Confused re MP3 player

[gord]

Being a techy neanderthal, I'm confused regarding the mp3 facility on the satnav+ system on my RS6+. The screen slides back to reveal two memory card slots (which are empty). I'm told they will play MP3 cards, but have absolutely no idea what i have to do/buy to get the things to work (or even what they will do other than play lots of music) and the handbook assumes more knowledge than i possess. I assume that I need to buy a 'recorder' which will connect to my pc/hifi but a trip to various electrical retailers has drawn a blank.
Can anyone explain please?
Thanks in anticipation!
Gordon

[PhilT]

Hmmmm. I'll try to help:

1. An MP3 file is a is an audio file. Usually split into tracks.
2. Memory cards come in many different shapes and sizes. See here
3. You probably need one of these too - See here
4. Once you have your memory card in the reader connected to the pc and you favorite audio CD in the CD drive of the PC... Windows Media Player 10 can 'Rip' your CD to MP3. Not sure what the file structure would be, but I assume a CD per folder.

[Jeeves]

Gord

Have exactly the same. You need 2 MMC cards (assuming you can use your PC to get MP3 tracks onto them). Go for as big as you can get to load with more tracks. Check prices @ Crucial.com or Dabs.com before being tempted by any high street offers (e.g. current half price offer at Dixons I think). Try also savapoint.com. All previosly used by me so endorsed.

You can also burn onto a CD-ROM, but you won't get Sat Nav at the same time. (Haven't tried it yet, but hopefully it'll get rid of the annoying road names on the Info system which comes on by default. I'd rather see how far I can go before I need some more Optimax).

I'm not an audiophile and actually prefer the sound of the non-Bose system in mu Allroad than that in my Plus, which never quite sounds right. On that note, I record my MP3s at only 64k to squeeze more onto the cards (which are smaller capacity than many available today).

Don't know if the system will play WMA files (different format, but better quality for same size) which are increasingly popular.

[MartynC]

Hi both.

I've beeen messing with mine over the last few weeks and find it very useful, Use SD memory from PC World, no doubt you can get it cheaper but there's a store near me!

Seems to work well and is very easy to use. There are plenty of free programs available on the net to rip from CD or convert to MP3. Mine wont play WMA files. Always use 160K as it sound better or 128K if I take some audio from Bearshare or similar.

Do you notice the info only shows on the DIS in one screen? It annoys me that the default DIS setting is blank on my 6+ and I have to change it from the stalk...................God I'm lazy!

Cheers MartynC

[gord]

Thanks you lot I'll have a look at all that and try to work out what i have to do when my hangover is less debilitating!
Am I right in thinking that I can get all I need at PCWorld so long as I know what I'm asking for?
GM

[Jeeves]

Thanks you lot I'll have a look at all that and try to work out what i have to do when my hangover is less debilitating!
Am I right in thinking that I can get all I need at PCWorld so long as I know what I'm asking for?
GM

You can download a decent free player/ripper at www.musicmatch.com which you can make MP3s with. Also try Carphonewarehouse for MMC cards (upto 1Gb) as they're used in a lot of phones, (you can even get pre-loaded music if Robbie's your bag.)

As capacity is so big, don't worry too much about sampling rate/quality. I said I use 64k, but that's for WMA files which compare in quality with 96k MP3 (haven't checked back-to-back), but that's certainly not FM quality. 160k will certainly be better to the ear.

Great news if SD cards work as well Martyn.

[MartynC]

Yep, I bought 256Meg SD cards by Maxell as they were the cheapest (around £20 I think) and a multi card reader to load them from the PC. Dead easy.

By the way my car manual says 256Meg is the max you can use.

Cheers, Martyn