Need Help From Germany re Blaupunkt

[Fflow]

I recently purchased a Blaupunkt Memphis MP66 car stereo but, when it came to implementing the MP3 Playlist functions, I could not get it to work. I've had other issues too. Still, I called US tech support and they were utterly clueless. They didn't even know that one could implement playlists.

I was hoping that someone living in Germany could contact Blaupunkt in Germany on my behalf and find someone who can actually help me implement playlists, and answer a few other questions I have. BTW, I've sent emails but never got a response.

If you're willing to help, please PM me.

Thanks so much!

srw

 

[AgonySceneGirl]

i wish i could help but i am technology deprived.

 

[Primalex]

http://fe0wap79.bosch.de/intershoproot/files/serviceDocuments/7646530310001_BA_GB.pdf

 

[Fflow]

Thanks! I have read the manual, both the on-line US version and the printed manual that came with the unit. Although it states on Page 35 (of the version you linked to) that:

"The device can play playlists that were created with an MP3 manager, such as WinAmp® or Windows Media Player®. These playlists must be present in the format M3U, PLS or RMP and stored in the root directory of the data carrier!"

I've tried this, but without success. The problem, I think, is that my computer assigns a 'drive letter' to the thumb drive that differs from the drive letter the head unit assigns. Thus, if a playlist file created in WMP has a file path like:

H:\Pop\Coldplay\AROBTTH\Clocks.MP3

I don't think this will work if the headunit assigns a drive letter of C:, or whatever.

Also, by 'root directory' I'm not sure if they mean that the playlist must be in the same folder as the music, or if it needs to be outside it. My guess is that it needs to be outside it, but I've tried both ways without success.

Thus, I was hoping that someone outside the US might be willing to contact Tech Support in Germany, where I suspect that they're far more familiar with implementing the unit's full capabilities.

Peace.

srw

 

[Primalex]

I've tried this, but without success. The problem, I think, is that my computer assigns a 'drive letter' to the thumb drive that differs from the drive letter the head unit assigns. Thus, if a playlist file created in WMP has a file path like:

H:\Pop\Coldplay\AROBTTH\Clocks.MP3

So what? Edit the M3U file with an editor and see if it helps.

Also, by 'root directory' I'm not sure if they mean that the playlist must be in the same folder as the music, or if it needs to be outside it. My guess is that it needs to be outside it, but I've tried both ways without success.

root directory is outside, the highest level possible, not within any directory

 

[Weird Harold]

"The device can play playlists that were created with an MP3 manager, such as WinAmp® or Windows Media Player®. These playlists must be present in the format M3U, PLS or RMP and stored in the root directory of the data carrier!"

Also, by 'root directory' I'm not sure if they mean that the playlist must be in the same folder as the music, or if it needs to be outside it.

The root directory of H:\Pop\Coldplay\AROBTTH\Clocks.MP3 is H:\ or more genericly [d]\ where [d] is any drive letter followed by a colon.

A *.PLS playlist file does store the drive letter of each file, but the head unit should ignore them and use just the relative filepath (the part of the filename after ':\')

Although... it just might need everything to be on 'C:' If that's the case, then editiing a PLS file with Notepad, or as a plain-text file in MSWord or Wordpad is fairly simple. Do a simple find&replace of H: for C: and try that.

You can also try replacing the drive designation with "." -- so that H:\Pop\Coldplay... becomes .\Pop\Coldplay...

That is an explicitly relative filename and means <starting-from-the-current-directory>\Pop\Coldplay...

I do think that if you put a playlist file of one of the recognised types in H:\ as desginated by your computer's drive assignement, (and have the playlist porperly contructed to point to files on the thumb-drive raher than the source of the files on the thumb drive)

In order to play H:\Pop\Coldplay\AROBTTH\Clocks.MP3 put "Clocks.pls" -- a plain text file containing the single line "H:\Pop\Coldplay\AROBTTH\Clocks.MP3" -- in H:\

The Head Unit should see [d]\clocks.pls and change the drive designation of the songs to "[d]\..." or ".\..." (probably the latter since they require the playlists to be in the root folder.)

 

[babeandhertoy]

I'd be happy to translate for you but I'm afraid I don't even understand the issue

 

[Fflow]

Thanks so much for your help Primalex and Harold!

Part of the problem is that I haven't had any success in having the head unit recognize a playlist file, let alone access the files it is pointing to.

Babeandhertoy, I just need to find a person inside Blaupunkt Germany who knows about this stuff. One you found the right person, I'm sure I could take things from there.

I'll keep working on this and let you know if I have any success.

Peace.

srw

 

[Weird Harold]

Part of the problem is that I haven't had any success in having the head unit recognize a playlist file, let alone access the files it is pointing to.

