MP3 CD-R Disc
MP3 Format
If you burn your own MP3 disc on a personal computer:
| • | Make sure the MP3 files are recorded on a CD-R disc. |
| • | Do not mix standard audio and MP3 files on one disc. |
| • | Make sure playlists have a .m3u or .wpl extension, other file extensions may not work. |
| • | Files can be recorded with a variety of fixed or variable bit rates. Song title, artist name, and album are available for display by the radio when recorded using ID3 tags version 1 and 2. |
| • | Create a folder structure that makes it easy to find songs while driving. Organize songs by albums using one folder for each album. Each folder or album should contain 18 songs or less. |
| • | Make sure to finalize the disc when burning an MP3 disc, using multiple sessions. It is usually better to burn the disc all at once. |
The player is able to read and play a maximum of 50 folders, 50 playlists, 10 sessions, and 255 files. Long file names, folder names, or playlist names could use more disc memory space than necessary. To conserve space on the disc, minimize the length of the file, folder, or playlist names. You can also play an MP3 CD that was recorded using no file folders. The system can support up to 11 folders in depth, though, keep the depth of the folders to a minimum in order to keep down the complexity and confusion in trying to locate a particular folder during playback. If a CD contains more than the maximum of 50 folders, 50 playlists, 10 sessions, and 255 files the player lets you access and navigate up to the maximum, but all items over the maximum are ignored.
Root Directory
The root directory is treated as a folder. If the root directory has compressed audio files, the directory is displayed as F1 ROOT. All files contained directly under the root directory are accessed prior to any root directory folders. However, playlists (Px) are always accessed before root folders or files.
Empty Directory or Folder
If a root directory or a folder exists somewhere in the file structure that contains only folders/subfolders and no compressed files directly beneath them, the player advances to the next folder in the file structure that contains compressed audio files. The empty folder does not display.
No Folder
When the CD contains only compressed files, the files are located under the root folder. The next and previous folder functions does not function on a CD that was recorded without folders or playlists. When displaying the name of the folder the radio displays ROOT.
When the CD contains only playlists and compressed audio files, but no folders, all files are located under the root folder. The folder down and the folder up buttons search playlists (Px) first and then go to the root folder. When the radio displays the name of the folder the radio displays ROOT.
Order of Play
Tracks are played in the following order:
| • | Play begins from the first track in the first playlist and continues sequentially through all tracks in each playlist. When the last track of the last playlist has played, play continues from the first track of the first playlist. |
| • | If the CD does not contain any playlists, then play begins from the first track under the root directory. When all tracks from the root directory have played, play continues from files according to their numerical listing. After playing the last track from the last folder, play begins again at the first track of the first folder or root directory. |
When play enters a new folder, the display does not automatically show the new folder name unless the folder mode has been chosen as the default display. See DISP (display) later in this section for more information. The new track name displays.
File System and Naming
The song name that is displayed is the song name that is contained in the ID3 tag. If the song name is not present in the ID3 tag, the radio displays the file name without the extension (such as .mp3) as the track name.
Track names longer than 32 characters or 4 pages are shortened. Parts of words on the last page of text and the extension of the filename does not display.
Preprogrammed Playlists
Preprogrammed playlists that were created using WinAmp™, MusicMatch™, or Real Jukebox™ software can be accessed, however, they cannot be edited using the radio. These playlists are treated as special folders containing compressed audio song files.
Playing an MP3
Insert a CD partway into the slot, label side up. The player pulls it in, and READING displays. The CD should begin playing and the CD symbol displays. If you want to insert a CD with the ignition off, first press the (eject) button or the DISP knob.
If the ignition or radio is turned off with a CD-R in the player it stays in the player. When the ignition or radio is turned on, the CD starts to play where it stopped, if it was the last selected audio source.
As each new track starts to play, the track number displays.
SEEK : Press the left SEEK arrow to go to the start of the previous track. Press the right SEEK arrow to go to the start of the next track. Pressing either SEEK arrow for more than two seconds searches the previous or next tracks at two tracks per second. Release the button to stop searching and to play the track.1 (Rewind) : Press this button to go to the start of the current track if more than eight seconds have played. The previous symbol and the track number displays. If this button is held or pressed more than once, the player continues moving backward through the CD.
2 (Fast Forward): Press this button to go to the next track. The next symbol and the track number displays. If this button is held or pressed more than once, the player continues moving forward through the CD.
4 (Random): To random the tracks in the current folder or playlist, press and release this button. FLDR RDM displays. Once all of the tracks in the current folder or playlist have played the system moves to the next folder or playlist and plays all of the tracks in random order. To random all the tracks on the CD, press and hold this button for two seconds. A beep sounds and CD RDM displays. This feature does not work with playlists. When in random, pressing and releasing either SEEK arrow takes you to the previous or to the next random track. Press and release this pushbutton again to turn off random play. NO RDM displays.
BAND: Press this button to listen to the radio while a CD is playing. The inactive CD remains inside the radio for future listening.
(CD): Press this button to play a CD while listening to the radio. The CD symbol displays when a CD is loaded.
(Information) (XM™ Satellite Radio Service and MP3 Features): INFO displays when a current track has ID3 tag information. Press this button to display the artist name and album contained in the tag. INFO disappears from the display when the information in the ID3 tag has finished.
DISP (Display): Press this knob to switch between track mode, folder/playlist mode, and time of day mode. The display shows only eight characters, but there can be up to four pages of text. If there are more than eight characters in the song, folder, or playlist name, pressing this knob within two seconds takes you to the next page of text. If there are no other pages to be shown, pressing this knob within two seconds takes you to the next display mode.
| • | Track mode displays the current track number and the ID3 tag song name. |
| • | Folder/playlist mode displays the current folder or playlist number and the folder/playlist name. |
| • | Time of day mode displays the time of day and the ID3 tag song name. |
To change the default on the display, press the DISP knob until you see the desired display, then hold this knob for two seconds. The radio produces one beep and the selected display becomes the default.
AUTO EQ (Automatic Equalization): Press EQ to select an equalization setting while playing a CD. The equalization is set when a CD is played. See "EQ" listed previously for more information. If you select an EQ setting for your CD, it is activated each time you play a CD.(Eject): Press this button to eject a CD. Eject can be activated with either the ignition or radio off. CDs can be loaded with the ignition and radio off if this button is pressed first.
