Using SD card in B&O stereo
 

After reading posts that say an SD card will give better quality sound than an iPod, I was wondering about a couple of things.

1. With the SD card, do you have to listen to all songs in the order recorded, or can you mix them?

2. How do you bring then to the SD card from iTunes? Is it basically just like burning a CD, or more like uploading the songs to a new iPod?

Thanks

I use SD cards all the time. It's pretty easy really. I usually upload the cards to the system's hard drive (jukebox).

As far as randomizing songs, you have to kind of improvise. The system gives options on playback, such as by artist, by album, or by song title. I use song title and it plays all the songs on the hard drive in alphabetical order. It's not exactly an elegant solution, but it works. It's also convenient to find a specific song easily by song title.

Putting songs on the card is fairly easy. Just copy the music files to your SD card, like transferring ordinary document files. I would make sure to use MP3 files. I'm not sure if the system uses AAC or WMA files. MP3s are easiest to deal with.

I also keep non-music (audio books), or specialty music (Christmas) that I don't want in the normal mix, on an SD card I keep in one of the slots.

When I want to add music to the jukebox, I take an sd card, put a folder on it called "upload" and copy the files to that folder. Then it's easy to upload the all files from the upload folder to the jukebox.

Hope that helps.

We have the ipod in the glove box and two 16g sd cards in our 2011 filled with music....

I like the sd cards in that they are better sounding to me, but the wife choses the ipod where she built her own playlists....

Personally, I just let it play in whatever order it does, because I don't put any songs on there I don't like :)

Normally I listen to Sirius, but lately the sound quality has seemed particularly poor. Almost like it is under water on some channels.

I have an iPod in the glove compartment, but wasn't sure if it was worth the bother to burn songs on an SD card. On the iPod, I wish that it wasn't necessary every time I start it up to set it to "Mix". It resets every time I shut the car down.

Thanks for your input. I might buy a SD card and give it a try.

the SD reader is fantastic, I have two cards with music so I always have at least one in the car. Quality is good, folders/albums are easy to browse on the system.

Hi -

We apologize for your experience. How often does your radio sound like it's under water? What channels have this experience? Have you tried refreshing our signal to your radio? If you continue to have problems with your radio, feel free to send us an email with your account/contact info to sxm_help@siriusxm.com and we'll be happy to troubleshoot with you there.

Thanks,
SiriusXM Digital Care Team

Wow Sirius is monitoring.... ?!?


How about telling your phone people to not lie when they are trying to get a customer to reup ?

I asked specifically on more than one occasion and even called back to verify if this yearly payment includes traffic ? and every time I was told Yes....

Well, you got me on this one cuz the wife wanted sirius, but you lost out on the two cars I drive !!!

You can set the MMI to play in random order. It stays within the folder you're in, but randomizes the order. So, lay out the folders on the SD card the way you want things grouped together, and you can then randomize them.

You can directly copy music files out of the directory where your iTunes library is stored. The MMI only supports a limited selection of file formats, but the AAC format that you get from the iTunes store is one of them -- it'll play them directly without any conversion required.

I appreciate the response. I have noticed this in varying degrees on different channels, in the last few weeks. It sounds so poor that I wind up turning to my iPod, or local HD FM. I would say that on the channels that I listen to, it is worst on The Bridge, 60's, 70's, Classic Rewind and The Highway. I suspect it is because the signal is over-compressed.

I don't know how to refresh the signal. I have had XM on several prior cars and never had this problem.

Thanks for your taking time to respond!

No worries; that's what we are here for. Here's a link on how to refresh our signal: https://listenercare.siriusxm.com/ap...4020/kw/signal
If you have any difficulties, send us an email to sxm_help@siriusxm.com and we'll be able to assist you there.

-SiriusXM Digital Care Team

Is that a change for the 2013 MMI? In my 2012, you can randomize through the MMI, but you have to do it every time you start the car. You cannot get it to default to randomizing the music. Hence, I have one folder for all my music and play the songs in alphabetical order (pseudorandomization).

Oh hmm. I didn't check whether the setting would stick, although it looked like one that would. I'll try that next time I'm out. If it does, I guess it's a 2013 change.

I have a 2012 and at least with my iPod, I have to reset random each time I start the car. I wish there was a way to make it stick.

My 2013 does indeed retain the "random" setting.

I've downloaded music to the Jukebox, including some soundtracks. Is there a way to get the Jukebox to play the songs in the correct order? When selecting the album all of the songs are shown in alphabetical order, which isn't what I want for a movie or broadway album. I have a 2011 A4.

It's not a real elegant solution, but try renaming the tracks and putting numbers in front of the original track name. If you have 10 or more tracks you'll need to start with 01, 02, etc.

This may not be new information but I discovered that random playback does stick as long as the playlist files are at the very top level along with the artist folders on the SD card. If you put the playlists in a folder, random will not stick. I've tried it both ways and that's how it works for me on my 2014.

I don't have my SQ5 to try it yet, but in my GTI it understands playlists on my USB and SD cards.

I never use them because I like to listen to whole albums but it is an option.

Just to clarify, An SD card will only randomize a single folder. If you organize your music by placing all songs from a single album in one folder (Artist folder>Album folder), it will just randomize that album folder and after all songs in that album are played, it will move on to the next album folder. The Jukebox, as with an iPod/iPhone via AMI, can differentiate by ignoring folders and randomizing all songs on the hard drive (it also includes the album browser feature). Note that the 40GB Jukebox can hold approx. 20GB of media files with the other 20GB used for the MMI and Nav data. Audi specs SDHC cards at up to 32GB but reports indicate 64GB SDHC cards are being used successfully.

And playlist, of course, which is treated in the same fashion. Comes down to needing to select the first song to play and the system queueing the rest of the songs shown on that screen (which is just a basic file browser).

I love my sd music. I create top level folders by artist and album folders underneath. I make sure to add the track number in front of the track name so they list in order. I use a product called/by jriver and it makes it easy. I'm not sure how to get non-mp3 music out of iTunes but if you google search I seem to remember there is a product that will do it easier than burning a cd and re-ripping. If you rip cd's, it's worthwhile, in my opinion, to rip mp3's at the highest bit level supported. SD memory is cheap.

<<<@!1!@>>>

I have been unable to get it to read my 64GB SDXC card. I've tried formatting it FAT32 and exFAT. I've even tried just using just 32GB of the storage. It won't read it.

Here is the exact one I've tried. If someone knows of a 64GB card that will work, please share.

I'm currently using a 64GB USB stick with a cable in the glove compartment.


Also while I don't think the quality of SirusXM (overall) is that good. I believe it sounds better with the B&O sound system that any other car I've had it in previously.

The MMI doesn't support SDXC cards, only SDHC.

I'm unaware of a 64GB SDHC card. Do you know what 64 gig cards they got to work?

I am using this one with all 64Gb.
Formatted it to FAT on my Mac and it is working like a charm. When it was formatted on Windows machine it was unreadable.

You can try, some are reported to work 64GB
According to Audi can only 32GB

exFAT or FAT32?

It is FAT32.

Make sure the card reader is SDXC compatible. A Lexar reader I have appeared to work, only to silently produce a corrupt volume.

That did it! I partitioned and formatted it FAT32 OSX and it worked fine. That it weird that it wouldn't work when formatted in Windows, but I'll take it.

That is the second issue I solved today (side assist setting off my radar detector), so I'm feeling good!

Thanks for the help.

Must be the case that some SDXC cards work and others don't as many have reported no joy for that format, including me. I'll have to try one of the other brands.