MP3 Operating Instructions, please!
 

After installing my MP3 player tonight, I find that it's reporting NO TITLE for every track on my MP3 disks, despite all the files having valid ID3 tags.

Could someone who bought the face plate, and thus has the operating instructions and specifcations, please scan and post them, or at very least tell me whether it supports ID3v2 tags or only v1?

Thanks.

I think I may have a dud
 

Further investigation confirms that the MP3 files have valid ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags. Furthermore, a music CD I burned with CD-Text (again confirmed via software) also shows NO TITLE for every track.

It plays just fine though. Either I'm doing something fundamentally wrong, or I've got a dud unit here. :(

Re: I think I may have a dud
 

A portable unit I have also supports only ID3v1, and if I set BOTH versions, it does not display correctly. Try burning a disc with ONLY v1 tags, and see if that doesn't fix it.

Re: Re: I think I may have a dud
 

That's worth a try, though it'll be a PITA to go in and rip out the ID3v2 tags from every track I want to burn for the car. Still doesn't explain the lack of CD-Text either, but I'll give it a go.

Option switch
 

Another thing I just thought of: before I installed the unit, I noticed a small slider switch labeled (unhelpfully) "1 2". It was set to "1", and I could find no mention of it in the installation instructions so I left it alone.

Can anyone who has their MP3 player but has not yet installed it, or has installed it but remembers what this switch was set to, let me know?

I think I see a reinstallation in my future. :( At least it won't take me so long next time.

What software are you using to burn the cd's? I've just realized i think I'm going to buy the MP3 player and have no mp3 burning software :o

I'm using Media Center, but an MP3 CD is just a plain data CD that happens to contain MP3 files. You can use Nero, EZ CD Creator, or whatever you use to burn normal data CD's.

I generally use Nero. So far with pretty good luck.

ID3v1 Confirmed
 

Check the mp3 installer thread for details, but I can confirm that your ID3 tags MUST be V1 only!

Yes, a PITA to change them all, though you may find a utility from download.com or elsewhere that will do batch conversions. Good luck.

As for ripping and burning - I use CDex exclusively for ripping to 192 kb/s with Lame encoder. Music sounds fantastic. I mostly use Nero for burning, though my laptop came with Roxio (which I hate with a passion).

Edit: CDex uses CDDB to automatically tag your mp3's. Sweet!

Nero is what I found best for copying CD's. However, when I need to rip MP3 files, I like MusicMatch.

for those that installed your own MP3 player, did you have to do anything "out of the ordinary" like set that switch to "1" or "2"? i just got my MP3 player in the mail (no car yet though) and am going to install it myself, but i'd like to know other than pluggin it in if there was anything beyond that that needed to be done...

btw, i didn't notice a switch on it at all...i looked all around it and really didn't see anything weird like that

As mentioned in the other thread, I found that "1" is the correct setting - "2" removes all title and directory processing capabilities. If yours has no switch, then you needn't bother changing it. ;)

Here's the install thread:
http://www.rx8forum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7644


I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I left the switch on the bottom to 1. So basically all I did was just plug it in.

Retagging Agony
 

For those agonizing over the arduous task of retagging all your MP3 CDs to ID3V1, I found this great utility on the web: The MP3/Tag Studio . I just finished using it to fix a few of my discs. It has major batch processing capabilities and made short work of my mess. You can batch convert V2 tags to V1 (and vice versa), remove V2 tags, auto-tag from filename, set mass tags (such as tagging album title on all tracks), and a lot more other stuff. It is shareware and displays a small ad, but I hardly even noticed the ads at all. Awesome tool.

What a great tool, nice find, thanks.