CD cleaner discs and pop it in the player for about thirty seconds. The cleaner discs have little bristles that clean off the eye of the reader. This could help with reading the data on your burned CD.
2. Clean the CD. If the CD is dirty, that could be the problem. Wiping the disc of with a little rubbing alcohol or window cleaner could help the burned CD work with the Boombox. Just make sure you don't damage the disc by adding too much cleaner. Take a q-tip and dip it in the solution. Swipe the disc with the q-tip in a circular motion until you've cleaned the entire surface. Try the disc out and see what happens.
3. Trick the CD player. It could just be that a burned CD wont work with the Boombox without a little trickery on your part. Here's what you do. Insert the disc. Listen for the little computerized scratchy noise. If you don't hear it right away, remove your disc and immediately put it back in. Sometimes you can trick the reader to pick up the CD just by taking it out and putting it right back in. If you hear the scratchy noise then your in. There are occasions when the CD player will begin to read the disc and suddenly stop. Just take the disc out and put it back in right away. Just have a little patience, it'll work eventually.
4. Physical manipulation. We know this sounds strange but try flipping the Boombox over on it's side. Or, try placing it in some other sort of weird position. For what ever reason, a burned CD will often work with a Boombox under these unusual positions. It couldn't hurt to try.
5. Re-burn. Worse come to worse, you may just need to re-burn the disc. Burned discs wear out relatively quickly and simply transferring the music to a newer disc can do the trick. Plus, the newer the disc, the better the technology. Newer discs always seem to work better than old ones.