mCar Media Interface with USB drive

[Max N]

I have an mCar unit on the way from Comand Online. I am thinking of using a USB stick rather than iPod to store my music library, but I have a few questions:

The website says that MP3, Ogg Vorbis and iTunes formats are supported for USB mass storage media. Does iTunes mean AAC (lossy) or ALAC (lossless) or both?

Elsewhere (under 'Features') this list is given:
MP3, MP3Pro, WMA, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG1 layer 2 (VCD), ADPCM, FLAC (lossless solution), iTunes parser (non-DRM iTunes – M4A).
Does this list also apply for USB or is this only for iPod?

When using USB as the source, is it possible to use playlists etc? Or is it only possible to navigate through folders? A brief summary of how the USB side of things works would be very welcome

Thanks

 

[richard]

Max

I have asked the manufacturer to answer, and I will post when I receive their response.

USB is folder navigation and just less friendly than the iPod interface. As a result, I have tended to advise people use an iPod rather than USB - even if that means buying a used iPod and leaving it in the glovebox - which is what many people seem to do with their car whatever iPod interface they have.

pps, http://www.commandonline.co.uk/mcar has a manual.

Cheers

Richard

 

[wilsodg]

As someone who loathes Apple products (or to be more precise the tie-in that comes with them), I'd say that whilst you can probably get USB storage to work, a classic Ipod does (as Richard suggests) give a user experience that is far superior to the USB interface. This gets more true as you increase the number of music tracks stored. Manufacturers seem to have the Ipod interface sorted whereas a USB interface is hit-and-miss. Considering the cost of the car, and the fact that one should be focused on driving the car rather than spending time looking for music, I bought an Ipod - compared to the cost of the car it is not a lot. Of course, if you just want to pop 6 CD's on a USB stick, then that's probably good enough - but from your post it seems you will have slightly higher demands.

 

[Max N]

Thanks chaps, that's very useful.
I was considering the USB option purely because they are so small and light - no need to worry about a holder or anything.
As it happens I like Apple stuff, and I do have an old iPod knocking about which might do the trick. I'll have to check what capacity it is. The plan is to have my whole music library available in the car, but I haven't decided what format to use. In the house it's all stored in Apple lossless.

 

[richard]

I have some responses from the manufacturer yesterday with further clarification this morning. The software that we have up as the current version had some formats removed as there was some suspicion that they were causing USB issues. The manufacturer will correct this at the next release (subject to some further testing) by the end of the month, hopefully a few days before.

The current version on mCar Installation, Manuals & Updates | Comand Online Ltd : -
USB => MP3 (MP3Pro)
iPOD => AAC (lossy)

The version due in 2 weeks should have
USB => MP3 (MP3Pro lower sampling rate), WAV, MP2, OGG Vorbis, MP2
iPOD => AAC (lossy), ALAC(lossless), M4A, MP3, and any audio files that you can import to iTunes library.

The newer iPods work better than the old iPods, we suggest a iPod 2nd generation or later..

When using USB as a source, it is not possible to use playlists. USB navigation is by folders. The USB side of things is shown in the current manual, (which is linked in a previous post). Most people find the iPod navigation features very useful and use an iPod rather than a USB stick as a result.


To browse USB:

1. Insert USB stick
2. Wait until scanning complete - This is to build the folder list
3. Wait until first song is played (Root folder if you have audio files on the top level)
4. Select other magazine (Magazine 1)
5. Wait until list of available folder is present
6. Browse folder using >>/(SEEK+) and ></(SEEK-)
7. Press and hold << or >> to select folder.
8. It should then start playing from the folder sected.
9. If it is not selected, after a short timeout, the display will return to track list.

I hope that explains adequately. Apologies for any confusion !!

Richard

 

[Max N]

That's very helpful Richard, thank you.
As an aside, not really relevant to this thread, but the screen on my Comand packed up a while ago. I sourced a replacement screen from Japan and that is now fitted and working on the bench. So tomorrow hopefully I will get the Comand head unit and the mCar both fitted. I'll just use the old iPod touch with a few albums on it for testing. longer term, my whole library would fit onto an iPod classic in ALAC lossless, so that is probably what I'll use. I'll also experiment with USB out of curiosity.
I'll post back here with my progress, impressions etc
Cheers
Max

 

[Max N]

This is just a quick update because I'm a bit pushed for time - I'll post something more in-depth soon.
I got the mCar unit fitted and working on Saturday. I have it configured purely for audio at the moment - ipod, usb memory, and bluetooth streaming audio. All of these functions work fine. I tried a few high bit-rate MP3 tracks on a USB memory stick first, and was very pleased with the sound. Subjectively, I thought it sounded better than the same tracks played via the CD head unit, but objectively I don't see how that could be the case. After all, its a lossy format and everything is going over the same fibre network. So I just concluded that it wasn't any worse than the CD as far as I could tell (first impressions, no blind testing, I have cloth ears anyway)
Then tried a few AAC tracks from an iPod, and again it sounded very good. I just sat in the car in the driveway listening for a while.
Today (Sunday) we drove into town and Mrs Max paired her iPhone and streamed some Clapton and some Black Keys to the mCar.
Incidentally, all listening was done in 'Standard' mode on the Comand - I have never liked the 'Logic 7' or 'Speech optimized' modes.
So, my old MY2004 W211 E-Class has finally been dragged into the iPod age!

