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MP3 Disk Burning - How To

272K views 216 replies 101 participants last post by  baltoS550 
#1 ·
I spent lots of time and wasted loads of CD's, but I think I now know exactly what should be done to burn an MP3 CD that the COMAND system will accept. Thought I would share my experience.

1. When you first rip your music, do so at a bit rate of at least 128kps. I use 160kps. I believe the COMAND will recognize up to 320kps. Anything less will not give your good music quality and, if you have LOGIC7, may not work properly, as per the COMAND manual.

2. MAKE SURE YOU REMOVE ALL ID3 TAGS! I've burned several MP3 songs that played well on my computer and other players but would not function in my car. Finally came to the conclusion that those ID3 tags (information such as artist, track number, music genre, album artwork, etc.) sometimes confuse the system and the song will not play. Worse yet, some songs with ID3's caused the unit to freeze up. You can find some great freeware programs to remove those tags. I use this freeware program (http://www.marre.org/id3remover/) for my Windows XP machine. I'm sure there are many others out there that will perform this task. Do a Google search.

3. Once you have your music files cleaned of ID3 tags, arrange them in folders. I like to put folders of the artist's name in the root directory and put their music inside. This is a personal preference. You can of course name folders by music type, mood, etc. Use your imagination. Just remember that there is a limit to the number of folders that COMAND will recognize. My manual says 255 songs or folders in the root directory and 255 songs or folders in each folder. I have seen some postings where only 32 or 99 folders are recognized. Your system may vary. My system (2006 SLK COMAND) recognizes the 255 as stated.

4. Burn your CD's as Data files. MP3 CD's that I've burned in the music mode (i.e. as an MP3 music CD) have occasionally given me problems. I use Roxio's Toast and you have the choice of burning as a data disk or a music disk - use the data disk option. Your computer by default will probably burn your files as pure data, but it might be 'smart' enough to recognize .mp3 as music and may automatically make a music CD. Try to turn this option off.

5. Burn at a slow rate. When you choose the burn speed, don't use "Maximum Possible". This is a general rule of thumb to maximize accuracy in burning. I'm not sure that it is necessary in this situation, but I do it anyway.

That's it. By the way, the above works if you are burning a CD or, in some COMAND units, a DVD. My system recognizes DVD's even though I don't have NAV. This allows for A LOT of music on one disk. The rules are the same for both regular CD's (about 700 Mb) and DVD's (over 4 Gig).

Hope the above is helpful.
 
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#53 ·
PeterV - 2/19/2006 9:36 AM

I use Nero for my CDs and MP3s. On our '05 E320, I see tracks and titles on CDs and MP3s. Not on my '03 ML500. Burn with the same Nero Burning software.

Pete
If I could be sure of getting the same results, I'd buy Nero right now...
 
#54 ·
If I could be sure of getting the same results, I'd buy Nero right now...[/QUOTE]

My copy came free with a new CD/RW. Very happy with the program. I've burned/copied several of my CDs with this prog and the song titles come up on the '05 320 but not on my '03 ML500. Plus the E320 sounds like it has a sub in the dash, great bass while the ML's has none. What a difference 2 years make!

Pete
 
#55 ·
Marsden - 2/19/2006 7:06 PM

PeterV - 2/19/2006 9:36 AM

I use Nero for my CDs and MP3s. On our '05 E320, I see tracks and titles on CDs and MP3s. Not on my '03 ML500. Burn with the same Nero Burning software.

Pete
If I could be sure of getting the same results, I'd buy Nero right now...
We have Nero. Awesome software. It works.
 
#56 ·
Hey guys, thanks to everyone for your help & advice.

Turns out all I had to do was choose the "Data CD" instead of the "Direct CD" option on Roxio and now ALL MP3 Track & Artist titles display correctly on both the COMAND and MFD screens! Yes! (This is probably analagous to gmabli's instruction #4; also I took his advice and wrote the data at only 8x for now.)

