Was chatting to one of my directors, and he mentioned MP3, and he asked a few things I did not know an answer to (shock, horror! ;))

was wondering if you guys could provide the info, or locations for such info.

basically his question is, cos he's a tidy kinda guy, can he create a folder structure, which contains mp3 files, and burn this structure to a cd and have the MP3 player (portable one or head unit in car) actually read the cd, how would it cope with the folder structure?

his setup would be

Rolling Stones (folder)
track 1
track 2
....
track 50
The Beatles (folder)
track 1
track 2
....
track 50


Hope that makes some kind of sense.

Dont know about for other systems but my Kenwoood MP3 headunit is an older model and it reads folders fine - build the cd compilation on your hard drive and off you go. Would be a bit of a bitch otherwise if you had to search through 700mb's worth of mp3 to find your favourite track.

You will need an ID3 tag editor to change the tags i.e. tidy them up a bit so they look better on your headunits display.

Thanks

how do you navigate the folder structure via the MP3 player? does it show the 'folder' name and then allow you to browse that folder?

not sure on this type of thing, hence me askin

I use Nero. Basically, the MP3 unit reads the folders in the order they were compiled in the image manager.

For example, I make sure that I number the folders in the order I want them to play, and in each folder, number the individual tracks.

This is hard to explain, so I've attached a screenshot of Nero. (I'm really sorry about the size, but needed the full screen to explain it)
http://www.cmrbb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/misc/nero.jpg

BuRR, got it!

so, how would you select the 'next folder' on the MP3 player? does it have like an arrow controller think, kinda like the D-Pad on a PS2? you know up, down (next/previous folder) left,right (next /previous song in current folder)

sorry for being thick

To browse you basically start at root then it plays the first folder, first track (order as written to cd). You can easily skip to next folder or back out to root. Once in a folder you can scan through the tracks but it takes a while to read the tag so unless the filename (8:3 format) is useful its hard to pick tracks. The worst thing is the file read time - takes 3-4 secs to read a track. Only flaw I can think of but easy to live with.

Simon.

P.S. I suggest a good ripper proggy to copy all ur existing cd's (favourites at least) to mp3 - cd Ex is pretty good - it checks online for your cd's track listing and then names them all for you.

Musicmatch Jukebox is cool too.

The Kenwood MP3 player used the same keys as the CD multichanger. The track forward and backward speak for themselves. The next / previous CD buttons control the up / down folder movement. It will probably be the same across the different manufacturers' models, however I could be wrong ;)