I had searched the forums before posting but couldn't find anyone that had an answer for this issue. I got around to trying out the CD player this morning. I'm a huge fan of the random feature and was pleased to find out this is available with the stock CD player. However, when I switched from CD to radio and back to CD again, I noticed that the random feature was no longer enabled. And once you press the random button, the player instantly skips to the next random track. I thought it would've waited until the current track is over before randomizing. Oh well, that I can live with. However, I don't think I'll be able to live with the random feature not persisting when the source is changed.

Does anyone have any tips, tricks, suggestions on how to get this random feature to stay? I gotta be honest when I say I haven't looked through the manual yet. I was hoping that someone figured this out and could share their knowledge. Thanks in advance!

 

Your experience is normal - the factory head unit drops out of "random" mode if you even look at it cross-eyed.

In particular, any of these actions will automatically disable the random feature:

1) Switching sources between Radio, CD, AUX, and CD changer/iPod
2) Turning the head unit off and back on
3) Switching from one disc to another in the CD changer (or switching from one iPod playlist to another if you have the factory iPod interface).

There may be more as well.

I didn't know that turning on "random" while playing a CD track would automatically end the track and begin playing the next one - it doesn't do that with iPod tracks.

 

Well ain't that a kick in the pants? So I guess there's nothing that can be done to prevent this? Hmmmm....that's even more of a reason to install an auxiliary jack. Thanks for the info.

 

if you're going to install the aux, i would just go ahead and get the DICE silverline to replace the cd changer. simple install (get the radio interface kit), and i sold my changer here on NAM for the price of the DICE so i broke even. there's always a few people here looking for the cd changer in their 02's it seems.

with the DICE you can control your ipod from the steering wheel AND it has an extra AUX in as well. the sound for the ipod is MUCH better than the OEM AUX in.

i'm not a huge fan of portable music formats (i'm a vinyl guy), but, for automobile audio it's about covenience and protecting your collection of music (if you're a CD guy). i found the ipod and DICE work perfect for that. much nicer to have a bunch of music on hand rather than burning a new CD every time you want to hear something else.

besides, CD changers are a HUGE PITA in my opinion.