I loaded up a couple of hundred MP3 songs on an SD card, inserted it in my car, followed the steps in the manual, and couldn't get it to play, even after repeated tries. I could see an image of an SD card on the screen, but couldn't see any song titles or get them to play. I was stymied until I read the fine print in the manual--SD cards larger than 2GB are not supported. I haven't tried a smaller card yet, I don't have any.

Not sure about the card sizes and usability - My 1.0 GB card works fine the first time we tested it. Seamless!

First and only time that slot was used!

Yeah, works nicely on the MY09. Bobby T, you need to get smaller cards and then load the music on to the music register (4GB)

That all said, MP3 sounds crappy compared to CDs. Everything is becoming compressed for the sake of convenience. Film, music.

Heh, I listen to vinyl on tube amps and make 16mm short films

Any idea what bitrate the Music Register rips the music at, and what format? I assume MP3 if it will copy from the SD card.

Put some music samples here and we can test them on our cars.

So are you confirming that the SD-card interface does not support SD HC cards? That sounds crappy, and someone complained that PCMCIA on a W221/204 is old-fashioned.


Considering MP3 quality, like Polar Bear suggests, with proper MP3 parameters you cannot hear a difference between MP3 and CD audio, not with a headset, definitely not in a car (even a car with the best audio system).

Will not work with the 4G card, 2G works very well.

As already mentioned just not larger cards.

In reference to your last point, I guess our ears are just trained differently

There is a difference. Whether it bothers someone or not, is really the only issue.

(I work in post production)

Since you are an expert, you know that MP3 can be done with different parameters where the best quality really isn't noticeably different form CD audio (are you happy with the CD audio quality, it could be betterr?). It still remains different, but you do know the car audio environment, the background noise level and the speaker performance. MP3 with good parameters (do VMA if you wish) would largely outperform the capability of the car as a whole.

I did not say that the music industry should start using low quality MP3.

Completely agree. I imagine my response was primarily to the poor quality of compression that the majority of people deal with (downloads, e.g.) as their source of music in general.

there an sd card slot in out cars WTF where is it

I have an '09 E550 with the SD slot, however I bought a "Media Interface USB Cable" from the dealer for $37. This replaces the IPod cable in the glove box. Then I bought a 16gig USB memory stick and copied over thousands of hours of music onto it, and it works like a charm. I did this in lieu of using an iPod because I ripped hundreds of CDs about 7 years ago in MP3 format and I can't seem to get them into iTunes with all the title information. Anyway, this is one solution which works if you have lots of MP3s.

I prefer iPod, since I can organize music in different ways and have play list. All my music in MP3, I prefer just rip CDs with compression parameters selected for specific of music. Obviously I do not use iTunes, so I do not know what kind of limitations it has. You could also spend the same money purchasing 16Gb SD card.

You "could" purchase it, but it WOULD not work-----2Gb is the max

That's why I never purchase music online. Until they offer lossless file formats, I will continue to buy Compact Discs and I can do what I want with them on any device and not worry about DRM as a bonus.

The DVD-A system in the W204 is nothing short of amazing. I have a Euro COMAND in my W211 and it will play DVD-A, but does not play the 96kHz tracks, only the DVD-V compatible tracks, and downmixes to 2 channels. Still sounds good, but not as good as the 5.1

I assume the 2009 W211 plays DVD-Audio in 5.1? If so, how is the quality?

I have the E350 4Matic with the sports package. I've been trying to get the SD card to work but I haven't had any luck so far. I tried using a 2gig and 512 mb. I can see the files on the screen but no sound. Doesn't look like it's doing anything at all. Is there any specific brand that needs to be used? I read the manual and it did say it doesn't support all brand. I tried the Micro Center brand and Corsair. Any suggestions??

Hi Newbie09,

Did you try downloading the songs to the Music Register? I don't know if they will play directly from the SD card (I still haven't bought a 2GB card to try it).

I tried downloading it but it wouldn't which is weird b/c I see the files but when I go to "start" downloading, says no files found. Am I missing something here??

Hi Newbie09,

I don't know, but I plan to get a 2GB card on my next visit to the camera store, probably tomorrow, and I'll let you know what I find. Are the files on the card in a supported format?

Indeed, strange limitation 2Gb. I hope some software update releases it. We should check what SD card capacity is supported by W212 command.

That would be difficult, I read they have gone back to PCMCIA interface and we have not found any big enough SD HC card that would not work with that.

I'm afraid the question is about SD versus SD HC support and I'm not expecting a SW updated fix that.

I bought a 16GB SD loaded it up with tons of music then wondered why it wouldn’t play. lol
The 2GB is really small and the 4GB registry is small too.

Has anyone tried using a large portable hardrive yet? I have one and i would rather use it than to buy an IPOD.