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So recently I've had the chance to try the USB/MP3 playback features in several
different car entertainment systems (ie, stereos). And, across the board, the
results have been underwhelming. Anyone else had similar experiences?
This last weekend, we rented a Toyota Corolla. The silly thing would only play 1
song, then stop. We'd have to manually select each song. I looked online, the
only thing I came across is the player got confused by some of the tags --
removing metadata from the song files would resolve the issue. For reals?!
We had better things to do with the car, so I didn't bother testing the
suggested workaround.
On all units I've used, there is no 'seamless playback' -- there's an audible
break between each song (most annoying when listening to live albums). This is
an issue that was addressed over a decade ago in the MP3 format standards!
The Kenwood aftermarket unit in my car will display album art - but only from
meta-data tags embedded in the song files. It doesn't look for the a folder.jpg
image in the folder alongside song files, or any of the other typical schemes
for storing album art as separate files.
Also, the Kenwood can read a 64Gb flash drive -- but it only handles 250
folders, and 5000 songs. So I can really only fill that 64Gb drive about half
full - unless I start ripping albums as single MP3 files. Which would lead to my
whinging about lack of support for intra-file track marking (ie, CUE sheets).
Anyway, I felt like ranting about something that probably no one else gives a
rip about, and I couldn't think of a better place to do it than
lugnet.off-topic.fun.
Thanks for reading, and post your comments below the jump!
-- Steve
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, "Steve Bliss" <steve.bliss@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Anyway, I felt like ranting about something that probably no one else gives a
> rip about, and I couldn't think of a better place to do it than
> lugnet.off-topic.fun.
>
> Thanks for reading, and post your comments below the jump!
"below the jump" ?? I see what you did there.
Car electronics in general are not as seamlessly integrated as they could be. I
think that's because of the captive market aspect, and because electronics are
"nice to have"... your buy decision isn't going to make or break on how well the
electronics integrate... it's going to be on crash test results, mileage,
expected reliability, etc...
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, "Larry Pieniazek"
<lar(at@at)miltontrainworks(dot.dot)com> wrote:
> Car electronics in general are not as seamlessly integrated as they could be. I
> think that's because of the captive market aspect, and because electronics are
> "nice to have"... your buy decision isn't going to make or break on how well the
> electronics integrate... it's going to be on crash test results, mileage,
> expected reliability, etc...
Good point.
My suspicion is that MP3 playback via CD-R or USB device is considered old and
boring, and doesn't get much attention during development of the systems.
However, one of the units with issues is the after-market Kenwood that I got
after my car's CD player died. You'd hope the aftermarket a/v companies would
have a higher standard for their product.
--Steve
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