First step: does the head unit recognise ANY file in the root directory of your thumb-drive?

Second step, move all of the actual music files into subfolders on the thumb-drive so that the ONLY files i nt he root directory are playlist files pointing to the music files in the subdirectories.

It may just be that the head unit doesn't look for playlist files first and stops looking once it finds a song to play?

 

[Fflow]

Whew. Ok, so I feel like a complete dufus. I have, after all, been working on computers since the mid 70s. Here's the deal: I was making a stupid assumtion, which was that the playlists needed to be in a folder above the file folder. That, in fact, is NOT the case. As was pointed out previously by Primalex and Harold, the Root is outside any folders.

Once I moved the playlists there, they worked!

Amazing what happens when you read and understand the manual.

Still, it would be nice to have playlists in folders. I have a 32 GB thumb drive and, without organization, navigating through 200+ playlists will be a pain.

Ah well... One step at a time.

Thanks, all!

 

[Weird Harold]

Whew. Ok, so I feel like a complete dufus. I have, after all, been working on computers since the mid 70s. Here's the deal: I was making a stupid assumtion, which was that the playlists needed to be in a folder above the file folder. That, in fact, is NOT the case. As was pointed out previously by Primalex and Harold, the Root is outside any folders.

Once I moved the playlists there, they worked!

Amazing what happens when you read and understand the manual.

Still, it would be nice to have playlists in folders. I have a 32 GB thumb drive and, without organization, navigating through 200+ playlists will be a pain.

Ah well... One step at a time.

Thanks, all!

Will a playlist play a playlist?

It woul drequire manually creating and editing a playlist file(s) to point to other playlists rather than music files but it's an easy experiment to do.

Just open a new Notepad file and type in the names of the first three plalist files in the root directory:

.\playlist 1.m3u
.\Playslist 2.m3u
.\playlist 3.m3u

Save it as "!List.m3u" and it should show up as the first playlist on the headunit's playlist. (The "!" sorts first in an ASCII alphabetical sort.)

If it will play those three playlists in sequence, then you have a solution to the organization problem. If it doesn't, you haven't lost anything except a few minutes of experimentation.

 

[Fflow]

Fascinating idea.... Must try it. I'll let you know if it works. I could, then, have 'meta' playlists, each with a particular genre, etc.

Hmm.

Here's hoping!

 

[In Anticipation]

Whew. Ok, so I feel like a complete dufus. I have, after all, been working on computers since the mid 70s. Here's the deal: I was making a stupid assumtion, which was that the playlists needed to be in a folder above the file folder. That, in fact, is NOT the case. As was pointed out previously by Primalex and Harold, the Root is outside any folders.

Once I moved the playlists there, they worked!

Amazing what happens when you read and understand the manual.

Still, it would be nice to have playlists in folders. I have a 32 GB thumb drive and, without organization, navigating through 200+ playlists will be a pain.

Ah well... One step at a time.

Thanks, all!

Hmm, if you've got a minute or two now perhaps you could help me set up playlists that will work on my Roku Soundbridge which streams files off a NAS via a PC using Firefly media server? I'm vaguely imagining that I need to strip out any reference to a drive letter. Of course I have tried creating the playlists in all sorts of applications with no success.

Glad you got your car stereo working. I'm still using MP3 CDs on mine, at least you can write on the CD what is on it and you still get about 10 hours of play on each. Otherwise we just plug in an external MP3 player. I had contemplated building a car PC which logged into the home wireless network overnight and synced itself to the music hard drive. Unfortunately I don't have too much time on my hands, so it's way down the list of priorities.

 

[Fflow]

Hmm, if you've got a minute or two now perhaps you could help me set up playlists that will work on my Roku Soundbridge which streams files off a NAS via a PC using Firefly media server? I'm vaguely imagining that I need to strip out any reference to a drive letter. Of course I have tried creating the playlists in all sorts of applications with no success.

Glad you got your car stereo working. I'm still using MP3 CDs on mine, at least you can write on the CD what is on it and you still get about 10 hours of play on each. Otherwise we just plug in an external MP3 player. I had contemplated building a car PC which logged into the home wireless network overnight and synced itself to the music hard drive. Unfortunately I don't have too much time on my hands, so it's way down the list of priorities.

I'm assuming that you're asking someone else on this thread because I'm really clueless as to what you're dealing with. I know what a Soundbridge is, but have never had any first hand experience using them. I think there may be an on-line support forum, though...

Let me know how it works.

As for your car/home sync idea, that sounds great. I wish I could set up my computer to sync my music folder to my USB thumb drive. I'm tempted to try the MS Suitcase, but am afraid that might interfere with the head unit.

Anyway, good luck and let me know if you make any progress.

Peace.

srw