USB always on

[Mike41]

HI

Sorry if this has already been covered - my quick search didn't reveal anything. Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the mmi USB socket when the car is powered down?

I've just moved my dash cam from the power socket to the usb port and realised it doesn't turn off :(

[Splash]

Apologies for the schadenfreude but that's great news for those of us who've been used to having permanent accessory power in the C6 or other cars, only to find that it had been designed out in the C7. Thank you for enlightening me and sorry I can't suggest anything "automatic".

There are cleverer folk than me out there - I couldn't find my 12V boot socket the other day and I didn't want to disturb the dog by rummaging so moved my C6 close enough to pump up the trailer tyres. :) Funny how something really useful in one car becomes a PITA when you can't use it the same way as before in your new one...

[B6Andy101]

At least you have a USB. My Face lift Black Edition has the old style AMI Cable set up.
Some have twin USB's others AMI Leads. Not sure what differentiates this - mine doesn't have Tech Pack - I think this is the driver.

[Splash]

Damn you Andy. You've just reminded me that this is what I have too, but long ago I plugged an old HDD into the AMI's USB adaptor. There's too many tracks on it to upload to the onboard Tech Pack HDD and that would mean improving the bitrate just to fill the space for the relatively few tracks allowed. Who needs quality at 180 BPM anyway? Audi's fixation with Apple devices (that I shall never own, nor want to) overcomplicated something very simple. My 12V socket has a USB adaptor, but that socket's switched.

Now I remember why I've never left my phone to charge...

[ukgroucho]

There's too many tracks on it to upload to the onboard Tech Pack HDD and that would mean improving the bitrate just to fill the space for the relatively few tracks allowed. Who needs quality at 180 BPM anyway?

Hmm OK without wishing to start a religious war on music ripping here... you can get "quite a lot" onto the HDD jukebox providing it's ripped at an "appropriate" bitrate. There is plenty of analysis available online that indicates that "most" people cannot detect any improvement / difference in music quality at bit rates higher than 192kbps to 224kbps (it varies a bit depending on the type of music - and this assumes a "first generation" rip, so directly from original lossless source).
For portable devices I have a library ripped at 192 - 224kbps - so I aim for 'good' quality but keep the size down. I figure that in the less than perfect listening environment that a car represents then the environment is probably going to be the biggest influence. With that sample ratio I got most of my music collection onto the jukebox. If I'm pragmatic I could delete a load of stuff that I simply don't listen to in the car - we tend to be creatures of habit and select the same stuff.... (as a side note.. on long haul flights I've taken to sticking my completely stuffed 16Gb iPod nano in 'shuffle' mode so I hear some of the tracks I just would not normally select).

Anyway I guess that my point is that for the core of music that you would probably select for listening in the car - and with an appropriate bitrate - I'm optimistic you could get it onto the HDD - and supplement with playing new stuff off SD cards until you decide you want it onboard and then delete something and move the new stuff in. Of course you might have a gazillion albums and eclectic music taste in which case no amount of work is gonna make it fit.

[Hellodave.]

HI

Sorry if this has already been covered - my quick search didn't reveal anything. Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the mmi USB socket when the car is powered down?

I've just moved my dash cam from the power socket to the usb port and realised it doesn't turn off :(
Have you checked if there's a delay before it switches off? I'm pretty sure mine stays on for a few minutes but turns off eventually, probably in sync with the MMI.

The MMI takes 30-ish seconds to boot up so it powers on as soon as you unlock the car; that means in most cases it's ready to go as soon as you are. I wonder if it stays on for a while after you stop the car for a similar reason - it's ready to go if you decide to drive off again straight away.

Logically it doesn't make sense to keep the AMI powered up all the time. The MMI will be switched off so it's not in use, and if a phone was left plugged in for a long period it would stay charging which is going to drain the battery.

[Splash]

Hmm OK without wishing to start a religious war on music ripping here... you can get "quite a lot" onto the HDD jukebox providing it's ripped at an "appropriate" bitrate. There is plenty of analysis available online that indicates that "most" people cannot detect any improvement / difference in music quality at bit rates higher than 192kbps to 224kbps (it varies a bit depending on the type of music - and this assumes a "first generation" rip, so directly from original lossless source).
For portable devices I have a library ripped at 192 - 224kbps - so I aim for 'good' quality but keep the size down. I figure that in the less than perfect listening environment that a car represents then the environment is probably going to be the biggest influence. With that sample ratio I got most of my music collection onto the jukebox. If I'm pragmatic I could delete a load of stuff that I simply don't listen to in the car - we tend to be creatures of habit and select the same stuff.... (as a side note.. on long haul flights I've taken to sticking my completely stuffed 16Gb iPod nano in 'shuffle' mode so I hear some of the tracks I just would not normally select).

