Music CD's?

[gardener]

Momma got her a new (to us) Honda Pilot so she's finally allowed me to have my 2003 Explorer back. Actually, I don't know quite what to do since EVERYTHING actually works on it as opposed to what I was driving where everyday was a crap shoot as to what worked and what didn't.
None the less, I now have a CD player and want to copy off some of my favorite tunes just to keep in the truck. For all practical purposes, I'll be copying off CD's that I already own so please, no comments about stealing music off the net or other sources as I wouldn't have a clue how to do that anyway and don't care to learn.
The question: Is there a "better" CD for music quality than the standard issue major brands that I'd use for photos and such? She copied one CD and it sounds good to me but then, I'm not all that picky on most stuff and don't plan on comparing the copy to the original side by side. The radio/CD truck player is standard issue Ford so no fancy equipment...
What say you?

Thank you in advance for any comments or suggestions.
Steve

[kenw]

based on it being in a vehicle, virtually any CD-R will do. If kept in the vehilce, the heat will degrade them (any brand) so in about a year +/- expect the CD to be unreadable. Then just make some more from your originals.

[SaSha]

Have you ripped the CD's you already own to MP3, Ultimately its the ripping/conversion to MP3 that dictates how well they sound when you burn a CD. I have been converting my latest CD'sto MP3 at 256 kbps, but 192-320 would work, stay away from VBR-variable bit rate converting. The higher the bit-rate/kbps the larger the mp3 file, then space on your hard drive can become an issue, these days most likely not and the reason for the higher bit rates.

I also am in the habit of re-ripping older CD's to a higher bit-rate since some of the ones ripped way back were done at 128 kbps-160 kbps and these days I do notice the difference.

CD's labeled for music will not get you better sound than simple CD-R. Data passed to the laser of the CD player is the same for both.

Enjoy your time with the Explorer.

[kenw]

realize that unless the Explorer plays MP3 discs, ripping to MP3 format is totally unnecessary.

[Cope]

I look for sales on the 100 pack of Memorex and other good brands. I have had mixed luck with the no name disks.

[gardener]

My question seems to have been answered and I thank you all...

No MP3 player, no I-Pod, no Blackberry or equivelent here. Just plain old car and house radios and CD players as I seem to be stuck in that perpetual time warp which says, "FOOL! You wouldn't use all that stuff if you had it so why buy one?" My world is fairly simple... Even my cell phone is the freebie that they give you when you renew your contract... it makes voice calls and it receives voice calls, that's it.
I typically use Memorex or other name brand CD's for my photos but do usually have a cheaper store brand on hand for quicky give away stuff that I'll never hear from or see again.

Thanks again... I appreciate you guys.
Steve

[Torrey]

I've always been a fan of Verbatim myself. Whatever brand you choose, if you don't mind each CD taking a little longer, it might not hurt to burn at a slower speed. I've burned some DVD's at max speed before that had some skipping (can't remember brand) when played, but lowering the burn speed fixed everything.