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 may 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 RCL 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. 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 by 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 appears on the display. If you want to insert a CD with the ignition off, first press the EJECT button or the RCL 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.
1 (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 track. FWD and the elapsed time of the track appears on the display.RDM 2 (Random): To repeat the tracks in the current folder or playlist, press and release this pushbutton. FOLDER RANDOM 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 plays all of the tracks in random order. To repeat the tracks on the CD, press and hold this pushbutton for two seconds. A beep sounds and DISC RANDOM displays. This feature does not work with playlists. When in random, pressing and releasing either SEEK arrow takes you to the next or previous random track. Press and release this pushbutton again to turn off random play. NO RANDOM displays.
3 (Next Folder): Press this pushbutton to go to the first track in the next folder or playlist. If the disc contains playlists, it goes through the playlist, then the folders. Pressing this button while in folder random mode takes you to the next folder and random the tracks in that folder. This function does not work on a CD that does not contain folders or playlists.
4 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 track. REV and the elapsed time of the track appears on the display. If this pushbutton is pressed for more than 20 seconds, the radio stops reversing and begins to play.
6 (Previous Folder): Press this pushbutton to go to the first track in the previous folder or playlist. If the disc contains playlists, it goes through the playlist, then the folders. Pressing this pushbutton while in folder random mode takes you to the previous folder and random the tracks in that folder. This function does not work on a CD that does not contain folders or playlists.
SEEK : Press the up arrow to go to the start of the next track. Press the down arrow to go to the start of the previous track. Pressing either arrow for more than two seconds searches the previous or next tracks at two tracks per second. When the track number that you would like to play appears on the display, release the arrow to stop searching and to play the track.
TUNE: Turn this knob to fast track reverse or advance through tracks in all folders or playlists. The track number and file name appears on the display for each track. Turn this knob while in random to fast track reverse or advance the tracks in sequential order.
RCL (Recall): Push this knob to switch between track mode, folder/playlist mode, and time of day mode. The display shows only 13 characters, but there can be up to three pages of text. If there are more than 13 characters in the song, folder, or playlist name pushing this knob within two seconds takes you to the next page of text. If there are no other pages to be shown, pushing 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, push this knob until you see the desired display, then hold this knob for two seconds. The radio produces one beep and the selected display is now the default.
INFO (Information): INFO displays whenever 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 appears on the display when a CD is loaded.
EJECT: Press this button to eject a CD. Eject may be activated with either the ignition or radio off. CDs may be loaded with the radio and ignition off if this button is pressed first.
