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 .pls, or .m3u, or .rmp 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 can 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 be 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 do 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 you have chosen the folder mode as the default display. See DISPL later in this section for more information. The new track name appears on the display.
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, then the radio displays the file name without the extension (such as .mp3) as the track name.
Track names longer than 32 characters or four pages are shortened. The display does not show parts of words on the last page of text and the extension of the filename is not displayed.
Preprogrammed Playlists
You can access preprogrammed playlists which were created by WinAmp™, MusicMatch™, or Real Jukebox™ software, however, you will not have editing capability. 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 DISPL knob.
If the ignition or radio is turned off with a CD 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 appears on the display.
The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch (8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring. Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are loaded in the same manner.
If playing a CD-R, the sound quality can be reduced due to CD-R quality, the method of recording, the quality of the music that has been recorded, and the way the CD-R has been handled. There can be an increase in skipping, difficulty in finding tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and ejecting. If these problems occur, check the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface of the CD is damaged, such as cracked, broken, or scratched, the CD does not play properly. If the surface of the CD is soiled, see Care of Your CDs for more information.
If there is no apparent damage, try a known good CD.
Do not add any label to a CD, it could get caught in the CD player. If a CD is recorded on a personal computer and a description label is needed, try labeling the top of the recorded CD with a marking pen.
Notice: If a label is added to a CD, or more than one CD is inserted into the slot at a time, or an attempt is made to play scratched or damaged CDs, the CD player could be damaged. While using the CD player, use only CDs in good condition without any label, load one CD at a time, and keep the CD player and the loading slot free of foreign materials, liquids, and debris.
If an error displays, see "CD Messages" later in this section.
1 FLD (Previous Folder): Press the 1 FLD pushbutton to go to the first track in the previous folder. Press this button while in folder random mode to go to the previous folder and play the tracks in that folder in random order.2 FLD (Next Folder): Press the 2 FLD pushbutton to go to the first track in the next folder. Press this button while in folder random mode to go to the next folder and play the tracks in that folder in random order.
3 REV (Reverse): Press and hold this pushbutton to reverse quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to reverse at 10 times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to reverse at 20 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. REV and the elapsed time of the track displays.
4 FWD (Forward): Press and hold this pushbutton to advance quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to advance at 10 times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to advance at 20 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. FWD and the elapsed time of the track displays.
6 RDM (Random): To play the tracks in the current folder or playlist in random order, press and release this pushbutton. FLDR RDM displays. Once all of the tracks in the current folder or playlist have been played the system moves on to the next folder or playlist and play all of the tracks in random order. To random all the tracks on the CD, press and hold this pushbutton for two seconds. A beep sounds and DISC RDM displays. This feature does not work with playlists. When in the random setting, press and release either the left or right SEEK arrow to go to the previous or to the next random track. Press and release this pushbutton again to turn off random play. NO RDM 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 the left or right 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.
TUNE : Turning the TUNE knob fast tracks reverse or advance through the tracks in all folders or playlists. The track number and file name displays for each track. Turning this knob while in random fast tracks reverse or advance the tracks in sequential order.
DISPL (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, press this knob within two seconds to go to the next page of text. If there are no other pages to be shown, press this knob within two seconds to go 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 DISPL 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.
INFO (Information): 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.BAND: Press this button to listen to the radio when a CD is playing. The inactive CD remains inside the radio for future listening.
CD AUX (Auxiliary): Press this button to play a CD when listening to the radio. The CD symbol displays when a CD is loaded.
(Eject): Press the 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.
