MLRLINCOLN

HAVE 2011 E 350. NO USB CONNECTON IN GLOVE BOX.

WOULD LIKE TO DOWNLOAD MP3'S FROM FLASH STICK.

HAS ANYONE ELSE DONE THIS?

mnje350

MB will sell you an adapter that plugs into the same socket in the glovebox that the standard Ipod connector plugs in to. Simply unplug the one that came with the car and plug in the one you bought from MB. The run about 50 bucks. If they dealer does not have it in stock they can get it in a about a week.

I did this and it works like a charm. However, you do not down load the data from them memory stick. Rather, the command system reads the memory stick and treats it as aux media. Plays MP3s from the stick just fine and displays the directory structure that you created when you copied the data to the USB stick.

listerone

+1....just bought one ($55?...yikes!) and it does work like a charm.Also,I think I've read somewhere (here?...elsewhere?) that you *can* download music to the vehicle's hard drive from this cable.

peeta123

in canada it comes with the car

mnje350

Wow, I would like to download to the HD if possible. I spent months loading CD's to the hard drive and I would like to be able to easily rewrite it from a download. I hate the thought of a hard disc crash as well. How do you back up the the system?

Anybody know how to do either of these things?

grane

Idea: Copy CDs to computer in highest possible quality mode, create the play list on the computer, burn/upsample to DVD-R(s) and then download. Then you have two backups and a portable source. The DVD-R that holds a heck of a lot more than a CD as you know.

From the computer, you MAY also be burn the music to a portable 1 TB Seagate HD that uses both MAC and NTFS on the fly and connects/and is possibly powered by the MB with USB 2, 3 and Firewire. Transfer the music from the Seagate HD through the ipod USB adapter - this gives you another backup and source, perhaps.

PM me if you want more info. Include the system(s) you are using since I did not know the MBs now had hard-drives.

Is there an MB manual online for this audio system? Can someone send me the link?

Why bother to download low fi MP3s when you might be able to have DVD-A quality music?

BudC

The COMAND Manual is under 2010 Owner's Manuals.

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servic...owners_manuals

dariusf

Let me clarify a few things if I may

You can't copy CDs to a computer, you can extract the audio as WAV and encode it in to some compression format. Not sure 100% but I think COMMAND might only understand MP3, might be wrong here as I have not looked at it yet. There are many levels of MP3 quality you can use when you encode. I like 320kbps CBR (constant bit rate) using EAC to extract and lame to encode.

You can't upsample the sound quality when you burn to a DVD, all you are doing is burning the encoded files in what ever quality they are on to the media, DVD-R in your case.

I'm a bit confused here with MAC and NTFS? What do you mean by MAC? You mean HFS file system used my Mac computers? I would think COMMAND needs FAT to be able to read the drive. Not sure if the USB connection provided by MB will have power to run external hard drive. There is no FireWire option on the MB. Hardly anything now days uses it. Also there is an indication that COMMAND does not allow to copy files threw the USB connection, only play them back.

Simply burning audio tracks in to a DVD will not magically give you a DVD-Audio quality. DVD-Audio like SACD is a higher-fidelity audio recording by using a higher bit depths and sample rates. A DVD-Audio disc may contain a 96 kHz/24-bit 5.1-channel audio track or/and 192 kHz/24-bit stereo etc. That is what gives higher sound fidelity over the red book (CD) 44.1kHz/16bit. You have to start with high-fidelity audio. There are also very few tools available to allow one to extract and copy the sound at that quality to another format white maintaining the same quality/resolution and limited playback options.

MB500

Would anyone happen to have part number for the USB cable? My parts guys at MB Escondido haven't heard of it (go figure...).

BM2BZ

mb500, if you can wait, i could possibly save you over $50. i bought a 3.5mm to usb female converter but haven't received it yet. if it works, the cable is only $3 from ebay. however, if you can't wait, you can also find the oem cable set from ebay for around $50. i mean cable set because it comes with three individual cables: usb, ipod and 3.5mm.

Arrie

Go to your dealer and look at the accessories booklet. The USB cable is there and amazingly it is not listed in MB parts computer system for E class. I bought it and the bag it comes in has all cars listed what it is made for and the E class is the first one on this list. Works well.

konigstiger

Media Interface USB cable part # 2048270304 (see page 12 & 22) – MSRP $65

http://www.mbusa.com/vcm/MB/DigitalA...s_brochure.pdf

MB500

Thank you all for your insight!

tjkaz

You might want to give this a try to save some money. Couldn't find any compatibility notes, but would think that MB only used one connector for the MM interface. If it doesn't work, Amazon has a great return policy.

BM2BZ

i think this will work but it's $30 for one. some guys on ebay have 3 different oem ones for around $50 or a bit more. you can put the other two back up on ebay if you don't want them.

BM2BZ

ok, update of my own post. that friggin' 3.5mm to usb female converter cable doesn't work. waited two long weeks and wasted my whooping $2.98 . don't want to order the ipod usb converter/adapter and go through this whole process again. maybe just stick w/ipod. want to plug in a portable hard drive, though .

btw, burnt some mp3 to a dvd+rw but showed unreadable. do you guys have any ideas ?

also, if i do get the usb female adapter for ipod which i can plug in the cable that came with the car in the glove box. do you think it's workable if i plug either a usb flash drive or portable hard drive w/tons of mp3's ?