B8 SD card prep

[hoju99]

What file folder setup do you have to have when using SD cards in a new A4?
do you need to create playlists or does it pick up the songs from within the folders?

ta :beerchug:

[belly buster]

What file folder setup do you have to have when using SD cards in a new A4?
do you need to create playlists or does it pick up the songs from within the folders?

ta :beerchug:
Create a folder structure but with a max of 4 top level folders, you can't access any folders beyond the 4th folder.

BB

[hoju99]

Create a folder structure but with a max of 4 top level folders, you can't access any folders beyond the 4th folder.

BB
So if i add 4 "artist" folders then put "album" folders within will that work ok?
Any playlists req?

[belly buster]

So if i add 4 "artist" folders then put "album" folders within will that work ok?
Any playlists req?

Yes that will work fine. Not sure about playlists I didn't need one.

[HotChip]

Create a folder structure but with a max of 4 top level folders, you can't access any folders beyond the 4th folder.

BB

I'm pretty sure that all my top level folders are the artists, therefore I have a lot more than 4 folders and mine works fine???

Hoju99, if you want your tracks within an album folder to play in the album order then check out my advice on the previous SD cards thread.

[browellm]

All you need to remember about the SD cards is they support ID3 tags, so if your songs and albums are tagged correctly, you'll get the correct info on screen and the correct play order.

For file management it's easiest to go Artist top level, followed by album as already suggested.

The 4 levels refers to *folder depth*. E.g. the scheme above has 2 levels. If you nest greater than 4 deep it won't see the proper structure.

[hoju99]

My MP3's are stored as follows:
Artist\Album\01 Track title.mp3
Artist\Album\02 Track title.mp3

with the correct info in the ID3 tags,should be ok?

[digigriffin]

Here is the way I prepared my SD card.

I used iTunes to make my mp3, which I happen to do for my iPod anyway.

Mount the SD card on pc.
Copy the folder structure onto the the SD card from the iTunes library

To make the m3u

I created the playlists in iTunes.

I downloaded this software that will export your playlists from itunes to m3u.

http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/

edit playlist to remove path to itunes library with text editor.

Copy playlist to SD card.

SD card and playlists now ready for use.

[HighwayTG]

Here is the way I prepared my SD card.

I used iTunes to make my mp3, which I happen to do for my iPod anyway.

Mount the SD card on pc.
Copy the folder structure onto the the SD card from the iTunes library

To make the m3u

I created the playlists in iTunes.

I downloaded this software that will export your playlists from itunes to m3u.

http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/

edit playlist to remove path to itunes library with text editor.

Copy playlist to SD card.

SD card and playlists now ready for use.


life was much easier when you only had to press the record button whilst listening to the top 40 chart show on Radio 1 :1zhelp:

[digigriffin]

Whilst it may sound long winded to get the mp3's and playlist onto an sd card it really is simple and easy to do once you are setup.

The use of the SD card for capacity and ease of use in new b8 has probably made the 6CD changer I paid to upgrade to, redundant without every having played a CD.

[RichardCranium]

Finally got my SD cards sorted out. Bought 2 2gb cards but forgot to buy a USB reader. got one from Tesco for less than a tenner.

Is it me, or is the sound quality through the SD card better than the CD player?

[neilb]

The SD card has made the CD player redundent in my car, simply because in CD mode all I get is text on the screen saying "track 1" "track 2" etc.. and on the SD card I get all the track and folder names listed!

nlb.

[RichardCranium]

i've got track data when using the CD. if its a copy, i think it depends on how it was burnt. some of my more recent originals have track data too

[digigriffin]

I have just tried the new Coldplay Viva La Viva and on CD it only show CD 1 and track 1, track 2 etc no track details.

I ripped this with itunes as aiff, which gathered all the track names off the internet and burnt a new CD ensuring the burning preferences 'Include CD Text' was checked.

So end to end about a 15 minute operation.

The new CD now shows the CD name and all the track names as I hoped it would.

So this means doing this for any CD I want to play or just making mp3's and using the SD card if you want all the track details.

[RichardCranium]

I tried the same principle with the most recent REM CD. All track data is there on screen. I guiess it depends on how the disc is produced

Now got 30 albums on 1 2gb SD card. keep me going for a bit.
Hopefully my son will get me the new Coldplay album for Fathers Day, and not the Mr Lazy T-Shirt he wanted to buy!!

[browellm]

CD-Text is largely a Sony/Columbia initiative so on pre-recorded discs, only a small subset will normally have it.

Most CD burning software has CD-Text enabled by default and the titles are embedded by querying freedb or similar.

[Plife]

Is there a size limit to the SD cards that work?

[digigriffin]

The manual says 2GB but I have not tried anything larger myself

[Plife]

The manual says 2GB but I have not tried anything larger myself
Thanks - seeing as you can pick 2GB cards up for around a tenner, a few won't break the bank!

[Gibbo123]

Thanks - seeing as you can pick 2GB cards up for around a tenner, a few won't break the bank!

