In regards to playing MP3s, will the 2005 head unit read through child directories? For example, if I create an MP3 CD with the folders arranged like so: Artist/Album/Trackname.mp3, will the headunit read them? Or will it only read 1st level directories?

 

I burned the files as a data disk but it still gives me a CD error. Is there something wrong with my headunit?

 

I just took delivery of a 05 MCSC on March 18th.

I'll try some new MP3 cd's to see if I can figure this out. But FYI, CD's I already had on hand that DID show the tags in my AIWA aftermarket head unit in my van do not show the tags in the MINI. (Base CD system not HK upgrade). They do play fine. I also played one that's a CD-RW no problem. (Burned and closed, not DLA)

 

At this point I would be happy if they played the MP3 CDs... I just get an error and it ejects the CD

 

I made an MP3 CD of some audio books that I have and the MP3s play quite well on my HK head unit. It seems as if the unit only recognizes top level directories, no farther down. There was no ID3 info on the HU but that was OK since I already knew what was on the CD.

So the CD looks like

Top-level
* Album1
**** Track1
**** Track2
**** Track3
**** ...

* Album2
**** TrackA
**** TrackB
**** TrackC
**** ...
* ...
etc.

BTW, I used straight Windows XP to burn the MP3 CD, no iTunes, no MusicMatch, etc. Only issue is the file ordering, you should put numbers on your tracks because the head unit will play your tracks in alphabetical order if the numbers aren't present.

If you're CD-Rs don't play on all CD players, you're most likely looking at a bad CD recordable drive or a bad batch of CD-Rs.

ST

 

CARdiac, I don't know what kind of CD burner you have, but some burners are only successful, if you burn at the slowest speed (x2, or x4, or whatever). Some software will auto-select a speed that is too fast for the burner. You will get every indication that the burn was successful, but it won't play. There's a lot of trial and error involved.

Good luck.

 

I had no trouble in October last year playing mp3 and wma files off the root directory of a cd. Roxio and Nero have been used for these files as well as the Media Player cd burn utility. Quality of the cd does influence playability. Burner age also affects it.

 

Used OSX to burn my CD's, made folders with mp3's in each folder, numbered to play in my order and no problems, have about 200 mp3's on 1 CD. Sounds great, just no ID tags...

 

I have the NON- HK unit, does that make a difference?

 

It will work, but the directories end up numbered strangely by the head unit. It would be like this:

"Number" | Directory Name
.. 2 ............ Artist1/Album1
.. 4 ............ Artist2/Album1
.. 6 ............ Artist3/Album1
.. 7 ............ Artist3/Album2
.. 9 ............ Artist4/Album1

They all play - they're just numbered strangely. Edit: Spaces get removed, so I had to use periods to create the table.

Actually, has anyone noticed that sometimes the head unit skips songs or puts them out of order? I've also had times when it goes silent for 30 seconds and then comes back. This has only happened to me with MP3 discs.

 

No, it makes no difference. I have a non-hk unit and my '05 head unit plays MP3 cds just fine. Just make sure you burn your cd using standard, track or disc-at-once methods (no packet method writing, which lets you treat your CD like a read/write disk), and close the session and disc once you're done.

 

That is what I did...darn!!!

 

i burnt my mp3's and wma's using a cd-rw using WMP and roxio. no problems. always burned at 4x. i do know that the non-hk unit will not play any songs that are protected. i have some songs i downloaded from napster and its protected and it will not play those.
hey, better than nothing eh?

 

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm taking a trip tomorrow to go pick up my new MINI and I wanted to have a few CDs ready for the trip back.

 

Will yours play WMA files? Mine doesn't seem to like them...

 

I noticed that when I burned my first "project" to cd. I had multiple ablums by an artist grouped within a higher level directory/folder. When I burned the CD that way and put it in the MINI player, the player ignored the artist folders that contained the albums, but seemed to allocate a number to them.

For instance a folder called Neil Young contains After the Gold Rush, Long May You Run, and Rust Never Sleeps. The CD player seems to assign #1 to the Neil Young "top level" folder, and then ignores it, but it refers to After the Gold Rush as #2, Long May You Run as #3, and Rust Never Sleeps as #4.

 

I burned a CD on my laptop Vs the Desktop and it worked

 

yup, mp3's and wma's will play fine. only the non protected kind. u can tell if its protected by right clicking on the file and if there is a "license" or "protection" tab then it has protection.

 

They must've been protected.