I understand that the stock cd player in the '05 cooper will play mp3 disks. Does anyone know how they have to be burned? Can you put the MP3 files in subdirectories, or do they have to bee in the root drive? Thanks.

 

Haven't tried it on a Mini, BUT, on other head units I've used, you can burn it as a data disk with all of the mp3s in the root dir, or you can put the mp3s in folders, and the head unit can "browse" the folders. Sort of like playlists. Which is kind of a hassle to do while driving, but it does make it easier to sort everything.

Sorry I don't know more, but blanks are pretty cheap, you should try both and see what happens.

Good luck,
Mike

 

Yes they do and this is wonderful add on to 05 MC, MCc, MCS nad MCSc....

 

I have noticed that you have to have the file names with an alphanumeric name sequece that you want the songs to play in - or - the songs will get played in their alphanumeric sort order.... To be fair I am at work, and don't remember if this is a burner software issue (using Roxio) or if the head unit sorts it, but one of the two do, so I had to rename the mp3 songs with file names like 01-first song name.mp3, 02-second song name.mp3 and so on... if you don't the songs will play in a sequence you are not familiar with.

(Also, I have been able to put around 140-150 mp3 songs per disc on average)

 

Just got my MC yesterday so I haven't had much time to play around with the stereo yet, but I have tried a couple of CDR's burned (using Nero) with MP3's on them. No problems playing them at all, and it is nice having 10 or so albums on one CD, but unless I'm missing something, you have to navigate one track at a time forward or back (no skipping ahead a folder at a time) and track names are not displayed.

-Keith

 

140-150 songs on an mp3 disk! Madhatter you are using a very low bit rate (quality) for your mp3s. Either that or you're listening to very short songs! My mp3s are all lame aps quality. I can probably fit 3-4 regular cds on one mp3 disk. I'm hoping it will read cd-rws so I don't have to waste blanks figuring out how to format the disks.

Anyway, just found out that my car is on a boat that left on Aug 5, and will arrive Aug 13 - sooner than I expected. So I hope to be playing cds in my new car pretty soon. I'm !

 

I am getting cd error with my mp3s. I played a cd with mp3 that I burned a while ago(5 years ago) and it plays fine. Whats the rate that the head unit can play? I used 52x cds with 192 rate and received the error.

Thanks

 

I use VBR mp3's with a rate between 192 and 256 with no problems in mine.

 

I have h/k and I can listen mp3s perfectly fine, it shows the name of the songs as well.

 

ariercetinberk,
I have not yet heard of the H/K being able to show the names of the songs from an .mp3 disk. (lucky!)

what are you using to burn with?
what year is your MINI?

 

I changed the rate to 128 and it reads the disk. I might try again with a higher rate at a later date. I do not see the name of the artist. My 05 headunit is a standard one(although, I read in the Bentley manual the std and h/k are the same hu). The amp and speakers are H/K because that's how I ordered it in 04.

Overall, I am happy to be able to play mp3s and listen to XM whenever.

 

The Bently manual is correct and verifies what I've read here many times: head unit for the HK and non-HK is the same.

Here's my question:

Does anyones '05 head unit read artist and title on store-bought cds?

hs

 

Hugh: store bought cds have wav files without artist and title. The only way artist and title can be listed is with an external database. So, I'm quite sure the answer to your question is no. MP3 files have tags that can be read and displayed.

 

Can you confirm this please? That you are seeing text displayed sond/track titles on your MINI head unit?

If so, when was yours born?

 

I can't answer your question to him but the head unit I have is dated Jun 05 and it doesn't display artist/song. There could be combination of buttons that does display it but I haven't find it yet. Anyway, I am interested in the answer as well.

 

I would really like to know how to display this artist / song info as well...

 

Actually some newer store bought CD's come with CD-Text on them which will display the artist name and track name on many newer CD Players. Nero can also add CD-Text info to CD's you burn. I haven't tried to see if my MC stereo displays CD-Text info yet. The owner's manual says that the stereo can skip ahead by folder, but I haven't gotten that to work yet.

-Keith

 

Although the radio in my 05mcs, March build, plays mp3s, I've not been able to get it to display artist/title...only track number. All of my mp3s have come via the internet, not store bought transfers.
Neither store bought cds or mp3transfers display title/artist.

BTW, it does display FM radio stations info such as Rock, Easy Listening, etc, name of host, call letters, etc

hs

 

05 MCS here and I also cannot get artist/track text with MP3 discs. I can get song info from tunes on the radio station - maybe that is what ariercetinberk is seeing?

 

Yepp. My '04 Nov03 build HK shows Radio data even though it does not play MP3s.

My new '05 lands on Monday, so I'm quite curious to hear how "ariercetinberk" gets his to display Track names... here's hoping!

 

Since head units in Harmon Kardon equipped Minis are the same hu as the non-HKs, it should not matter. The HK difference lies in the speakers, and an outboard amplifier mounted in the rear.

Steve, good luck with your new ride!!!

hs

 

Thanks Hugh. Agreed that the HUs are the same in all units. Sure would be interesting if someone has a factory HU that displayed ID3 data.

 

to answer most of your questions... The Mini 05 HU will ONLY display the track #, it will NOT display the artist/track name of the song. You can put the files in folders, to change from folder to folder you'll need to press the "M" button once first, the press the ">" or "<" to swich from one folder to the other. note: The mini HU will NOT display the folder name

 

I just burned my first mp3 cd and I noticed something weird. I noticed that some of the tracks is divided into several sections. For example, I hit "next" in the middle of a track. Instead of skipping to the next song, there's a slight pause, the track number goes up by one then it just resumes playing the same same track. Then if I listen through the entire track, there's a slight pause, the track number goes up by one then it resumes playing.

At first I thought there was a error when the CD was being burned. But when I played the CD on the computer, there's no problem.

 

That's odd, I assume your mini is a 05 one, try playing that CD on a different car, computer will always be able to play CDs even if they have a mark on them. And what kind of program do you use to burn your CDs??