I'm trying to decide between a 2006 TL, a 2006 RL, and a Lexus IS 350, and as pathetic as it may be, support for MP3 discs may be the deciding factor. I understand the RL in-dash CD player supports MP3 discs, as does the Lexus, but I have conflicting information about the TL. Can anyone tell me definitively whether the in-dash CD player supports MP3 discs? Thanks!

 

not sure... I use an mp3 player w/tape adapter.

 

it does not support MP3 CD's this is one of the upsetting factors about the TL....it would be great if it did..

if u can afford the IS350 or the RL...i would easily choose the RL or IS350 over the TL...i can't even imagine why its an option....go with the IS350 imo

 

Although I have not actually tired it, everything I have read and have been told indicates that the TL's CD player will not play MP3 CD's.

 

It doesn't play MP3s. but you can record DVD-Audio disks with 99 tracks and no degradation of quality. Decent iPod adaptors are also available.

 

There are so many options to get mp3 into the TL. For players there are adaptors, transmitters, direct wiring. You can even make DVD audio disks of your mp3s. (mp3s get converted to the right format by the DVDA creation tools)

Also, I can't understand how an mp3 playing head unit would make the difference in a choice of car when you are talking the likes of a 2006 TL, a 2006 RL, and a Lexus IS 350. That's like picking a 4 star restaurant by what kind of mints they have by the host's station. mp3s are similar to those mints in the dish. You know they really aren't that good but you just can't resist them.

You said "pathetic" I just painted an illustration

 

Not sure if you guys are still watching this thread, but i made a couple of cd-r's with mp3's from my pc and they play fine in my 05 tl.

 

no they didnt


you burned cd audio
not mp3 data

 

True, i did burn cd's, but i used mp3's that i had stored on my pc. This is what most people have, so why not play them in this way?

 

^^^Because there's a difference between putting 700MB of MP3 data on a CD and getting only 74 minutes of CD audio. You get WAY more bang for your buck with a MP3-filled CD.

 

Then if that's the case, the mp3 data would be compressed? And if it's compressed, would'nt you lose sound quality?

 

WHAT are you talking about?! MP3 are ALREADY compressed, so they wouldn't cound any different if you played them in the car thant they do when you play the MP3 on your home stereo or your iPod. Arfe we're ralking about is having software insude the car's stereo that will understand "oh, this is an MP3 file" and play the music, rather than spit out the disc thinking it's a bad CD. And again you could fit hours of music on a CD, not just 74minutes or 80 minutes.

 

your both talking about 2 different things.. MP3 is compressed data but when you make an Audio CD the data is uncompressed. There for you can't put 100 song and an audio CD it is simply to much data. An the 04 to the 06 TL's cannot play the compressed file type know as MP3.

 

Thank you for searching and info, but you do realize this thread is from 2006.

 

this thread isnt even relevant any more.

 

D'oh!
Good resurrection though!
Also, from my experience I can fit about 17 songs on a CD, or about 150 MP3's.

 

^^ or 99 on a DVD-A

 

Cool, I hadn't thought of DVD-A. Can a regular DVD burner burn a DVD-A disc?

 

^yes. you need a dvd-a authorizing program

 

I have burned many CD's with MP3 files that I've bought off of the internet. I burn the discs using Microsoft's music utility and they play fine in the TL's 6 disc changer.

 

^^
Are they burned as mp3's? because all evidence is pointing to the fact that 2006 and earlier TL's did not have a head unit that recognized the mp3 format.

 

In other words you burned your MP3's to CD audio on your disks, they did not stay MP3 format when you burned them.

 

That's exactly what I believe is going on whoismiked....Anytime I ever burned mp3s to a CD they were converted into .wav files in order to play in a regular CD player that didn't accept the mp3 format.