mp3 cd skips & Usb fitting

[jack]

I have just been to the Ford dealers about the skipping mp3 cd. Nothing showed up on their system about the problem. He did say if I could get a printout from this forum about the Firmware update, and what the difference is the screens looked like, he would look into it. Basically as much info as possible.

So if anyone can recap on the subject, it would be a great help for me.

I also asked about the post fitting USB. Only one lead showed on the system, but it said 3.5mm jack. It had a picture of it coming out the back of the radio to where the handbrake is. But he was unsure whether it had a usb. He did say that we might need a different head unit. (but if that was the case, a lead with a 3.5mm jack and usb would show up on the system surely)?

Anyway as much info as possible please, maybe some pics of the screen would help (old and new firmware).

Thanks

[FezzaT]

I have just been to the Ford dealers about the skipping mp3 cd. Nothing showed up on their system about the problem. He did say if I could get a printout from this forum about the Firmware update, and what the difference is the screens looked like, he would look into it. Basically as much info as possible.

So if anyone can recap on the subject, it would be a great help for me.

I also asked about the post fitting USB. Only one lead showed on the system, but it said 3.5mm jack. It had a picture of it coming out the back of the radio to where the handbrake is. But he was unsure whether it had a usb. He did say that we might need a different head unit. (but if that was the case, a lead with a 3.5mm jack and usb would show up on the system surely)?

Anyway as much info as possible please, maybe some pics of the screen would help (old and new firmware).

Thanks

Do a quick search on "Stereo Update" on the forum, loads of info, also search for "firmware" should be everything you need in those posts.

[smurfs]

I called in at my local dealer about mp3 skipping and he said if I bring the car in they would plug it into their system and it would identify whether it needed a software update and it would allow them to download it and install it, it would appear it is "car specific" depending on what you had pre-installed. Whilst I was mooching round I looked in the spares dept and the guy there showed me the schematics of the head unit and there is indeed a plug in cable from the head unit to a usb socket and a 3.5mm socket they are all separate items and total cost is around £30 plus vat. All we need now is for someone to give it a try.....

[jack]

That would be great if i could buy a usb lead to connect to the head unit for £30. wouldn't care about the skipping cd player then. The picture on fords PC was a bit like clip art, so I couldn't get a good look. When he clicked on it, it just said 3.5 mm jack? He did say maybe a 3rd party might bring one out at a later date.

[TurboZutek]

That would be great if i could buy a usb lead to connect to the head unit for £30. wouldn't care about the skipping cd player then.

I have some bad news - the head unit uses its own MP3 codec (which was written by a four year old Ugandan boy) to decode the MP3; from CD or USB Thumb Drive.

So it's probably still going to skip.

Chris...

[jack]

Deep Joy! So I/we still need a firmware upgrade(if one exists), Then a block connecter from the back of the head unit to the usb (if one exsits).

Has anyone got a picture of the screen, so I can show the Ford dealer the difference? as he's a bit on the "don't know what you mean".

[smurfs]

I think you are doing your Ugandan friend a disservice, its not the decoder that is causing the skipping but the way the file is read, I used to put about 7 hours of mp3 on cd and about 6 hours in it would start to skip, at that timing we are getting to the outer edge of the cd so it is most likely the way the laser reader is behaving being as the "track" is that much narrower. With a usb being solid state then it shouldn't skip when playing and I am pretty sure nobody has experienced this, I could be wrong though.

[aston]

I dissembled my head unit of mk7 and I can conform that head unit with or with out USB are same on the look, where is no more wires or connectors on head unit with USB. Head unit is used to reproduce sound and all control is done via car main computer because audio font panel, display and head unit are connected via main car computer, not directly. So USB must go directly into car main computer and then to head unit. There is also some version of mk7 audio system in which USB is just hidden and disabled by software. That is my opinion ............

Do not count to much on Ford dealer's they don't know much about mk7 at least not in my country, and as you need to take picture to Ford dealer's to show them difference between head units (which are at look same) that tells me also in your country Ford dealer's don't know much about mk7. That sounds to me very very bad.