The interface for the mCar is definitely a bit 'quirky'. My advice is to keep a printout of the instructions that Richard linked to at hand the first time you use each operating mode. But you soon get the hang of it. Once you realise that the mCar is hooking into the CDC interface in the Comand, and what that implies (messages, button presses, responses etc are limited to what MB implemented for the CDC interface), then it all makes sense. The most striking example of this is that you sometimes have to hold down SEEK+ to select things, instead of the 'OK' button. Eventually I realised that this was because, at that point in the CDC interface, only the Seek+ and Seek- buttons would have been passed to the CDC.
You do get used to it pretty quickly, and it was much less of an issue once I had understood the reason. In my case, my W211 had the Comand APS with HK speaker/amp upgrade, so really I had a choice between the mCar and ripping everything out and starting from scratch. I'm really dead chuffed that I went for the mCar.

 

[richard]

Thanks for the summary - I am glad you like it

The mCar designers were very focussed on sound quality - this is why even when using iPod it is digital all the way - many others use the analogue output of the iPod and A2D it.

Sadly, as you surmise, the MB head units send very few key-presses to the CD changer, which is why the holding down of the >> and << are used in the way they are. The other thing you will find is that CDs only support 99 tracks, and thus the same mechanism is used to page up and down through blocks of 98 tracks.

I wonder how accurate the clock is in the CD changer, if its not that great I could see that it could sound better - especially as of course shaking a CD changer will make life hard for the CD sound quality, whereas shaking a USB stick wont

Richard

 

[Max N]

Hi Richard
I have encountered a bug which is rather spoiling my enjoyment of the unit.
The bug is that Traffic Announcements (TA) are continually being turned on. I'll try to give you some info which maybe will allow the developers to reproduce the bug:
I have the unit set for ipod, USB & BT audio, but no BT phone. I still have my Nokia in it's fixed cradle. (BTW, the Nokia always makes a long series of loud beeps through the car speakers when it finds, and connects to, the mobile phone network. This is relevant, I promise)
I select radio, and turn off TA
I select CDC, and choose an option, e.g. Artist
I choose an Artist
I choose a track, by holding down Seek+
Almost immediately, the phone makes the long series of beeps signifying that it is re-connecting to the network.
I go back into radio, and TA is now on. (If I don't go back into radio to check, then fairly soon a TA announcement will come blaring through the speakers)
Also, the radio is no longer tuned to the station I was listening to.
Lastly, if I go to check out the radio pretty quickly after the beeps, the list of available stations is very small, and many are not named - just the frequency is shown. Pretty quickly the list is re-populated. But I have to manually re-select the station I was on.

I realise this seems a bit 'autobiographical', so here is a summary:

Whenever a track (or anything else) is selected by holding down Seek+, the radio and phone are both immediately 're-set'. The phone loses then re-connects to the network, and the radio restarts with default values, including TA on.

This makes the unit a bit hopeless to use, because you either have to go back to radio and switch off TA, or put up with loud traffic announcements, or not select anything at the Seek+ level.

I'm very happy to provide more information, or try out different firmware versions. It would be good to hear if anyone else has this issue, and if so did they find a solution or workaround.

Cheers

Max

 

[Max N]

Further to my last post, some more info:
Before fitting the mCar, I did not have the CDC. After I fitted the mCar, the Comand head unit immediately detected it as a CDC and everything seemed to work. But I wonder if actually I may need to get some settings changed in the Star system?

 

[richard]

Hi
I will report this to the manafacturer - there are thousands of these units out there and I haven't heard of that - although I have heard of the occasional TA coming on when there is a fibre issue (not necessarily relating to mCar)

We always code the COMAND / Audio-20 correctly for CDC, so I would do that for sure

Cheers

Richard

 

[richard]

Also, does your COMAND have the option of displaying ETA on the map screen all the time whilst navigating (if not, then it could do with the firmware update available for it)

R

 

[richard]

And finally, you did switch the switch on the mCar for the phone system to off ? (2 phones on the fibre optics could cause interesting issues)

R

 

[Max N]

Thanks for the quick response Richard. I forgot to say earlier; I know that I can stop the loud beeps from the phone by clearing out my message inbox and/or disabling the beeps in the Comand menu. The significance of the beeps is just to show that both the radio and the phone behave as if they have been reset or power cycled or something. I've just done some more tests, and I can confirm that the little white [TA] square at the bottom of the screen appears as soon as I select anything with the Seek+ button.

To answer your questions/points:

1. Star coding - I am going in to the dealer for a service soon, so I'll ask him them to do it. Do I just ask them to check that CDC option is set to on?

2. Yes, I have the ETA option below the map. I think this appeared when I bought a new Nav DVD. Also, when I was trying to diagnose the screen issue, I did make a disk with a firmware that I downloaded from the MB site. When I re-fitted the Comand with the new screen, the country was reset to German. I don't know if this was because of the firmware update, or having the Comand out of the car for a couple of weeks.

3. Yes, phone is off (all DIP switches are 'down')

So the next step is to get the dealer to check things over with the Star system.

Cheers

Max

 

[Max N]

I have just found the cause of the problem. Boy do I feel stupid!
I remembered that Richard had recommended to use a newish iPod, because the very early ones had issues with the mCar. So I had gone out and bought a new iPod Classic and put all my music on that in ALAC format.
But then Richard said that the current firmware didn't support ALAC, only AAC, so I dug out an old iPod and put some AAC music on it. That's what I've been using for testing.
Anyway, I have just gone out to the car with the new iPod and everything is working! There is no sign of the [TA] issue (and actually it seems happy playing the ALAC files)
I should point out that Comand Online had been in contact offline as well to sort the problem out, and we were just arranging for me to take the car to them when I thought of trying the new iPod. That's really good service, and I was always confident that they were standing 100% behind the product and that things would get sorted.
Sorry Richard for the false alarm!

 

[richard]

Thanks for the update. Glad it is now working for you !

R

 

[richard]

Max_N

Could you let us know which the old iPod was (model number etc) ? The manufacturer, unsurprisingly, would like to just try the exact situation you had causing the odd behaviour since that helps their continuous-improvement of the product.

Thanks

Richard