Music in an Audi S4 (8B)
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 11:16 am
Getting music into an Audi S4
I have been scouring forums for several weeks trying to get a definitive picture of what I can do to access my music library in my 2009 Audi S4. What has become abundantly clear is that it is a hugely complex issue – partly caused by the technical complexities of the MOST interface and external connectivity to it, and Audi’s perverse approach to determining ease of use of their systems. There is no doubt people are utterly at sea with both.
So, let me set out some background and goals;
Firstly my car is a 2009 S4 (B8) with MMI 2G High. That means it has a 6 CD dash-mounted changer, DVD based sat nav in the boot, colour screen and an Aux in socket by the armrest. There are no SD card slots, nor AMI. This post therefore only relates to cars with a similar system, not to MMI 3G etc.
My goal is simply to have my entire music library available in the car. Digital storage is cheap enough these days to make this a distinct possibility and streaming digital music throughout the house is something I’ve been doing for several years (Logitech Squeezebox etc). Sure, several CDs would hold plenty enough music for the longest trip, but that’s not the point. I don’t want to have to keep creating playlists, or burning sub-sets of my music library. I just want to choose what I wish to listen to with complete freedom. It also means I can just backup any changes quickly and easily.
My main library comprises about 1200 albums and 12000 tracks. It is stored in FLAC format with appropriate tags and album art. However I also duplicate this in an MP3 version (192) for ease of use with mobile devices. The MP3 library takes up about 80Gb.
So, what are the options . . . .
1) Burn MP3s onto CD
Technically I suppose this is the most straightforward option as nothing needs to change in the car’s setup. As a 192 MP3 file takes about one seventh of the space a .wav file does, I could fill the 6CD slots available with the equivalent of over 40 albums. However this would still mean I have to pre-determine which music to take with me in the car. Burning my whole library would need over 160 CDs. Its just too time-consuming and messy.
2) Replace the CD Changer
Is this even possible ? Some Audis have a dash-mounted DVD drive with two SD card slots. That would mean I could store the music library over several SD cards (32Gb capacity – might this increase with new cards and would the Audi card readers cope ?). A huge step forward but still mean I have to swap cards when searching for a particular artist or track.
3) Retrofit AMI
Hugely (and indefensibly) expensive. Especially as Audi have chosen to triple the price of the replacement glovebox I would need to hold the AMI unit. It has been suggested that the AMI ‘brain’ itself could be extracted from the cradle and mounted behind the glovebox – taking connection cables into it. At least this would save the cost of a new glovebox and keep available space within it. However other constraints seem to have come to light;
a) Is there a track limit ? With MMI 3G I understand Audi have chosen to impose an arbitrary 4,000 track limit for a USB device (but I don’t think this applies to MMI 2G). If, as I assume, this has been done to maintain reasonable access times why don’t Audi just say that, rather than impose a firmware / software limitation ? There may be those of us that would settle for longer seek times in return for the convenience of having all their music available.
b) Is there a capacity limit ? I have read rumours of the AMI USB connection only recognising 32Gb (despite Audi selling 250Gb and 500Gb drives !). Is this true ? Is it a limitation of the FAT 32 formatting requirement ? Are there ways around it (I believe alternative formatting tools can make a much lager disk partition available) ?
4) Add USB hard drive
See comments about the AMI unit but this would be my preferred route. I’m thinking that an SSD USB drive (160Gb available for about £90) would be a good move due to the absence of moving parts, insensitivity to external vibration and low power consumption. Alternatively perhaps a 128Gb pen drive isn’t too far away. From what I understand though, searching for music would be dependent on the file structure etc. Does the AMI / MMI not read MP3 tags ? This would mean I’ve a LOT of tidying up of filenames to do.
5) Add Ipod
Don’t like Apple (even though I’m typing this on a Mac). Even so a 160Gb Ipod would, apparently, overcome many problems – no capacity worries with a 160Gb model, proper tag searching etc. BUT, sound quality may suffer as the output from Ipods is through an analogue connection. Not that digital is inherently better, but this option would mean the signal gets converted from analogue to digital and vice versa more times than is sensible.
6) AMI Alternatives
I’ve seen two – and both would seem to provide similar functionality to the USB connected hard drive option by emulating the CD changer (not sure if I would have to lose the changer itself as a result). They are cheaper (a lot), smaller and probably a DIY install. One is the VNS Media box and the other comes from GROM Audio. But I’ve not seen full details of either in relation to an Audi with MMI 2G. Anyone had any experience of either of these ? It’s not clear whether either have capacity limits either.
So there you go – an absolute minefield to navigate through. Oh, for the good old days when you could just buy a new radio and slot it in. How on earth, when you can buy a dash media player with USB connectivity for as little as £100 can things have been made so ridiculously complex ???
