[supraman]

I've loaded about 1,500 songs from 120 albums from CD into my music library on my Sat-Nav car and it is showing as just over half full with almost 60 hours of recording time left. The system is a dream to use and couldn't be simpler, especially with the auto record option selected. Every day I take 8 CDs with me and I record 4 on my 20 minute trip to work on 4 on the way home. I've posted on another thread about how easy it is to get the album and song titles for unrecognised CDs.

I thought I would just share a couple of findings that are of general interest.

I've noticed that the recording system is able to pick up where it left off (at least in auto record mode) if the car is switched off (with the main Start/Stop button), or if a CD is inserted and then re-inserted (either immediately or any time later). However, if the audio system is switched off using the button on the dash during recording, then the recording does not continue when the audio system is switched back on. This inconsistent behaviour might cause you to miss songs from the end of CDs. This is likely if, like me, you use the audio off button to pause music as there is no way Pause/Play tracks. In fact, it would be useful if the Start/Stop button for the StopWatch (MFD Screen F) could be configured to perform this function. This limitation is easily remedied by manually pressing the Start Recording button or reinserting the CD, but you have to be aware of the problem to understand when this step is necessary.

A very nice feature is that you don't even have to listen to the CD that you're recording. You can listen to any other audio source (i.e. music box, radio, iPod or Bluetooth Audio).

I've also noticed that some of the tracks that I've recorded have a No Entry sign next to them, although I'm still able to play them. Does anybody know what this denotes?

 

[thistle]

Sorry, I'm dull at this, with a non-nav car can you spell out how to do it when you're listening to the radio most of the time if it is possible.

Also what does the voice button do on the steering wheel?

Sorry, too busy cracking the engine ECU to read the manuals

 

[supraman]

Sorry, I'm dull at this, can you spell out how to do it when you're listening to the radio most of the time?

Do you mean how do you record CDs while listening to the radio? As you are now a world-renowned tuning expert, I'm worried that you're being sarcastic when you say you're dull at this, but here goes anyway....

The first thing I would recommend is turning on automatic recording so that every time you pop in a new CD it immediately starts recording it. To do that, just press the "Menu" button when you have the Music Box displayed and then choose "Music Box Settings". You will then see an "Automatic Recording" option with the word "On" next to it. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's turned on - I made that mistake at first. You have to make sure that the word On is highlighted - On highlighted = On, On not highlighted = Off!

After that, just pop in a CD. The audio system will attempt to switch to CD playback but you can immediately (no need to wait until it's recognised the CD) switch it back to whatever source you were listening to (using the AM-F/DISC-AUX buttons on the dash, or the SOURCE button on the steering wheel). After a few seconds the system will look up the Gracenote database and start recording the CD. Regardless of what source you are listening to, you will be able to see the recording progress on the MFD on most screens. You will also see a message when the recording is finished.

When I was checking my facts for this post, I also noticed that you can record selected tracks from a CD by choosing "Menu" and then "Record From CD" (or similar) option in CD mode. I hadn't noticed that before.

I think this system is really excellent.

One other tip is that many of the Music Box menus are greyed out when you are recording a CD, so don't be confused by that.

So, that's recording CDs in a nutshell. Now, in return, what's this tuning malarchy all about?

 

[supraman]

Oops. I've just noticed that you're explicitly asking about a Non-Nav car. Is it different? I thought that the Music Box was the same between Non-Nav and Nav cars?

My understanding is that the Voice Button doesn't do anything on a Non-Nav car. Can anybody confirm this? On a Nav-Car it activates voice activation for audio, sat-nav, phone, information, etc. It's a very good implementation and it has recognised the name of every person that I've taken out in my car so far. Part of my standard "demo" for friends is to call their mobiles by voice activation by speaking their name and letting the system look it up from the address book on my phone. My audience love that bit, almost as much as the bit where I accelerate rapidly!

 

[thistle]

Thanks for the reply, genuine question, I've not really played with it!

No I've only recorded two CDs since I usually listen to the radio, I was under the perhaps mistaken impression on non-nav I could only record if I listen to them live and single speed.

I'll look into what you've said, thanks again.

