COMAND File Order Algorithm?
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 174
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From: Central NJ
2018 E400 4Matic
COMAND File Order Algorithm?
Does anyone know how Mercedes Benz COMAND decides music track order? I have a 2018 E400 and have music loaded on an SD card. This all works well, but the track order is all messed up.
If I select an album via "ALBUM" or "ARTIST" that has more than 9 tracks the order selected is track 01, 10, 11, 12, 13, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I can see it is using the alphanumeric tracks as the 'decider' for track order.
If I select an album that has less than 10 tracks the order is correct, which is consistent with the twisted logic above.
Here is where things get nuts. I created three files of the same music. One album only had the first nine tracks. The next album had the tracks renumbered (using an ID3 tag editing program) starting with track 01 being track 10, and going up to track 23. I did this so there would be no alphanumerical priority of the 13 track versus the third track. I also made a file with the file names re-written the same way, but didn't change the track number (so the file name for track 3 would be "13-Giorgio". When I put this new SD card in the car it didn't seem to recognize any of these changes and still played the songs in the same screwed up order.
If I select an album via "FOLDERS" it recognizes the correct track order. So at least here, it respects how the musician and producer intended the music to be presented rather than how some German software engineer thinks it should be done.
I'm wondering if it is using the files to figure out the order through Gracenotes, then using that metadata in a demented way to reorder the tracks.
Anybody know what's going on behind the curtain, and better, any way to get around it?
If I select an album via "ALBUM" or "ARTIST" that has more than 9 tracks the order selected is track 01, 10, 11, 12, 13, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I can see it is using the alphanumeric tracks as the 'decider' for track order.
If I select an album that has less than 10 tracks the order is correct, which is consistent with the twisted logic above.
Here is where things get nuts. I created three files of the same music. One album only had the first nine tracks. The next album had the tracks renumbered (using an ID3 tag editing program) starting with track 01 being track 10, and going up to track 23. I did this so there would be no alphanumerical priority of the 13 track versus the third track. I also made a file with the file names re-written the same way, but didn't change the track number (so the file name for track 3 would be "13-Giorgio". When I put this new SD card in the car it didn't seem to recognize any of these changes and still played the songs in the same screwed up order.
If I select an album via "FOLDERS" it recognizes the correct track order. So at least here, it respects how the musician and producer intended the music to be presented rather than how some German software engineer thinks it should be done.
I'm wondering if it is using the files to figure out the order through Gracenotes, then using that metadata in a demented way to reorder the tracks.
Anybody know what's going on behind the curtain, and better, any way to get around it?
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Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 738
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From: Orlando, FL
2016 E400 Coupe (C207)
I'm sorry that I don't have an answer to your issue, but just wanted to say that Gracenote is, in my experience, a problematic service and it's best to disable it. I visited a local Lexus dealer last year to check out the RC coupe and observed that Gracenote did not play well with their software at all. It would arbitrarily - and randomly - override the metadata written into MP3 files and cause incorrect cover art and details to be displayed. The Lexus tech guy could find no means of stopping this, even though we had disabled Gracenote in the settings.
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Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 174
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From: Central NJ
2018 E400 4Matic
Thank you Mr. Toad. I think I'll try that. Do you happen to know how to disable it on MB? I can't find that information.
I'll also look to see if there is a DB written on my SD card. I may have to do something to that. Don't know what, but let's see what's there first.
I'll also look to see if there is a DB written on my SD card. I may have to do something to that. Don't know what, but let's see what's there first.
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 738
Likes: 163
From: Orlando, FL
2016 E400 Coupe (C207)
I'm sorry that I don't know off the top of my head. I have a 2016 and you have a 2018, so I expect that the interface has changed, but I'd suggest checking the COMAND user manual that you (should have) received with your car's books. I believe there's an entire section devoted to "Gracenote Database".
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 174
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From: Central NJ
2018 E400 4Matic
A search of an earlier version of the COMAND_NTG45 manual shows lots of hits for Gracenote, and a separate section devoted to it as you point out. When I search the current version of COMAND manual I just get two hits referring to the trademarked name Gracenote. Not giving up on this, but its looking harder than I thought it would be. 
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 738
Likes: 163
From: Orlando, FL
2016 E400 Coupe (C207)
It's funny - growing up in the 60s and 70s, I acquired the perception that Japanese companies were the masters of electronic products. I've seen so many problematic multimedia systems in German cars of late that I figured Lexus must surely have a multimedia system that would run rings around the Germans. Not so. Definitely not so. What I learned is that none of them can get it right these days.
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Joined: Feb 2018
Posts: 174
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From: Central NJ
2018 E400 4Matic
I agree. It would be wise for the more enlightened builders to partner with a great software company. If you are choosing Burmester to put in the hardware, why not go all in and get awesome software like Roon? Plus, folks at Roon are always improving their product while things remain remarkably stagnant when the car builder does it. Probably corporate ego. I'd pay a premium to license Roon as my car audio front end just as I paid the premium for Burmester. Maybe the financial angle could dislodge in-house software engineer's stranglehold on mediocre design.
