gadgeTT
10-14-2005, 11:29 AM
Hi All,
This is probably old news for all the seasoned motorists in here, but for us newbies, I just discovered that the headunit (I have an '06 with the h/k stereo) will play data CDs that have MP3 tracks on them. This was not mentioned by my motoring advisor when I accepted delivery, I don't recall seeing this in the description of the stereo when configuring the car on the web site, and also don't recall seeing this information in the radio user's manual (which I did read cover to cover).
Basically, just use your PC (or Mac) to burn a standard data CD (not music) with 100 or so of your favorite MP3 tracks. Insert said CD into the dash (or changer, I presume) and the headunit will play the tracks in normal or random. The display shows track numbers and not metadata (artist, album, title) but at least it works.
You can put your all your tracks at the root level of the CD or group them by folder. If they're all on the root of the CD, the display will show "Track XX" and the FWD/RWD buttons will skip tracks. When grouped by folder (one level deep, I presume), the tracks are played in the folders like albums and the display shows "TrackYY-XX" where "YY" is the number of the album (in alphabetical order) and "XX" is the track number. Press "M" and then the FWD/RWD buttons skip folders, otherwise they skip tracks within the same folder.
I'm so glad I didn't get the CD changer and instead opted for installing XM using the changer plugs. While a CD changer would allow for around 60 tracks (6 discs x about 10 tracks per CD), a single data MP3 CD in my dash can hold about 100 tracks!
One last comment; I have a small SACD collection at home, some of which are hybrid in that the same SACD also has a remastered CD layer. The h/k headunit will not play SACDs, but the CD layer of a hybrid SACD sounds phenomenal!!!
Needless to say, I am very pleased by my h/k audio :-).
This is probably old news for all the seasoned motorists in here, but for us newbies, I just discovered that the headunit (I have an '06 with the h/k stereo) will play data CDs that have MP3 tracks on them. This was not mentioned by my motoring advisor when I accepted delivery, I don't recall seeing this in the description of the stereo when configuring the car on the web site, and also don't recall seeing this information in the radio user's manual (which I did read cover to cover).
Basically, just use your PC (or Mac) to burn a standard data CD (not music) with 100 or so of your favorite MP3 tracks. Insert said CD into the dash (or changer, I presume) and the headunit will play the tracks in normal or random. The display shows track numbers and not metadata (artist, album, title) but at least it works.
You can put your all your tracks at the root level of the CD or group them by folder. If they're all on the root of the CD, the display will show "Track XX" and the FWD/RWD buttons will skip tracks. When grouped by folder (one level deep, I presume), the tracks are played in the folders like albums and the display shows "TrackYY-XX" where "YY" is the number of the album (in alphabetical order) and "XX" is the track number. Press "M" and then the FWD/RWD buttons skip folders, otherwise they skip tracks within the same folder.
I'm so glad I didn't get the CD changer and instead opted for installing XM using the changer plugs. While a CD changer would allow for around 60 tracks (6 discs x about 10 tracks per CD), a single data MP3 CD in my dash can hold about 100 tracks!
One last comment; I have a small SACD collection at home, some of which are hybrid in that the same SACD also has a remastered CD layer. The h/k headunit will not play SACDs, but the CD layer of a hybrid SACD sounds phenomenal!!!
Needless to say, I am very pleased by my h/k audio :-).