Trouble playing MP3 files on Eclipse AVN5435

[keninsb]

OK, I was looking forward to getting this sytem so much, but it has been a REALLY bad experience. The purchase was an ordeal, and the guy I bought from was, well, let's just say not exactly professional.
At any rate, the unit is installed and everything seems to be working, but I cannot get it to play MP3 files. The unit sees that a disc is inserted, but does nothing. It plays normal CDs fine. I have tried using some CDRs with MP3 files that used to play flawlessly on my Kenwood HU. I even tried burning a new CDR (brand new TDK disc) with new music, and no luck.
The Eclipse manual lists ALL kinds of limitations on the MP3 playback, but the main issue was that the files needed to be recorded at 128kbps and a sampling rate of 44khtz. The properties for my files indicate the same.
One thing I am wondering about, is that the operator's manual (for the Eclipse unit) indicates that CD ROM "mode 1" must be used for recording NOT mode 2. What the heck is mode 1 or mode 2? I used MS Windows Media Player to save the files, and then saved them to the new CDR. Was this not the way to make the CD?
Thanks for any help. I would love to get this baby working, and I play MP3s on CDR like CRAZY, so needless to say it is VERY important to me.
PLEASE, any advice!! I'm beggin here!!

Thanks in advance for ANY help.

Ken

[czechm8]

Originally Posted by keninsb

OK, I was looking forward to getting this sytem so much, but it has been a REALLY bad experience. The purchase was an ordeal, and the guy I bought from was, well, let's just say not exactly professional.
At any rate, the unit is installed and everything seems to be working, but I cannot get it to play MP3 files. The unit sees that a disc is inserted, but does nothing. It plays normal CDs fine. I have tried using some CDRs with MP3 files that used to play flawlessly on my Kenwood HU. I even tried burning a new CDR (brand new TDK disc) with new music, and no luck.
The Eclipse manual lists ALL kinds of limitations on the MP3 playback, but the main issue was that the files needed to be recorded at 128kbps and a sampling rate of 44khtz. The properties for my files indicate the same.
One thing I am wondering about, is that the operator's manual (for the Eclipse unit) indicates that CD ROM "mode 1" must be used for recording NOT mode 2. What the heck is mode 1 or mode 2? I used MS Windows Media Player to save the files, and then saved them to the new CDR. Was this not the way to make the CD?
Thanks for any help. I would love to get this baby working, and I play MP3s on CDR like CRAZY, so needless to say it is VERY important to me.
PLEASE, any advice!! I'm beggin here!!

Thanks in advance for ANY help.

Ken

I had the same problem with mine initially. It just takes a while for the AVN to read and recognize the file structure before it will start to play. I would suggest using no more the two levels of folders - like Artist, Song only. It takes longer for it to read a large CD as well.

Try one you have already made, but just leave it in for about 5 minutes. It should come up and play.
I am a little frustrated that it doesn't work faster. when you press the folder icon on the display it takes a while too to get back to the root directory. Just be patient at it will work.

Good luck.

[keninsb]

Originally Posted by czechm8

I had the same problem with mine initially. It just takes a while for the AVN to read and recognize the file structure before it will start to play. I would suggest using no more the two levels of folders - like Artist, Song only. It takes longer for it to read a large CD as well.

Try one you have already made, but just leave it in for about 5 minutes. It should come up and play.
I am a little frustrated that it doesn't work faster. when you press the folder icon on the display it takes a while too to get back to the root directory. Just be patient at it will work.

Good luck.

Thanks for the quick reply czechm8. I tried what you said and No luck. I had every finger and toe crossed and waited about 15 minutes a piece with mothing going on. When the cd is installed displays "checking disc") for about 10 seconds, then disapears. Nothing happens after that.
I tried pressing the MP3 button after th disc was installed fo a while and same thing ("Ckecking disc" displayed, then nothing.

Any other thoughts? I am afraid I MAY not get this covered under warranty (thanks to the prince of a guy I bough this from).

Thanks, Ken

[czechm8]

Originally Posted by keninsb

Thanks for the quick reply czechm8. I tried what you said and No luck. I had every finger and toe crossed and waited about 15 minutes a piece with mothing going on. When the cd is installed displays "checking disc") for about 10 seconds, then disapears. Nothing happens after that.
I tried pressing the MP3 button after th disc was installed fo a while and same thing ("Ckecking disc" displayed, then nothing.

Any other thoughts? I am afraid I MAY not get this covered under warranty (thanks to the prince of a guy I bough this from).

Thanks, Ken

You might try different burning software if you can. I have burned mp3's with Nero, Musicmatch Jukebox and just tonight with iTunes and my AVN30D was able to read them all. I was surprised how quicly it read the one I just burned tonight with iTunes. It just put all the files on the root directory with no folder sorting at all. When I do it this way, I can use the up & down arrows on my steering wheel to scroll through the songs. I think that function only works within the current folder. The others I have burned contain folder levels with Artist, Album & Song. Those seem to take much longer for the Eclipse unit to read.
This one I burned tonight had only 79 songs on it, but it came up within a couple of seconds after I inserted it.
I need to do some experimenting with burning software to see which works best. Part of my problem is that I have a very large library of mp3's but they are not all tagged very well. I have used Nero for years and I would suggest checking it out if you don't already use it. You have much more control over how things are burned with Nero than most other software. I can hook you up with a copy of it if you want to give it a whirl.

One thing I did tonight was to convert all the mp3 tags to ID3 ver. 1.1
The AVN units support version 1.0 and verson 1.1
Not sure if this was what made the difference, but like I said, it came up very quickly this time.

If you still can't seem to get it to work, I'll be willing to mail you one of my dics to see if your unit can read it. If it can, then the problem is not with the AVN, but something esle. If it can't then I'd say there may be a problem with it.

[keninsb]

Thanks again czechm8. All of my files are".mp3" files. Wehn you say you saved the files as ID3 files, is that a different format? Sorry, I am not exactly an MP3 guru.
I would love to try the Nero S/W if you think that may work. My email is keninsb@yahoo.com if you need to email me. I am hoping that there is some simple solution, and will give Eclipse a call today. Man, I hate to think of taking this unit out and sending it in. I am having surgery in a couple of weeks and will be laid up for about three months, so I am trying to get all of my little projects buttoned up.

Thanks again for the help. Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Ken

[czechm8]

Originally Posted by keninsb

Thanks again czechm8. All of my files are".mp3" files. Wehn you say you saved the files as ID3 files, is that a different format? Sorry, I am not exactly an MP3 guru.
I would love to try the Nero S/W if you think that may work. My email is keninsb@yahoo.com if you need to email me. I am hoping that there is some simple solution, and will give Eclipse a call today. Man, I hate to think of taking this unit out and sending it in. I am having surgery in a couple of weeks and will be laid up for about three months, so I am trying to get all of my little projects buttoned up.

Thanks again for the help. Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Ken

The files are still MP3 files. ID3 version 1.1 is the format in which the file tags are stored. There are several different ways in which the file tags are stored. My Eclipse manual says that it supports version 1.0 and 1.1.
I'll send you an e-mail with Nero info.

[keninsb]

Used Nero to burn a "test" CDR and everything works like a champ! Thanks again for the help, I would have been scratching my head on this one for a while.

Ken

[Stack15]

I just bought one of these AVN5435 units and I am having the exact same problem. Is there a free version of Neuro?