Aston

[TurboZutek]

I think you are doing your Ugandan friend a disservice, its not the decoder that is causing the skipping but the way the file is read, I used to put about 7 hours of mp3 on cd and about 6 hours in it would start to skip, at that timing we are getting to the outer edge of the cd so it is most likely the way the laser reader is behaving being as the "track" is that much narrower. With a usb being solid state then it shouldn't skip when playing and I am pretty sure nobody has experienced this, I could be wrong though.

No matter where I put the files on the CD (start, end, middle) they will skip. Same files, same time index - perfectly fine in every other MP3 player I've got (including another car). Further, if this was the case, regular Audio CDs would exhibit the same behaviour towards the outer edge and they do not.

Given that I'm guessing it's the decoder - but it could be anything really! It's all a big fat mess :(

[EzzyRallyBoy]

My CD was skipping my homemade MP3 disc (TDK), sometimes after a few seconds and sometimes after a fair few songs. Original bought CD's were fine, but only have 12 songs not 150 eh

Anyway as they are my favs I perservered until it really T*t*'d me off and switched to Radio or Aux, sadly didn't get the USB option (idiot)

But for the last week, maybe week and a half no skipping at all and its been on for short journeys as well as long journeys, no change of CD, no software or firmware upgrades, could this have fixed itself or am I just in a lucky streak ???

Anyone else found this ??

[hammie]

if i explained to u how to tell tthem how the update is done would this help?

[DONFRAMAC]

if i explained to u how to tell tthem how the update is done would this help?

My friends, who have been downloading (in the past!!), told me that skipping is usually not a problem IF they used a CDR disc, rather than a CDRW, implying that a deeper burn gave an easier read signal. They did, also admit that recordings near the outer edge of the disc, were more prone to skipping.

[irononreverse]

My friends, who have been downloading (in the past!!), told me that skipping is usually not a problem IF they used a CDR disc, rather than a CDRW, implying that a deeper burn gave an easier read signal. They did, also admit that recordings near the outer edge of the disc, were more prone to skipping.

I still get skipping on CDRs but it seems to be anything over about 80 songs.

I've got a few discs under that number and they don't seem to skip.

[sussex]

Took my car in to my local ford dealer, on the phone they said there were aware of the skipping issue and had a fix for it, they said they had done it and I have tested it, it is better, made a cd with 150 tracks and one with 150 tracks in 7 folders and it does still skip but probably 2 songs on each CD which is much better but I am still not happy. I may sound picky but mp3 is not a new or rare file type, nor are making mp3 cd's.

I expect on a car worth 11k that there could be a cd player that could handle mp3 cd's.

also as has been mentioned the way some ford dealers dont know what you mean, some say there is a fix etc its awful.

I asked 3 dealers about the fix. 1 said there were aware and they could do it. 1 said they didnt know anything about it. 1 said we dont know about it but bring it in and we can have a look. Great Ford <_<

[aston]

Skipping issue seems to have something to do with how many MB's is written on CD. In my case skipping starts after 410-440MB which is around of 60% CD total capacity (700MB). I tried CD-R and CD-RWs no difference. Like how someone already said, as laser head getting to the outer edge of the CD skipping will start. I think that number of songs on CD have nothing to do with skipping if you don't pass around 60% of CD total capacity.

That's why we all have different number of songs which are not skipping 60-70-80-90-100. Low quality MP3s will take less CD space and you will be able to record maybe 100 songs on ~400MB, middle quality MP3 you will have around 80 songs on ~400MB and high quality mp3 songs you will have around 50 songs on ~400MB.

Can someone conform all this?

[irononreverse]

Skipping issue seems to have something to do with how many MB's is written on CD. In my case skipping starts after 410-440MB which is around of 60% CD total capacity (700MB). I tried CD-R and CD-RWs no difference. Like how someone already said, as laser head getting to the outer edge of the CD skipping will start. I think that number of songs on CD have nothing to do with skipping if you don't pass around 60% of CD total capacity.

That's why we all have different number of songs which are not skipping 60-70-80-90-100. Low quality MP3s will take less CD space and you will be able to record maybe 100 songs on ~400MB, middle quality MP3 you will have around 80 songs on ~400MB and high quality mp3 songs you will have around 50 songs on ~400MB.

