Is this something that has happened to others, CD-Rs that used to play fine are no longer recognised. I thought it was just more sensitive to CD-Rs getting minor scratches, so I burned a new CD-R today...same problem.
Unit makes a weird winding noise (like an old Amiga floppy disk drive or something) and then says ERROR.
When the laser gets dirty or worn it has more issues to see CDR than CD
This happened to my Sony 8800 in my jeep.
Try a laser cleaner
+1
Had eactly the same problem with mine before I decided to swap it out for an Alpine Ipod only HU
I ran a lens cleaner cd through the Sony and that sorted the problem.
bought a lens cleaner, made no difference!
Buy a new one then
doesn't make economic sense. glass mastered CDs play fine, downloaded audio can go on my iphone instead thanks to my new hands free/bluetooth thingie.
I am sure its down to the laser, I have had a few of these where they can read mp3s, then they can read cdr but not mp3 and then they can only read OEM discs.