Anyway I guess that my point is that for the core of music that you would probably select for listening in the car - and with an appropriate bitrate - I'm optimistic you could get it onto the HDD - and supplement with playing new stuff off SD cards until you decide you want it onboard and then delete something and move the new stuff in. Of course you might have a gazillion albums and eclectic music taste in which case no amount of work is gonna make it fit.
I have the "Hungry Horse" mentality, and much like my favourite restaurant I'm happy with quantity over quality, providing of course that the menu caters for my proudly philistine tastes.

Given that I can't stream anything at home in excess of about 196kbps I'm happy with that as a ceiling for the quality on my mobile devices. In fact my Sonos NAS contains about 22,000 tracks ripped from some of my CDs as 64k WMA and 128k mp3 for compatibility with Brennan and other devices. You can imagine how long it took to upload some to Google Music and Amazon Music at my paltry upload speeds (0.05kbps at last test)! Amazon's AutoRip feature is a nice bonus as I only buy physical media but often the CD has arrived before the content has downloaded! Well nearly...

I play virtually everything on "shuffle" interspersed with some radio. I can only get BBC DAB stations at home so its a true discovery to get in the car and hear Kiss(tory) etc. and reminds me of that feeling when Channel 4 launched and we were all spoilt for choice. I've also discovered the delights of "throwing" some internet stuff from my phone to the car on longer journeys as the phone is more tolerant of low bitrate streams than the Sonos at home, so I couldn't justify a Last.fm/Deezer/Spotify etc subscription to feed me filtered randomness like I enjoy from Fréquence 3 - The French Hit Webradio from Paris! (http://www.frequence3.fr)

I did consider re-ripping all my "Best Of....s" at higher rates for uploading to the car, but its easier to connect the HDD I use as a library backup and after the first time-consuming handshake its good to go. Solid state would be better.

I bought a £20 Intempo Rebel a few years ago which uses Popcatcher software to record to SD (or MMC, hoo ;)). It's a great concept, but never took off, and even the PopBot app was flaky when it worked. It filtered the speech from FM or internet broadcasts but unfortunately its memory was about 34 tracks comfortably fitting on 128Mb SD cards and you get bored of them before the system's had chance to significantly update the rolling cache. DRM aside, wouldn't it be great if someone could hack the Audi Entertainment System to do the same (even in the background like TI broadcasts)...

[ukgroucho]

OK somewhat off topic but to comment on your Sonos stuff.
I have a Netgear ReadyNas NV+ (4 disk adaptive RAID), currently set up with 2.7Tb of disk space, and Logitech Squeezebox duet with a couple of "receivers" plus the handset. The Squeezebox app runs on PCs but uniquely they also offer for ReadyNas so it just runs in the background there without needing a PC running. It will stream pretty much anything from the music library on the NAS... including raw formats. It's also an internet radio which helps as my wife likes Absolute radio and DAB reception here was dodgy for a long time.

[Splash]

Well I'm a bit of a hypocrite because as much as I hate Apple for similar reasons, I've tied myself in to Sonos ever more over the past decade. In fact I've just got a couple of the LE "Blue Note" speakers for the young 'uns. Don't tell them if you see them. If you like Jazz (I don't) you're welcome to the curated Jazz subscription if I can unbundle it and if its compatible. I won't know until next month's birthday. Sonos allows each unit in the mesh network to act as a WiFi repeater for authorised devices. I don't know how secure it is (a relative term in these backwaters), but it's handy with thick walls etc.

Anyway, we digress. Let's continue next time we meet up.

Still want permanent power though - USB or otherwise...(well recovered). ;)

[ukgroucho]

Still want permanent power though - USB or otherwise...(well recovered). ;)

Indeed good recovery... and agreed. I REALLY miss that feature on the C6 where you had live 12V outlets all the time. I used to use it for charging all kinds of stuff that USB would not even make a dent in... and the battery was big enough to shoulder the burden easily. PLUS I could actually get to the battery meter on my C6 (I know we could not find it on your C6 Splash... something to do with my old C6 being MMI High I think). Sad that using VCDS we were unable to activate it in the allroad...

[A6S]

To answer the original question. It's on a time delay. Not sure how long but it does switches off. Left my phone plenty of times in my car and it starts charging as soon as I unlock and open the door meaning it switches off at some point.

Usb sockets are only available on the mmi high with Audi connect. So if you didn't get this it's the old ami cable.

as for ripping CDs direct. There was a court ruling not that long ago in usa that it was technically infringing copyright rules so the feature was turned off, I'm sure it can be turned on in vcds somewhere. It lets you copy from sd cards as you would have been the one infringing these rules and not the Audi system itself so liability is yours and not Audi.