jono_2000

I thought i was doing well by burning 200 mp3 songs onto a cd for my 05 slk with dvd Command.

But then i read the instruction book and found that DVD MP3's can be played.... whooohoooo....

so that's around 1000 at high quality on one silver disc!

Now that's too cool for words....

That even beats having to plug an ipod into the auxiliary socked in the glovebox.

CD changers? who needs 'em!!

I can now keep the glovebox for packets of toffees and screwed up bits of paper.

Silver_Lana

Good for you!
Too bad we don't have a tips and tricks section - that would have made you aware of that a long time ago.

Cheers anyway!

jono_2000

well in all honesty i've only had the car a couple of months and this is first time i've sat down to sort out my in car sounds.

and the first time i've actually read the instructions for it.

superflysocal

anyone know what other dvd comand supports dvd mp3?

what about 2004 s430?

superflysocal

also, have you figured out how to do playlists with this?

Silver_Lana

The 2004 W220 S/CL should play MP3s on a CD/DVD as well.

Silver_Lana

Playlists are just folders - create a folder and drop the files into it - use a DVD-RW or CD-RW and you will save lots of otherwise wasted CD/DVDs due to replicated files/tracks in different playlists.

superflysocal

not sure what you mean by this. i want to have a collection of songs in folders based on there genre, but also have playlists containign songs from different folders (genre).

also, what have you used to burn dvd-mp3s? are you burning as dvd data discs? please elaborate on details.

jono_2000

ok - this is my understanding of the mp3 way of doing things....

it seems an mp3 dvd is just a data disk containing mp3 files. the command system ignores anything that isn't a folder, or doesn't have an .mp3 file extension.

so you can only organise songs in folders or folders in folders, such as Artist and then albums or releases etc, inside that folder the songs etc.

this is a flat file structure - however you can rename the folders, songs etc, but remember they will play in alpha order if you remove the 01... 02... numbering of the songs etc.

in the conventional sense you cannot have playlists because they are references to songs, not the songs themselves, these references are interpreted by the specific player ie iTunes, WinAmp etc, the MB Command unit has no such interpretation so wouldn't know what to do with a playlist file (of references!).

you can use the MB Commands folder mix and track mix and repeat facilities to randomly play songs etc to keep yourself amused on long journeys.

Note: you could create a duplicate folder of songs in your desired playlist order, but they would just be duplicates and take additional space on your disk.

Ok, i think that about covers it.

Roll on an update of the software so that MB supports .wma files or has additional features!!!

PS - can i do anything at all with my bluetooth installation in the Command? if not, what's it there for??

superflysocal

what software are you using to record the dvd mp3? i tried with Veristas recordnow dx and it didn't work? are you using nero? if so, which option?

superflysocal

also, have you tried dvd+rw or dvd-rw?

superflysocal

ok, just tried nero using dvd iso (9660) on dvd-rw and it did not work. said Unknown format

if anyone can verified that they can get dvd mp3 to work please post how you did it and what car you have

Zman

Is bluetooth visible in Command? I looked around and did not find it.

Silver_Lana

I use CD-RWs and DVD-RW as a data Disc burned with either iTunes or Roxio Toast Titanium on my Mac.

Silver_Lana

Jono describes my concept pretty well.
I use folders as a way of duplicating the behaviour of playlists and if that means duplication of MP3 files, then so be it.

superflysocal

i presume you use itunes for cd-rw and Toast for dvd-rw.

do you know if it is burning the dvd data as iso, udf, or iso/udf?

those are the choices i have with nero.

with iso i get unknown format error when i put the disc in
with udf/iso, it never gets through the "loading..." phase
guess i will try udf next

superflysocal

also, can you verify if dvd+rw would work?

dvd-rw takes forever to do the lead-out (10+ minutes)

superflysocal

finally got it to work!

These are my settings for anyone interested

I use Nero 6

under the DVD section i used the UDF option (UDF/iso did not work for me)

i selected no multisession
i selected "Forced DVD-Video compatibility"

It worked on a dvd+rw, which at leadt on my system is so much better than dvd-rw (which has a very long lead-out time)

This is truly about as good as having a Ipod mini (4.7 gb). Yes ipod has the playlists but here you gain some great shuffle options including the whole disc or individual folders)

scorchie

I think it is completely different from having an iPod mini. For one, you can have lots and lots of these discs in your car, so it would be like having way more storage. But with the iPod, you can use it in many other vehicles without having to burn multiple copies or multiple formats (my E-class is the only car I have that understands MP3 DVDs). Also the iPod accesses songs a LOT faster. And I can take my iPod (well, it's a non-mini) on the plane easier, since my MP3 portable CD player doesn't play DVDs.

So it's good to have both available.

-s-

Silver_Lana

Glad to see you got it working.
By the way, I burn from iTunes on both CD-RWs and DVD-RWs.

superflysocal

i never knew you could burn dvd's with itunes. have to give that a try

what i meant about comparison with ipod is not about the having the device itself...yes there is no comparison with having a portable palyer.

i was more directing towards the effort and expense of trying to link the ipod to the car such as the Ice Link device which loses your cd changer ability, and for now doesn't even display song titles! For some the effort is worth it, and one day I may join there efforts but for now this is a great alternative.

I will say i will take this dvd and cd mp3 capability over the BMW's Ipod option anyday (which again doesn't display song titles). Shame on you beemer for not offering mp3 capability!

I am very pleased with this dvd-mp3 "breakthrough" considering that about 80% of the home dvd players that play mp3s cannot do dvd-mp3, usually only the cheaper "hackable" brands do it. The car is where i can see myself using this feature (i don't even use the mp3 feature of my home dvd player).

We should encourage MB to develop this feature even further on future upgrades such as WMA support, dvd changer, true ID3 display, etc.

jono_2000

iTunes uses something called AAC which is a free file system, however apple being apple have added encryption in the form of digital rights management.

you need to use software from this organisation to remove the drm encryption: http://hymn-project.org/

this program converts file formats really quite well: http://www.poikosoft.com/

you can burn cd's with this program, not so sure re dvd's. but the important thing is that you convert and standardise your music collection in mp3 format for subsequent burning to dvd.

Del

I've been searching the forums for a while now trying to burn an mp3 disc that will work in my 2005 CLK with comand but nothing works. all i get is a cd error message. Used itunes, nero 6. nothing works. Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks,

Del

superflysocal

i think only on cars with dvd comand. when you go to the audio section is there a button for cd-mp3?

on eclass 03-04 you may need a software update.

Silver_Lana

Your COMAND head-unit is different from that of the E class and SLK - as a matter of fact it is identical to the one used in the W203 C Class.
The only head-units that can play MP3s are those for the W211(E), W220(S), W215(CL), R171(SLK), R230(SL), C219(CLS) and Maybach.