Why doesn't the disc I burnt play in my player?

If Express Burn burns your disc without reporting any errors, but the disc doesn't play when you put it in your CD / DVD / Blu-ray player, there are a few things you can try:

Confirm Which Disc Types Are Compatible

Check the manual that came with your player for a list of compatible disc / media types. Are you trying to use a rewritable (RW) disc when the player only supports non-rewritable (R) discs? Are you trying to use a "plus" (e.g., DVD+RW) disc when the player only supports "minus" (e.g., DVD-RW), or vice-versa? (The manual may use the symbol "±" to mean either plus or minus will work.)

Confirm Which File Formats Are Compatible

Again, check the manual that came with your player. An MP3 CD can store more songs than an audio CD, but an older CD player may not be able to play an MP3 CD. Likewise, a data disc of JPEG files is a great way to view a photo slide-show on recent DVD players, but to view a slide-show on an older DVD player, you may need to create a video DVD using something like PhotoStage Slideshow Software.

Use Quality Discs

Cheap discs often have more read errors than higher quality discs, and some players will have more trouble with read errors than others. Buy good quality blank discs, and avoid discs with scratches, fingerprints, or dust.

Choose the Burn Speed Carefully

Take note of the minimum and maximum burn speeds that your drive is capable of, and that your selected discs are capable of. Contrary to popular belief, burning at a lower speed does not always give a better result than burning at a higher speed. Check what write speed(s) your disc has been rated for. If the disc specifies a single write speed (e.g., 4x) then you must burn at that speed. If the disc specifies a range of speeds (e.g., 4x-12x) then you must not burn at a speed outside that range.

Enable Verification

Check the Verify burned content is correct after burning check-box in Express Burn's burning dialog. It will take longer, but you can be sure at the end of verification that your burn actually worked.

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