This may have been addressed in another thread but, I recently burned an audio DVD and was hoping that there would be a way to play it in my 09 Maxima. I'm not the most tech savy person, and when I try to play it, I get a "Disk Read Error". I'm assuming this is because it is a DVD and not a CD? Is there a way to play a DVD? I could burn the files to a CD but, it would take a number of cd's vs 1 DVD.

 

I believe a thumb drive would be the way to go. You can put hundreds of cds on one of those. And much easier to carry around. I believe the 09 with tech has a USB port in the center console. You may even have the music box feature where you can store CD's in the vehicles hard drive.

 

Something else I'll mention for you to consider....when you're burning an mp3 disk, are you burning the files as music, so that it allocates against available time (which if memory serves is capped at 80 minutes), or are you burning the files as data, so it is allocating against disk space (700MB, if I recall correctly)?

You should be able to burn in the neighborhood of 200 songs onto a regular CD-R as data. But if you burn it as a music disk you're obviously capped at 80 minutes.

However, as Nopike said, a thumb-drive would probably be a more ideal approach.

 

yes 09 has CD drive or changer depending on your configuration. Noway to play DVD on that.
I recommend going phone/music player course. I setup mine with blutooth playback. Search the forum for info.

 

Agreed. I believe the 09 and 10 did not have the dvd capability.

 

2010 had a new head unit with DVD. 2009 owners got screwed with CD based system. This is the reason why 09 owners must go to the dealer to do NAV updates, while 2010-14 can order upgrade DVDs and do it themselves.

I also don't have USB input on my Max. I have Old style iPod connector as well as RCA inputs for AUX, and CF card slot, which is sort of like usb stick, but not quite.

 

I use the USB exclusively now....no more CD's scattered all over my car.

That being said, I find the USB somewhat quirky. Although there's enough memory to load up to 400 albums the playback only registers a hundred or so on the display. Also, it displays the album titles and not the artists so I had to manually sort through every file and transfer the mp3's under the artists name and delete all the titles....a real pain in the @ss.

Anyone else have the same issues?

 

This is 100% correct. The CF Card might be an option for you, if you still have a CF Card laying around and a reader to get files onto it. I never really used mine because I had an iPod that worked well.

The '09 tech package has the Music Box as well. It's basically a HDD where you can store music by transferring it from a CD. This does require that the music is on an actual CD - you can set it up so that music is automatically copied to the Music Box when you insert a CD. It takes 2-3 minutes per CD to copy. Downside: there's no way to copy music to Music Box from an iPod or CF Card. It's moderately useful if you have a significant CD collection, no iPod, or want to burn your collection to a bunch of CDs.

If Music Box doesn't know the track names of your tunes there is a way to export the tracks, look them up via an internet service, and then save them back to Music Box. Your owner's manual should have this information.

 

The Maxima had a COMPACT FLASH slot!?!?!?!

That's pretty weird

 

Yeah, it was. It was only there for one year I think, the 09 but maybe the 10 also.

I'm thinking that the system was designed in 06-07 and finalized maybe early 08. This was about the time that digital cameras were getting really big and CF was still a relatively common format. SD was just starting to take over. USB drives of any size were fairly new also. The market shifted and CF went out of favor pretty quickly. By the time the 09 debuted, what would have been a cool feature (CF slot) was a bit of an anacronism.

 

This must mean that auto makers start preparing for new generation vehicles way ahead of time and also that the trends that are out in that time they incorporate; however, by the time the vehicle is released they take a gamble that the trend may have shifted to something else.

 

What is being offered by the different auto makers know for their 2016 models regarding entertainment? The new 8th gen will probably have something similar.

 

Nissan does not design the audio systems, I think the head unit in 09 Maxima is made by Panasonic. Anyway, with HDD based navigation and music system, designers needed a way to interface with hard drive. CF slot was used for that purpose. The dealer upgrades the maps via CF card interface, not a card, but card based interface. The music info, like titles can be uploaded, and I believe downloaded via CF as well, in this case actual card.
Even though the system will accept large cards, I think there is a limitation of either 2 or 4gb being accessible/usable.
It was basically a gap measure design.
2010 Max got a brand new head unit with DVD drive built in, which allows Navigation upgrade without dealing with CF card dealer crap.
I think 2010 also got USB slot, instead of proprietary Old style iPod cable.
The blutooth was Phone only as well, no audio playback.
Thank god they had enough fore-thought to just include AUX connectors.
This way, when all else fails or becomes obsolete, you can still rock the music via AUX.

As technology cycle accelerates, its hard to design a system that will not be obsolete in couple of years. Since most people (I should hope) do not upgrade cars like cell phones, the ball is in Nissans court to spec out systems that do not go out of style in 1 year, like 09 Maxima.
Max