If I format a CD like a USB, can I still reformat it to burn it as an mp3 CD?

I formatted a CD like a USB through Windows 7 auto play and filled it up with .mp3 files. Unfortunately the CD didn't play in my van. Is it possible to reformat the disc and burn it as an mp3 CD instead so that it would work in the van? The van can play .mp3 format...

I thought that any cd player that supports .mp3 format should be able to read .mp3 files like that?

Solution 1:

You need to finalize the disc (therefore not allowing more content to be added, nor any removed)

Click the start menu, then select computer to open Windows Explorer.

Put the disc in the DVD drive, and now in Windows Explorer click the disc burner drive and then click Close session on the toolbar.

Solution 2:

Most of the old generation mp3 players don't recognize the UDF format (that got written to the cd when you selected "format like an USB drive" in windows) only the normal Data CD (this will be recognized by all mp3 CD players) or Audio CD (this won't let you burn mp3s, but only 80 mins of audio files and it will be recognized even by the oldest cd players that don't support mp3s).

Now, back to your problem, if the CD was a CD-RW one you can re-burn it with the normal Data CD and it will work (note: you have to check the cd to see if it's RW, the option to use it as an USB drive also appears for CD-R (not rewritable)) but if the CD was not ReWritable but CD-R (most likely) then you can't really do anything to make it work again in the mp3 player, the cd will only be usable in PCs with WindowsXP and higher.

Source and more details: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/which-cd-dvd-format