Another Radio Question
 

We are awaiting our new 2014 GLK250. Except for a trailer hitch, we are getting the base car. As I understand it, we will get the standard radio - I think I read somewhere that it is called an Audio 20 CD.

Questions:
- Can anyone confirm that the base radio with single CD player will play CDs with MP3s? (I read that earlier models would not)
- Has anyone added an input socket to standard radio that will allow auxiliary input from either an external player or a USB or SD stick?
- I have a Blackberry Playbook and a GPS/MP3 both with Bluetooth capability. Should I be able to use those for music via Bluetooth?

Any other suggestions for adding tunes for long trips welcomed!

According to the BW site, the CD player is MP3 compatible.

I just tried to connect my Playbook and it wouldn't via Bluetooth. It seems as if the BT will only connect to phones, not any BT device.

I have a BlackBerry Torch 9810 and when it is connected via Bluetooth, I can use it to listen to music which is on the phone's SD card. I'm not sure if it would work on any GLK as I have the Media inteface which came with the Premium package. :nix:

You might search around in the center arm rest console when you take delivery. Some owners are finding a 3.5mm jack there and may connect the the AUX in the Audio 20.

Enjoy your new car ... I certainly am with mine :cheers:

My 2010 radio plays CDs comprised of MP3 music.

USB Audio port is listed as a standard feature. You may only have control from the device itself, and not from the system, but you should be able to connect with USB to play audio.

Yes, it does.

Sorry, I don't know about the other questions.

Where did you find that listed as a standard feature? The standard equipment list for my car (not yet delivered) does not mention that. Hope you are right!

Thanks to all for the responses. Glad to hear the CD will play MP3s. That should work for us. If there is an input port, so much the betetr!

mbusa.com If you go to the site you can "explore" the vehicle. The features are compartmentalized but if you scroll down there is a section on audio/entertainment. There is an option on the right to show all, which basically opens a complete(ish) list of standard and optional features. I did a screen grab so you know you're in the right spot, but not sure that the filetype will work below. Anyhow, while there I noticed that bluetooth audio streaming is also listed as standard so you should have everything you need. I know all of this because I spent an embarrassing amount of time researching what was standard and not on this car before we ordered our 2014 250. Should be arriving in port in about 2 days! Happy listening.

Thanks - Being in Canada, I checked out the MBCanada site. It was not easy to find, but eventually found the info below.

Truthfully, I am surprised it has all those features.

What do they mean by telephone keypad? Is that a physical keyboard or touchscreen?

And how about the USB interface. What exactly do they mean by that? Is that the cable that is in console box that I saw on premium model demo. If so, could I plug in a USB stick with tunes on it?

There are physical buttons: 0-9, *, and #. In addition to inputting phone numbers, they also serve as the radio preset keys and can be used for other things like numbers in navigation addresses. Also, a tip that not a lot of people seem to know... when listening to music and the song info is too long to display all of it on the screen or if you're on a non-music screen (like the map), press and hold the # button. It will pop up info about the current song.

There's a USB port in the center console. I believe you can use a USB stick and play music off it as long as the files are supported by the car's radio (MP3 is but some other types might not be).

No map on Base radio I am getting (Audio 20 CD ). Do the other comments hold for base radio?

Yes.

USB Music
 

I have about 8GB of music copied from iTunes onto a flash drive. I get some album artwork, but not for every song. Not sure why, since they are there in iTunes. Would love to know how to insure that each track displays album artwork.

I just keep it on random play and enjoy. The "random" is slightly annoying as it tends to play many of the same songs frequently. It's not a big deal, just wished is randomized all tracks and didn't repeat until every one has played. Sound quality is good, considering it is the base system.

BT audio does not display album artwork, to my knowledge.