XBox Reading CD-R's for audio...

[petewhitley]

I thought the newer XBoxes could read CD-R audio to transfer to the hard drive? What's up with that, mine is the Tetris/Clone Wars version and doesn't read 'em.

[digitalpress]

That's the first I've heard that. Do you remember where you heard CD-R's could be used to rip music?

[norkusa]

Thats strange. I got my Xbox new this past August and I'm able to rip music CD-R's to the HD on it. I thought the only thing it couldn't read was DVD-R's

[ddockery]

Coud it be that some brands just won't read properly?

[omnedon]

It seems to vary.

Newer Xboxes come with Philips or Samsung drives. I haven't definitively tested it, but if Philips, no CDR reading, if Samsung, maybe CDR reading.

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/xbox_dvd_version_comparison.htm

^^ Here is how you can tell without opening up your box.

[petewhitley]

It seems to vary.

Newer Xboxes come with Philips or Samsung drives. I haven't definitively tested it, but if Philips, no CDR reading, if Samsung, maybe CDR reading.

http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Repairs/xbox_dvd_version_comparison.htm

^^ Here is how you can tell without opening up your box.

Thanks. Looks like I've got a Phillips, no CD-R's for me :(

[SoulBlazer]

Is there any way to tell with a new XBox which drive it has before you buy it? I plan to get a XBox this year and I'd like to get the one that can support CD-R's.....

[leonk]

I'm surprised many of you never heard of the XBOX DVD drive limitations..

The XBOX came out with 3 different DVD drives: Thompson, Phillips and Samsung.

Samsung is the only drive that can read anything you throw at it (except for DVD+R). In fact, these drives are very valuable for people that "backup" XBOX games! The other 2 drives only work with CDRW and very select
DVD-R/RW.

You can easily tell what drive you have by ejecting the tray and looking at it (many pictures on the net showing the difference) but you can't tell the difference by just looking at the box. :angry:

Some people have went as far as taking a PC Samsung compatible drive, flashing it with the Samsung XBOX drive firmware, rotating the motor inside of it, and hacking it into their XBOX to have the samsung compatibility!

Oh.. and you might think that only illigal uses exist for the samsung, but you'd be wrong. A lot of the XBOX demo discs that you get with magazines seem to work only of limited phillips and all samsungs!

[jonjandran]

Not that I'm doubting you, but I backup my DVD movies to Sony DVD+R and both of my Xbox play them fine. :hmm:
One has the new Samsung drive and the other has a Phillips.

*edit* Ok I just checked again to make sure and the Samsung Drive does not read the DVD+R just as you said. :embarrassed:
But the Phillips does. :hmm:

[GaijinPunch]

Even the Samsung Drives have a hard time with CDRs. Either get quality named CD-RWs, or DVD-Rs.

Might as well just mod the damn thing and upload them via FTP, then use your CDRWs for what they're really meant for -- coasters.

[tholly]

I have one with a Thompson in it. So did I get the crappiest one or something??

[omnedon]

Yes.

[leonk]

The thompson is so dumn, that it actually has a minimum disc size before it runs it!

So if you have a disc with <50MB space taken up, the thompson would think it's empty! O_O

All drives are so-so.. it's Microsoft security feature.. But of the 3, the samsung is the best.