Does anybody know if you can shuffle all of the downloaded music put into the system. It seems that the mix only does the one CD(folder) and I like to be surprised by what may come next from the whole of my library!!

The rest of the car is absolutely fantastic by the way.

From the Columbus manual:

Random play function

– When in the Audio menu press the function key .

– Press on MIX in the pop-up window. All titles of the current audio

source will now be played in random order.

– Use the function key MIX to terminate the function of the current

title. The normal play function continues with the current title.

Hope that helps.

Ray (a "born in Gosport" man!)

Thanks Argee - have tried that but only mixes from the one folder not the whole library - will keep having a go at it though.

You have got the same colour as me - not seen another on the road yet - only the common silver and blue ones - shame!!!

Bet you are please to have moved from Gosport - the biggest cul- de-sac in the country.

Sorry, Fareham man - I should have read your post more thoroughly. It seems that you can't cycle the whole HD because the "Mix" option doesn't come up when the HDD is displayed. I'm sure that if there is a tweak, Bagpuss will know of it!

I left Gosport many, many years ago and only returned there to visit my dear Mum. Once she passed away, I'd got no reason for going there again!

The colour certainly turned some heads today when it was parked in a busy shopping area. It does show the dust, though - at least my hands will be softer from the more frequent washing.

Ray.

A quick fix I have found solves the problem.

Under the HDD drive I have created a root folder where all of the mp3-files are stored, except one of them. The last file is stored parallell to the root folder. To shuffle all of the mp3's, I press 'Mix' while I play the one single file that is not in the root folder.

clever 'work around'. lateral thinking - i like that !!

Question: Given this thread, Whats the best way to organise mp3's on the HDD, I get my car tomorrow and will be burning some DVD's to transfer music tonight.

Should I organise By

1) Artist then Album

2) Artist

3) Lump them all in a Single directory....YUK

I loaded my music onto 2GB SD cards, filed them in folders titled by artist. If there was more than one album, put the album in a sub-folder beneath the main one. Example:

Columbus display shows "Anastacia" folder

Touch that and "Pieces of a Dream" shows as another folder, above the mp3 files in the original folder, which are from "Freak of Nature." If I want to play the "Freak of Nature" album, I just touch the first title below the sub-folder. If I want the "Pieces of a Dream" folder, I touch that first, then a title. I hope that makes sense?

Think a little about how you want to display the folders, because they'll appear alphabetically. "The Eagles" will be way down the list, whereas "Eagles" will be much nearer the top, just like any other computer.

When loading, just press on "Media" then "SD Card" then alongside each folder shown there is an icon at the end. Press that, select "Copy" and away it goes. HTH

Ray

That was the plan, just saw the notes around playing random tunes as I do that all the time on my ipod, got too much choice so playing a random mix is ideal

... got too much choice so playing a random mix is ideal

N.B: Loading the folders way will only allow you to have a random play within each folder, not a random play of all folders' contents.

Ray

i did the same as argee - sort of. I have an extra layer of folders at the top of the tree titled "Artists A-E" and "Artists F-K" etc etc. This makes finding stuff quicker. Not sure why an SD card was used - its more efficient to use a DVD - a dual layer one is best. That way you can get most of your collection over to the columbus on 3/4 discs. I set the download going and went in the house to watch the telly !!! (i locked the car doors using the spare key inserted into the driver's door lock)

I loaded about 11Gb's of music on the thing and did as follows

Given my eclectic taste in music, there are main folders for Jazz, Classical, Rock, Country and "Various" (ie Soundtrack and Compilation albums). For all other styles (ie pop, r&B, rap, soft rock etc), I have 2 folders labelled Artists A-P and Q-Z.

If an artist has more than 4 albums loaded, then I keep with the artist/album format. Less than 4 then I simply dump them all in the same Artist folder.

Means I can listen to a genre, artist or album without having to touch the Columbus whilst driving. Only downside is if I want a compilation album so at that point, I either put stuff on an SD card, or plug in my MP3 player.