"Normal" sequence is still alphanumeric so henceforth I will include the track number in '01..' format as the first part of each track title. Thanks again [:)]

Next I'll try to get the same results with a standard CD, although I doubt I'll be listening to CDs much with this most excellent MP3 capability [8D]
 
#57 ·
Marsden - 2/19/2006 9:17 PM

Hey guys, thanks to everyone for your help & advice.

Turns out all I had to do was choose the "Data CD" instead of the "Direct CD" option on Roxio and now ALL MP3 Track & Artist titles display correctly on both the COMAND and MFD screens! Yes! (This is probably analagous to gmabli's instruction #4; also I took his advice and wrote the data at only 8x for now.)

"Normal" sequence is still alphanumeric so henceforth I will include the track number in '01..' format as the first part of each track title. Thanks again [:)]

Next I'll try to get the same results with a standard CD, although I doubt I'll be listening to CDs much with this most excellent MP3 capability [8D]
You have Roxio? Which model kind do you have? We had it and it was a pain in the butt to use.
 
#58 ·
Marsden - 2/19/2006 9:17 PM

Hey guys, thanks to everyone for your help & advice.

Turns out all I had to do was choose the "Data CD" instead of the "Direct CD" option on Roxio and now ALL MP3 Track & Artist titles display correctly on both the COMAND and MFD screens! Yes! (This is probably analagous to gmabli's instruction #4; also I took his advice and wrote the data at only 8x for now.)
Marsden,
Glad I could be of some help.
gmabli
 
#63 ·
Anybody know if the song titles will display in the base stereo (audio 20). I have looked and noone seems to have gotten that to work. It WILL play mp3's but it seems to ignore anything more than 99 songs (and it sems to ignore directories). I have tried to get song titles to work but???
 
#66 ·
I own a European-spec SLK 350 registered in early 2005 with the Audio 50 APS and 6 CD-changer unit. Supposedly it can play my MP3 CDs, however I've had no luck at all with it. My local dealer in Milan says it should and claims that the problem is linked to my home-made CDs. We tried one of my MP3 CDs in some COMAND APS equiped models (including an SLK) and it worked fine. The same CD also worked in an aftermarket Panasonic MP3 unit I used to have in another car 3 years ago. Perhaps the CD changer reader in the Benz is particularly finicky[?]. The dealer naturally had no test CDs though he claimed to have it on his to-do list.

Another piece of bad news was that the 350 euro iPod adaptor is not available for the Audio-20/Audio-50 equiped SLK, only COMAND ones[:(!]. This was not the case for newer models like the B-class. So that option is out of the question for me.

Anyone here have a pre-2006 SLK 350 in Europe without COMAND and has succeeded in listening to MP3s using the 6-CD changer? If yes, then there is hope for me yet. Any tips would also be welcome, I've already combed through this entire posting on more than occasion.

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
#74 ·
I have found that Musicmatch software (The basic version is freeware I think) works really well. I have never had an MP3 (and it includes tags of artists, albums etc..) that did not play well in my COMAND system.

Infact I used it to rip a copy protected CD that wouldn't play in my CD player to MP3 and the copied the tracks to a DVD and the files played perfectly. It also takes away the hassle of having to enter all the data yourself as most CD's are automatically recognised and tagged.
 
#75 ·
fschoonbaert said:
I have found that Musicmatch software (The basic version is freeware I think) works really well. I have never had an MP3 (and it includes tags of artists, albums etc..) that did not play well in my COMAND system.

Infact I used it to rip a copy protected CD that wouldn't play in my CD player to MP3 and the copied the tracks to a DVD and the files played perfectly. It also takes away the hassle of having to enter all the data yourself as most CD's are automatically recognised and tagged.
Have you used MP3's that had album art included in the tags? That seems to be the one tag that causes the problem. The artist and album tags don't usually cause a problem. Album art, especially if the graphics are large files, appear to be the culprits.

Also, iTunes will rip your music and access GraceNote to automatically include all the id3 tags you mention (artist, album name, track, genre, track number, etc. but not album art). And best of all, the full version of iTunes is free.
 
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