Can someone conform all this?

Yes, around 80 songs is my cut off limit for skipping. Most of my MP3s are around 5-7mb each. CDs with way below 80 songs don't skip at all.

Although some users on this forum have reported skipping with only 10 songs on disc.

[aston]

Yes, around 80 songs is my cut off limit for skipping. Most of my MP3s are around 5-7mb each. CDs with way below 80 songs don't skip at all.

If we say your average is 6mb then you are using 480MB of 700MB CD space which is close to my case.

Although some users on this forum have reported skipping with only 10 songs on disc.

It looks to me that I missed those posts! Anyway depends on what they meant exactly.

If they meant 10 mp3 songs than all us which have around 80 songs on CD should be very happy with that. But maybe they meant on 10 songs on normal CD. On normal CD songs are not compressed they are in .wav format and average song in .wav needs around 40mb so 10 songs will take around 400mb disk space.

All this looks to me like a hardware problem not software because all us have similar problem but not exactly the same.

[sussex]

agree it is over abour 450/500mb but still thats not acceptable is it? I wouldnt be happy if they said, oh dont fill the tank up over 3/4 or it wont work very well, dont pu your foot to the floor or it wont work, dont use any radio stations above 104.0 or it wont work.

[EzzyRallyBoy]

if i explained to u how to tell tthem how the update is done would this help?

Yes please

[aston]

agree it is over abour 450/500mb but still thats not acceptable is it? I wouldnt be happy if they said, oh dont fill the tank up over 3/4 or it wont work very well, dont pu your foot to the floor or it wont work, dont use any radio stations above 104.0 or it wont work.

I totally agree with you its not acceptable but what we can we do?!? Ford did not mention anything about this in any documentations so this could be big fraud by Ford. Maybe we could to sue Ford because of this ?!?

Ford knows about this problem and did not do anything to fix it, they still deliver cars with skipping problem?!? I think that Ford don't have fix for skipping because if they do have a fix, cars without skipping would appear some where already.

[ogryn]

It usually starts skipping around songs beginning with M->T, so yeah, towards the end of the CD.

Wild theory...

I wonder if because the disc has to spin faster near the edges because it has to go further, the MP3 decoder can't always keep up?

That of course implies that the MP3 player streams the songs directly off the disc, and doesn't load them into memory first. It's definitely like there is some sort of buffering issue.

[DONFRAMAC]

It usually starts skipping around songs beginning with M->T, so yeah, towards the end of the CD.

Wild theory...

I wonder if because the disc has to spin faster near the edges because it has to go further, the MP3 decoder can't always keep up?

That of course implies that the MP3 player streams the songs directly off the disc, and doesn't load them into memory first. It's definitely like there is some sort of buffering issue.

You have just jogged my memory :-- there IS a large range of RPM, and the 1st track is at the outside rim, so the faster RPM will be when the laser-head is reading near the hub.

[smurfs]

The first track is on the inner edge and the disc spins at 500 rpm and a speed controller gradually slows the disc to 200 rpm as it reaches the final tracks towards the outer edge so it ensures that the tracks are read at the correct speed and the music plays correctly,

[TurboZutek]

The first track is on the inner edge and the disc spins at 500 rpm and a speed controller gradually slows the disc to 200 rpm as it reaches the final tracks towards the outer edge so it ensures that the tracks are read at the correct speed and the music plays correctly,

At least... IT SHOULD.

Chris...

[DONFRAMAC]

The first track is on the inner edge and the disc spins at 500 rpm and a speed controller gradually slows the disc to 200 rpm as it reaches the final tracks towards the outer edge so it ensures that the tracks are read at the correct speed and the music plays correctly,

SORRY, you are correct :-- the order of play is the reverse of a vinyl LP. I have consulted the spec. pamphlet of my Primare D20 CD separate player, circa 2003, fitted with current Sony transport and track-playing display,but it doesn't bother to quote the RPM range.

I did, however, find that Maplin CD players/burners, etc, have speed adjustment.