The tuning malarchy is just about air, fuel and good explosions

 

[supraman]

The tuning malarchy is just about air, fuel and good explosions

Got it. Thanks for clearing that up. I've just popped out and tuned my car to 800bhp and I recorded 3 CDs at the same time. :thumbsup:

 

[thistle]

tell me about that voice button, it just bleeps at me

Get with it man, 800 BHP is so lame, 1000 is the new target

 

[thistle]

Just read the MFD manual again, I had read it before, but it is rubbish and doesn't tell you about the voice button or specifics about whether it will record whilst you listen to another source, whether it records in real time or not depending on source etc.

Will have to play with it more.

 

[Red Rag]

I've posted on another thread about how easy it is to get the album and song titles for unrecognised CDs.

Could you point me towards this thread :thumbsup:

 

[supraman]

Could you point me towards this thread :thumbsup:

Sure. It's http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/125611-fun-phones.html, although most of the information only applies to sat-nav cars because it relates to the USB port.

 

[bazza_g]

The downside with the Music Box is the woeful bitrate that it uses to encode the mp3's with - hence you can get so many on what is quite a small hard-drive :thumbsup:

 

[supraman]

The downside with the Music Box is the woeful bitrate that it uses to encode the mp3's with - hence you can get so many on what is quite a small hard-drive :thumbsup:

What bit rate would you prefer? I've never really experimented with bit rates. Would you expect to be able to detect a drop in quality with the GT-R's highest bit rate, over what you recommend?

 

[bazza_g]

Would you expect to be able to detect a drop in quality with the GT-R's highest bit rate, over what you recommend?

In a word - yes. From memory on my non-nav music box there is two options for a bitrate of 105 or 138kbps (constant bitrate) - in mp3 terms thats not great.

The higher the bitrate the better audio quality but the more space it takes up - so you end up with a trade off. Variable bit rate helps this a bit by using higher rates when the music is 'complex' and lower rates when its not needed (but the GTR doesn't do that)

If I rip a CD at home it will be recorded at 320kbps (not so fussed about space) - you will notice a clearer, cleaner quality of sound. This becomes especially important when you amplify the signal as if you've got a low quality (low bitrate) track you'll end up amplifying crap so it sounds worse when its louder.

Hope that helps :thumbsup:

 

[Fuggles]

The car Nissan lent me for the Lands End to John O'Groats drive had some music on it already. It was interesting to see what had been left on the hard disk and immediately made me want to conjure a picture of the previous occupants. I wonder what the person who got it after me thought :nervous:




:chuckle:

 

[mugwump]

In a word - yes. From memory on my non-nav music box there is two options for a bitrate of 105 or 138kbps (constant bitrate) - in mp3 terms thats not great.
.........rip a CD at home it will be recorded at 320kbps

I agree entirely however in a car the quality debate does not hold up for me. If I want to enjoy a piece of music and be able to pick out the detail a car, especially a sports car, is the worst listening environment I can think of after a tube train. So the bitrate seems appropriate to the environment for me.

However probably have poor hearing due to years of abuse from things with noisy engines.

 

[bazza_g]

I agree entirely however in a car the quality debate does not hold up for me. If I want to enjoy a piece of music and be able to pick out the detail a car, especially a sports car, is the worst listening environment I can think of after a tube train. So the bitrate seems appropriate to the environment for me.

However probably have poor hearing due to years of abuse from things with noisy engines.

You're right of course, a sports car is a million miles away from the ideal listening environment for music.

I suppose the other side is that in order to listen to your music with all the engine/road noise around you, you end up increasing the volume which exacerbates the problem of a low bitrate/poor quality mp3 track. Starting with a decent quality mp3 will improve things.

 

[WingedBeast1968]

I have a Navigation car, and I have about 10GB of music on a flash stick sampled at 320kps. Fine and dandy. I have also tried an external USB hard drive (2.5" laptop thing, 160gb) powered from the USB port, and it didnt work.
Bugger!

The drive is a couple of years old, which may be the problem, so I am going to try a new one. I can't think of a reason why we shouldn't be able to use a USB compliant mass storage device of this nature, if it truly complies with the interface protocol.

Replacing the internal drive won't help coz of the crappy bitrate, but if we could install the music on the drive before putting it in the car? Bitrate a go go!:clap:

I really need to get a life. :lamer: