I have a question about How do I use the built-in CD burning in Windows XP?:

I have an mp3-capable cd player in my car, but the darn thing doesnt play the files in alpha-numeric order by file name, oh no. It plays the files in the order that they are physically written onto the cd. Now nero (on my desktop) burns the files in alpha-numeric order & the files come up in the right order on my car stereo, but if i use the windows XP cd burning wizard (which is all i have on the laptop) it puts them in random order (ive not been able to figure out what order it is anyway, it sure isnt alpha-numeric by filename)... Is there any way to get the windows XP cd burning wizard to burn the files onto the cd in alpha-numeric order?

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What happens if you click on View then Arrange Icons by ... Name before clicking 
 File / Write these files to CD?

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theyre already arranged that way on my screen... do you suppose i should  have them 
rearranged again anyway?

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Just click and drag them into the order you want them.


On Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 6:16 pm, chewd wrote:
>theyre already arranged that way on my screen... do you suppose i should have them
>rearranged again anyway?

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Just click and drag them into the order you want them. 

They are in the order i want them on the screen when i hit burn.

Specifically they are in alpha-numeric order on my screen (its my default view) which 
is the order i want them on the cd. But that is not how they get burned. Nero does 
it right, but windows XP cd burning wizard puts them in some other order. (its not 
sorted by file size or datestamp either)

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Weird man. Just get another burning software.


On Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 6:35 pm, chewd wrote:
>Just click and drag them into the order you want them.
>
>They are in the order i want them on the screen when i hit burn.
>
>Specifically they are in alpha-numeric order on my screen (its my default view) which
>is the order i want them on the cd. But that is not how they get burned. Nero does
>it right, but windows XP cd burning wizard puts them in some other order. (its not
>sorted by file size or datestamp either)
>

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yea, i was hoping there was some hidden registry entry somewhere that made the xp 
burn wiz work the way i want it to. 
-sigh- off to look for a good freeware cd burning prog

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Ok i think ive got it sorted out, thought id post what i came up with in case someone 
else runs into this.

It has to do with how XP sorts alpha-numerically. I remember reading about this when 
XP came out. XP's sorting method is a bit smarter than windows used to be. Example: 
if you had files named 1 2 3 4 etc on up to 12 say, they used to be sorted like this

1
10
11
12
2
3
4
& so on... which is why we used to put leading zeros in front of numbers, so theyd 
actually come out in the right order, thus
01
02
03
.....
09
10
12
13

Windows XP is smarter than that, if it sees similar filenames like that, it knows 
that 11 doesnt come before 2 & so it will actually order them properly without the 
need for leading-zeros.

Unfortunately the cd burning wizard isnt privvy to that smart little bit of code 
(evidently) and so if you want them in the proper order on a cd you must use the 
leading-zeros again.

Weird huh?

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If Nero does it right why not just use Nero?
Do you have a problem with Nero?

Why use MS burner software?
 If you have a problem. First thing to do.
Backup all important data first. 

Never Say Never (Romeo Void 1981)

SeeYa
Ed

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