There's a thread about SD cards elsewhere in the forum that you might want to take a look at (I would put in a link to it but I don't know how! :Blush2:)

As far as buying the cards goes, I suggest that you take a look at 7dayshop.com. So long as you're not in a rush - stuff takes 7 days to get to you (hence the name, i guess) - they have some great prices. Just bought 3 branded 2GB SD cards for £21 inc delivery.

[RichardCranium]

i got mine from memoryking.co.uk They are Integral 2gb. £5.95 each and free postage. Took ages to come because they were out of stock. Hardly surprising at that price

[belly buster]

Just to come full circle on my max 4 top level folders at the start of this thread - this was rubbish. I had 10 folders but only 4 came up because (unbeknown to me at time) the other folders only had m4p files (itunes protected files) which of course would not be recognised. Now I've got it sorted out all the folders are there and it is a real joy.

Agree totally, CD/multi-CD is redundant now. SD is the the future.

Is there an option somewhere to get the Shuffle mode to "stick" between trips?

[jcb]

can you use the new SD HC cards or will it only read the older SD cards ?

[RichardCranium]

can you use the new SD HC cards or will it only read the older SD cards ?


Only SD, and i think only upto 2gb

[pauldoherty]

Hi all, I agree that the SD function is fantastic - the only downside is the 2GB limit. I bought a 4Gig SD and it didn't work - it is actually slightly thicker than the 2GB and nearly got stuck!

As for the 2GB, I bought 2 brand new from Ebay for less than £8 delivered - unbeatable!

As for putting the tracks on - I think this thread has made it sound a bit more complicated than it is. If you basically open your SD in one window, then 'my music' or wherever your music is on your pc; you then just drag and drop complete albums as they are in their folders from one to the other.

The only thing that I have noticed is the tagging of tracks - Once the track is played the first time the track name will then become fixed until you remove the SD card again. I have noticed that if your track name is too long, then it seems to use the last few words on it - on some downloads this could simply be 'track 1', etc., and therefore you are left with numbers instead of names. A pain in the A@S but easily fixed by editing the track name on your PC.

If anyone has any joy with a particular brand of SD with a larger capacity working, please let me know.

[Satch]

I have dragged and dropped my songs from i tunes which didn't work. Although they did show up on the SD card.
I'm told that they are in the wrong format.

1. How do I change them
2. I'm over 40 so go easy on the high tech language please
3. No it's not Country and Western music I'm putting on

[pauldoherty]

I can only assume that they are in the wrong format - the system can only read files in MP3 or WMA (those compressed by Windows). If you right click on one of your files as an example and then left click on 'properties', it will tell you what format it is - let me know and this could be a good starting point.

there could be a few issues - wrong format, quality too high (bitrate -128kb/s works fine), copyright issues (if the files have been bast@@dized by ITunes).

No point totally confusing the issue - just check a few of your songs' properties and we'll look at it from there.

[digigriffin]

With itunes ensure that you encode them as mp3.
Any other format will not work.

This is in the preferences under advanced and importing I seem to remember.

I use vbr as an option for mp3 as well.

If you have imported as some other format in itunes highlight the songs and check the menus, I seem to remember a convert to to mp3 option.
This may not be from all formats though.

[shannei]

2g biggest you can use tried 8gb sd hc card no joy might be a way of formatting it to 4 x 2gb folders ?
however i have 500 of the greatest rock songs on my 2gb sd card and still going strong.
any idea how i get to th econnections at the back as i have an io player to try and fit
thanks

[tomtom20]

The SD card slot for music is very good, however I use Windows Media Player to store and playback my tracks. Simply Syncing the SD card with that and copying over the play lists does not mean they are in the order you have them, nor in the play lists you have them on W.M.P. It took some time to figure out, but I have created folders on the computer, and named them as 'types' such as Rock, Dance etc and within these put associated music files. In order to keep them in order, I prefixed each track with a number 1,2,3 and so on. This means the Audi will cut off the number prefix, but keep the tracks in that order, and the folders I can then select depending what mood I am in. Note if you have a folder tree more than 4 deep it will only 'see' the first 4 in the car. But really a great boon, no need to carry CD's in the car and for cheap SD cards have a look at www.mymemory.co.uk they are based in Jersey, free postage and you save big compared to the high street. Don't get more than 2GB, as this is the maximum the car can read from.

[Kojak]

Here is the way I prepared my SD card.

I used iTunes to make my mp3, which I happen to do for my iPod anyway.

Mount the SD card on pc.
Copy the folder structure onto the the SD card from the iTunes library

To make the m3u

I created the playlists in iTunes.

I downloaded this software that will export your playlists from itunes to m3u.

http://www.ericdaugherty.com/dev/itunesexport/

edit playlist to remove path to itunes library with text editor.

Copy playlist to SD card.

SD card and playlists now ready for use.

Ditto..an excellent solution
But now the latest download lets you export the itunes playlist and MP3's with one click onto the SD card and it does all the file paths at the same time so you don't have to touch it.
Result?
Play list shows on screen, select any song or leave on shuffle etc, etc the MMI finds it...no editing involved.
The only issue now is converting protected AAC files in iTunes to MP3's.