Answers on a postcard please. PLEASE !
I have been scouring forums for several weeks trying to get a definitive picture of what I can do to access my music library in my 2009 Audi S4. What has become abundantly clear is that it is a hugely complex issue – partly caused by the technical complexities of the MOST interface and external connectivity to it, and Audi’s perverse approach to determining ease of use of their systems. There is no doubt people are utterly at sea with both.
So, let me set out some background and goals;
Firstly my car is a 2009 S4 (B8) with MMI 2G High. That means it has a 6 CD dash-mounted changer, DVD based sat nav in the boot, colour screen and an Aux in socket by the armrest. There are no SD card slots, nor AMI. This post therefore only relates to cars with a similar system, not to MMI 3G etc.
My goal is simply to have my entire music library available in the car. Digital storage is cheap enough these days to make this a distinct possibility and streaming digital music throughout the house is something I’ve been doing for several years (Logitech Squeezebox etc). Sure, several CDs would hold plenty enough music for the longest trip, but that’s not the point. I don’t want to have to keep creating playlists, or burning sub-sets of my music library. I just want to choose what I wish to listen to with complete freedom. It also means I can just backup any changes quickly and easily.
My main library comprises about 1200 albums and 12000 tracks. It is stored in FLAC format with appropriate tags and album art. However I also duplicate this in an MP3 version (192) for ease of use with mobile devices. The MP3 library takes up about 80Gb.
So, what are the options . . . .
1) Burn MP3s onto CD
Technically I suppose this is the most straightforward option as nothing needs to change in the car’s setup. As a 192 MP3 file takes about one seventh of the space a .wav file does, I could fill the 6CD slots available with the equivalent of over 40 albums. However this would still mean I have to pre-determine which music to take with me in the car. Burning my whole library would need over 160 CDs. Its just too time-consuming and messy.
2) Replace the CD Changer
Is this even possible ? Some Audis have a dash-mounted DVD drive with two SD card slots. That would mean I could store the music library over several SD cards (32Gb capacity – might this increase with new cards and would the Audi card readers cope ?). A huge step forward but still mean I have to swap cards when searching for a particular artist or track.
3) Retrofit AMI
Hugely (and indefensibly) expensive. Especially as Audi have chosen to triple the price of the replacement glovebox I would need to hold the AMI unit. It has been suggested that the AMI ‘brain’ itself could be extracted from the cradle and mounted behind the glovebox – taking connection cables into it. At least this would save the cost of a new glovebox and keep available space within it. However other constraints seem to have come to light;
a) Is there a track limit ? With MMI 3G I understand Audi have chosen to impose an arbitrary 4,000 track limit for a USB device (but I don’t think this applies to MMI 2G). If, as I assume, this has been done to maintain reasonable access times why don’t Audi just say that, rather than impose a firmware / software limitation ? There may be those of us that would settle for longer seek times in return for the convenience of having all their music available.
b) Is there a capacity limit ? I have read rumours of the AMI USB connection only recognising 32Gb (despite Audi selling 250Gb and 500Gb drives !). Is this true ? Is it a limitation of the FAT 32 formatting requirement ? Are there ways around it (I believe alternative formatting tools can make a much lager disk partition available) ?
4) Add USB hard drive
See comments about the AMI unit but this would be my preferred route. I’m thinking that an SSD USB drive (160Gb available for about £90) would be a good move due to the absence of moving parts, insensitivity to external vibration and low power consumption. Alternatively perhaps a 128Gb pen drive isn’t too far away. From what I understand though, searching for music would be dependent on the file structure etc. Does the AMI / MMI not read MP3 tags ? This would mean I’ve a LOT of tidying up of filenames to do.
5) Add Ipod
Don’t like Apple (even though I’m typing this on a Mac). Even so a 160Gb Ipod would, apparently, overcome many problems – no capacity worries with a 160Gb model, proper tag searching etc. BUT, sound quality may suffer as the output from Ipods is through an analogue connection. Not that digital is inherently better, but this option would mean the signal gets converted from analogue to digital and vice versa more times than is sensible.
6) AMI Alternatives
I’ve seen two – and both would seem to provide similar functionality to the USB connected hard drive option by emulating the CD changer (not sure if I would have to lose the changer itself as a result). They are cheaper (a lot), smaller and probably a DIY install. One is the VNS Media box and the other comes from GROM Audio. But I’ve not seen full details of either in relation to an Audi with MMI 2G. Anyone had any experience of either of these ? It’s not clear whether either have capacity limits either.
So there you go – an absolute minefield to navigate through. Oh, for the good old days when you could just buy a new radio and slot it in. How on earth, when you can buy a dash media player with USB connectivity for as little as £100 can things have been made so ridiculously complex ???
Answers on a postcard please. PLEASE !