Audi Sat Nav question?

[s-line stu]

Just put a deposit on a B7 2.0TDI S-Line which has sat nav in it.

Picking it up on Tuesday evening but noticed that the govebox looks as if it has had a CD changer in which has been removed.

As I understand it the CD behind the sat nav screen contains the Nav maps DVD so does this play normal CD's to or is it a case of the nav not working if there is a audio CD in?

 

[BahnStormer77]

NAV will NOT work if you put a CD in there... HOWEVER there should be 2 x SD card slots next to the DVD.... note there are some quirks and limitations as to how you can use them, but essentially stick to 2Gb/4Gb SD cards (note NOT SDHC cards) and use Ben's RNS-E manager software and you'll be fine.

last time I checked, 4Gb SD (non-SDHC) cards were £7.50 each from picstop and delivered in about 2 days

it is worth pointing out that there's a cap of about 400 songs on the file table that the RNS-E unit will read, so you're going to run into the 400 songs limit way before you use up the capacity on the 4Gb card: unless all your songs are recorded at 320kbps, or you're a Pink Flloyd fan

edit:

benw123

Moderator


Re: RNS-E manager software?
Hi mate,

It is still available for download, although I haven't updated it in around 2 years! Go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/rnse-mp3-mgr/. It works on all Windows variants except Vista. Unfortunately I lost interest in the project, despite trying to drum up interest and feedback from other users. I might get back to it one day because there was loads more I wanted to do.

If you do download it let me know what you think. The folder and filenames mustn't exceed 64 characters if memory serves, and the application handles this for you.

Cheers,

Ben

It is worth noting that the application only checks that there is sufficient disc space on the SD card and does NOT check how many tracks are there already, so you can add tracks that are not accessible from the RNS-E.

It is also as flakey as all hell (seems to crash on some PC's if you have very new SD card reader drivers, or if you use the "sort" funtion) - but once you work out the few things that are guaranteed to crash it, it is VERY useful!

 

[BahnStormer77]

hit the open button to get to the SD card and DVD....

SD card clearly visible and just press to release/eject...

To get to MP3 playback... go to CD/TV, then choose source (presented with TV/CD/MP3) and then to browse within the MP3's press "Drive":

If you have no M3U files setup, then it will jsut give you: "Card1" and "Card2"

If you use the correct ID3 tag version and formatting (i.e. via BenW's software), then it will list all the playlists on this screen.... if no M3U's then you have to browse through the file lists.

Top tip: place all the M3U's in the root and NOT in each music folder as speeds up loading the SD cards....

And you can then choose whether you view the file name or SD track name.... which is also displayed on the DIS:

(and you can also scroll through the MP3's using the fwd/back buttons or scroll wheel, depending on the steering controls)

 

[s-line stu]

Thanks Guy's that's really helpful. I'll have to get some SD cards.

 

[BahnStormer77]

ooohhhh... benefit of hindsight.... maybe I need to resize dem pics a LITTLE bit smaller next time?!?

btw - in case I wasn't VERY clear before.... don't even bother with SDHC cards, have to be SD.... most 2Gb or smaller shd be fine.... and the right 4Gb ones....

4Gb Transcend from picstop (now £9) is out of stock.
(This is the one you can see the back of in one of the slots.... I have three of them and half a dozen 2Gb Sandisk UltraII's)

Looks like it's a tenner at Amazon... for about £25 if you want he Sandisk "plus" version (built in USB plug).

I'm subscribed to this thread, so post any more questions here (or PM me if they're VERY speciifc, but might as "well share the love")...

 

[s-line stu]

Thanks Lostbok, I've ordered 2 SD cards Kingston 2 GB (not SDHC) at £5.99 each and a USB reader for £4.49 from Picstop so hopefully I'll get then on Tuesday (went for next day delivery) for when I pick up the car.
Certainly a cheaper option than buying a CD changer and easier than messing about swapping CD's.
Got Ben's software installed on my PC which works ok.

 

[BahnStormer77]

top tip on Ben's software.... don't bother trying to create your entire SD car's worth of files and dumping them all at once, the transfer to SD card funtion only does one m3u and it's playlist at a time... and if you crash the software, you've lost all the lists that you have already. (although you can re-add them by dropping either the folders OR the m3u's in and it will recreate the list.

I use it by just dragging the whole folder (presumably one album) over from explorer into RNS-E and then trasferring to the SD card...

If you want to do playlists that are larger groups of several playlists: copy the files over in their smaller groups and then either prefix the name of the m3u's with a common theme ("Chart"/"Dance"/"Alt") and then the playlists will scroll from one to the next anyway.... or copy one of the playlists, rename it and then append the contents of the other playlists into it. Bear in mind that the second option will eat into your total songs very slightly (total max of about 400 "units" and those are songs+m3u's+folders).

Do NOT create the alternative order / mix of songs in the RNS-E manager and transfer again as it will copy all the music again and REALLY eat into your disc space and total songs...

 

[Steve_B]

Hi,

Can someone post an m3u file which works please, so I can see which format is used? I have Windows 7 so cannot use the mp3manger tool :-(

I am not sure if the RNSE can read the m3u extended format or not. I created a script which will walk my mp3 dirs and create m3u files (extended) for each album... but the RNSE just ignores them. Have tried putting them in the root and in each album sub-folder. Also been fidling with the relative paths but with no sucess either.

Many thanks

 

[BahnStormer77]

you have a PM... I'll e-mail one over as soon as I'm home.

 

[BahnStormer77]

and..... to dig up an old throead: here's something I found in the RNS-E Manual...

SD or MMC memory cards
Both SD and MMC cards can be used as memory
cards.
SD or MMC cards with a storage capacity of 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB
and 256 MB can be used.
The two MP3 card readers were tested with most of the products
available on the market. However, in isolated cases, it is possible
that individual memory cards may not be recognized.
Memory cards must be formatted using the FAT or FAT32 methods.
The file/folder name must not exceed a maximum of 64 characters
in length. Files with longer file/folder names are not played. The file
names for the MP3 files must have the extension “.mp3”.
MPEG-1 layer 3 format is supported by the MP3 player. For
compressing MP3 files, we recommend a bit rate of at least 160
kbits/s. Fixed bit rates of 32-320 kbits/s are supported.
In the case of MP3 files with a variable bit rate, there may be a
discrepancy between play time displayed and the real time.
The maximum number per medium is limited to 400 files and 256
file folders.
If various types of information (artist, album, track name, and so on)
are to be displayed, an ID3 tag must be attached to the MP3 file. The
MP3 player supports Versions 1 and 2 of ID3 tags. The display of
artist and track name is limited to a total of 64 characters maximum.
The Navigation System recognizes playlists and can play MP3 files
in the sequence established there. The structure of the playlists
must conform to

Now some of that we know to be wrong (if you stick to SD, not SDHC, then 4Gb is fine!) and I'm pretty sure that all of mine are recorded in 320kbps Variable... but I guess those are jsut feautres of later software updates... the rest of it should be a decent guideline!

 

[BahnStormer77]

Update: Windows 7 (x64) using the free Microsoft "XP mode" seems to work fine with the RNS-E MP3 manager.... unless you enjoy fiddly OS/compatibility issues, don't even BOTHER with trying to use that software on Vista... even running VirtualPC doesn't seem to like it, but I'm running Windows7-x64 and it's fine in "XP mode"!