MP3 Disc Playback
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 301
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From: Atlanta
2004 S55
MP3 Disc Playback
I know that US 2004 S and CL nav systems can play MP3 CDs in the front slot. Has anyone tried playing MP3 CDs from the changer? How about playing MP3 DVD-R/+R discs in the front slot? Any input would be appreciated.
Jeff
Jeff
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 301
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta
2004 S55
Well, I guess I answered one of my own questions. I had prepared a CD case with a variety of test discs and I unexpectedly went by the dealership today as they had something I wanted to pickup. Here's what I can confirm:
Front Slot Tests:
CD-Text Support: Yes
CD MP3 playback Support: Yes
DVD Video Playback Support: Partial (audio only - video is not displayed and instead a message letting you know that it is not displayed so that it won't distract the driver)
DVD Audio Playback Support: Doubtful - the system seems to treat it like a regular DVD-V disc which is possible as the only DVD-A discs I had are multi-format (they contain both DVD-A material and DVD-V material with a DD soundtrack specifically so that they can be played back on a DVD player that doesn't support DVD-A)
DTS CD Playback Support: No - These CDs were early versions of mutli-channel audio prior to DVD-A and SACD
24/96 Digital Audio Disc DAD Playback Support: Yes - Another precursor to DVD-A and SACD except that this format was stereo only but had higher than CD resolution
DVD MP3 Playback Support: YES!
This last one surprised me. I say that because while many home DVD players now support MP3 CD playback, they won't support MP3 DVD playback (the only difference being that the MP3 files are on a burned DVD rather than CD because the DVD has many times the storage capacity of a CD). I created the disc using a Mac Powerbook with a SuperDrive and iTunes. I created a test disc with few hundred songs (255 in this case for a total of 971MB) using iTunes' MP3 CD mode (this mode only allows the export of MP# files - no AAC, AA content, etc). The system seemed to identify the disc as an MP3 CD and while it took a little while to read the disc (my guess was that it was loading the song titles into it's display memory), all the songs were accesible and the ones I tested played just fine.
That's good news for MP3 fans as 4.7GB will hold quite a few songs. Additionally, with dual-layer home burners expected later this year, you'll be able to store twice the capacity on a single side of one DVD. At 9.4GB, that would be enough to hold my entire MP3 collection.
Sorry for the geeky details folks, I have a sad life.
Front Slot Tests:
CD-Text Support: Yes
CD MP3 playback Support: Yes
DVD Video Playback Support: Partial (audio only - video is not displayed and instead a message letting you know that it is not displayed so that it won't distract the driver)
DVD Audio Playback Support: Doubtful - the system seems to treat it like a regular DVD-V disc which is possible as the only DVD-A discs I had are multi-format (they contain both DVD-A material and DVD-V material with a DD soundtrack specifically so that they can be played back on a DVD player that doesn't support DVD-A)
DTS CD Playback Support: No - These CDs were early versions of mutli-channel audio prior to DVD-A and SACD
24/96 Digital Audio Disc DAD Playback Support: Yes - Another precursor to DVD-A and SACD except that this format was stereo only but had higher than CD resolution
DVD MP3 Playback Support: YES!
This last one surprised me. I say that because while many home DVD players now support MP3 CD playback, they won't support MP3 DVD playback (the only difference being that the MP3 files are on a burned DVD rather than CD because the DVD has many times the storage capacity of a CD). I created the disc using a Mac Powerbook with a SuperDrive and iTunes. I created a test disc with few hundred songs (255 in this case for a total of 971MB) using iTunes' MP3 CD mode (this mode only allows the export of MP# files - no AAC, AA content, etc). The system seemed to identify the disc as an MP3 CD and while it took a little while to read the disc (my guess was that it was loading the song titles into it's display memory), all the songs were accesible and the ones I tested played just fine.
That's good news for MP3 fans as 4.7GB will hold quite a few songs. Additionally, with dual-layer home burners expected later this year, you'll be able to store twice the capacity on a single side of one DVD. At 9.4GB, that would be enough to hold my entire MP3 collection.
Sorry for the geeky details folks, I have a sad life.
