[nsanderson]

Hi all,

Have a question re: the playback of albums on a USB stick. I've got the R4.0 Intellilink stereo and have copied a lot of my MP3 ripped CD albums onto a Cruzer Blade USB stick.

Each album is in a separate subdirectory with the albums name and the stereo plays the songs without a problem. However at the end of the album, it starts the same album again. I was wondering if anyone had worked out how (if possible) to get the music playback to continue onto the next album like it used to do with MP3 CDs in the previous Astras?

Do I need to create a playlist or arrange the albums in a certain way?

 

[snowy]

Sounds like it's just playing what's in each folder. You could try putting all the songs you want, like a playlist, in one folder?

 

[nsanderson]

Cheers Snowy. That's what I'd thought about doing. Just seems rather clumsy after being able to drop individual albums onto MP3 CDs in the Astra H and J stereos.
Always seemed a backwards step in the steering wheel controls from the H to the J as the H had a button to hop between folders!

 

[Thomasbk]

I have the navi 900 system. That system plays fine "between" folders.
Could it be that you have started your playthrough from within a folder, and not from the root?
Otherwise perhaps you have selected an album from your selection and therefore this is the only thing that plays.

 

[Mondy]

Is there any repeat function. Maybe you can choose setting between repeat song, repeat folder or repeat all. Doesnt say anything about it in the manual.

 

[nsanderson]

Yeah, I had a look through the manual but to say the information about USB playback is sparse is an understatement! :shock:

I did start playing within one album as the playlists are empty (do I need to create one on a PC as there's no facility to add one in-car?) but it just cycled round that same album when I expected it to carry on to the next album?

I've put all the tracks into one root folder and will see how the stereo handles it as it has the ability to sort on album, artist, etc. so maybe that's the way to make it work?

@Thomasbk, when you say "That system plays fine "between" folders. Could it be that you have started your playthrough from within a folder, and not from the root?" how do you play it from the root?

 

[Thomasbk]

I think the "auto play" funktion, which is when you just insert the usb and let it automaticly play, is from "root".

After looking through the manual, It seems that the Navi 900 is somewhat more advanced then the 4.0 concerning media playback.
But the auto play feature is also mentioned in relation to the 4.0 system.

 

[nsanderson]

Ah, that could explain it! I'm sure I had it playing random tracks from different albums first time I plugged it in (the auto play is switched on) but then when I selected an album to play in sequence is when it went into only playing from that album.

More investigation (and a possible firmware update) is needed I think...

 

[nsanderson]

Quick update - I tried it on my drive home tonight with all the tracks in the root folder and it works! The Astra recognises the MP3 track information and therefore you can still sort on the albums or artist!

 

[Thomasbk]

Do you know how to "get back" to all files after selecting a specific album/artist?

 

[nsanderson]

Think you press the menu button or the USB icon? You should then be able to choose album or artist.

 

[nsanderson]

Another update for this. Placed all the tracks into a playlist and despite me adding them in album order with the correct root path, the Astra has decided to list them in alphabetical order rather than the order I put them in. :x
This means that it's still not playing albums, never mind in sequence! If I choose an album and get it to play by selecting the first track,it's then locked into that directory. Driving me nuts as an MP3 CD burnt for use in the H or J didn't have this problem!

Did anyone ever have this problem with the J/GTC USB playback?

 

[nsanderson]

Got in contact with Vauxhall about this and their response is "playlists will always be sorted in alphabetical order" and "there's no option to hop between albums, you have to do it manually".

Quite poor really...

 

[Thomasbk]

I think it is unbelievable how poor the functionality for media playback and navigation is in modern cars.
Good thing that carplay and android auto is gaining momentum.

Then againg, the new astra only has one usb input. Why not one an usb stick with music and one for connecting a phone....

 

[arek]

Will USB hub work?

 

[1900sr]

There doesn't seem to be enough juice to power a hub, phone and another source (ipod or stick). I think if you were to use the 12v socket to power a dc adapter to power a hub it would work (my headunit shows 2 USBs in the source selection). I ended up putting a 32gb memory card in my phone and using MD player via Android Auto for music. I couldn't get Google Music to work properly (I just have it set to random play all, but using Google Music it only seems to want to select tracks from artists with names filed between N and S), but I keep meaning to see if I can sort it out as MD player sometimes drops it's volume randomly, or doesn't increase it again when it's been dropped for Google Maps voice directions.

 

[nsanderson]

I've replied to the Infotainment contact at Vauxhall who told me about the new units' strange setup.

I pointed out that at the moment I have 2 ways of playing music in a random order and have suggested that it's a potential safety issue when you're having to take your eyes off the road to scroll through sub menus to choose another album!

Also, the Astra H used to have a button on the steering wheel to hop between MP3 albums (think it was the preset stations button) which has been removed from the days of the J onwards which always seemed an odd decision...