Alpine mp3 CD Changer Problem
 

I just installed an Alpine mp3 changer last night, February 07 build date into my September 05 build date X5 nav, no DSP, MKIV with the V26 OS. This should all check out and work, but I have a problem.

I burnt two mp3 cds last night and here is what happens.
1. No text, id3 tags, folder names or directory available. No "Audiotext" click box under the "info" button.
2. It will play the mp3's, but in a strange way. I burnt a cd using itunes with three artists, coldplay, kidrock and sublime. When i go to play the cd, coldplay works fine (no id3's though). Then when it should switch over to kidrock, next folder in the directory, i get a track number and no song/sound, and it skips to the next track within a few seconds. In summary, there were 99 songs on the CD, tracks 1-14 play (all coldplay) and the rest are all blank tracks.

What is going on with my changer/setup?

Ok I just found this thread:
http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...alpine+changer

I have a black box installed, it doesn't have any label on it. Does it have to be a Soundgate, Blitzsafe, or Intravee for me to get the tags?

Only the Intravee with provide you with tags. My Soundgate is still working perfectly through 4 years now...no tags, though.

my owners manual shows the nav screen with full tags, and directories. I don't have any of these features with my changer. I really don't want to spend $250 on the intravee.

I should have made it clear that only the intravee will provide you with tags if you have a non-OEM changer. If your radio is late '05 or early '06 (can't remember), then you'll need an OEM changer to get tags. The aftermarket Alpine changer won't provide tags as it needs to be operating in the MBus mode with the "black box". The Alpine changer can only provide tags in Ai-Net mode.

This is a bit complex to explain
 

You need to burn just the songs you want and arrange them in the folders the way you want them to playback. By using a media player or itunes to burn the cd all sorts of hidden files (playlists, album art etc.) are also copied - these are the "blank tracks" you are experiencing. The alpine will go to the root of the cd and play the first (alphabetical) folder - the songs in that folder will be played back alphabetically (not necessarily in correct track order). Root folders are all played first and then nested folders so it's not a good idea to have artist folders with album folders inside as you would on your PC.

Use windows explorer to create the burn list and arrange just one hierarchy list of folders for Albums (ie no folders within folders). When you use windows to right click a selection of tracks on your PC and "Send to CD/RW Drive" it will create the burn list. You can then create/rename album folders and rename tracks in the burn list without affecting the original files. Ensure each folder name and track name is preceded with a number 01, 02, 03 etc. to achieve the desired playing order.

Name them in the burn list window like this:
01 Artist Album [Folder]
---01 Song Name.mp3 [File]
---02 Song Name.mp3 [File]
---03 Song Name.mp3 [File]
etc...
02 Artist Album [Folder]
---01 Song Name.mp3 [File]
---02 Song Name.mp3 [File]
---03 Song Name.mp3 [File]
etc...

Delete any index files, art files and any non mp3 files from the burn list before writing to CD.

I know this is messy but it's the only way to get the play order right unless you want to splash out on a later generation OEM changer or Intravee.