Sorry if this has been covered before (couldn't spot anything), but I've been playing my mp3 tracks via an SD card as it seemed the easiest option (although it can be slow to load). However, is there a way with the Bolero of randomly accessing these tracks (shuffle mode etc.) as they always load in alpha order? Or would I need to attach a seperate mp3 player via the aux slot and have that on shuffle mode?

Thanks in advance!

In Media Mode, select SD card and there should be a "MIX" option select it and it should (in theory) make a random selection from the tracks on the SD card.

If you're having problems with the SD card, check its speed rating, you probably need to have a Class 4 card or better to prevent any lag.

Here's the online manual: http://ws.skoda-auto.com/download/4all/Documentation/en/Octavia/0609/radio/A5FL_Octavia_Bolero_CarRadio.pdf

Yeah, thanks, sorry my fault, didn't explain fully - when I put stuff on the SD card (via media player I think) and then looked at the file structure it has all the artists in seperate sub-files. Therefore, when I try and use the mix function on the bolero it only mixes what is in that particular sub-file, so if there is only one track by that artist it essentially puts it on repeat.

Now, a normal mp3 player would ignore the sub-file folders and be able to recognise all songs and shuffle those, but the bolero seems unable to do this.

Therefore, am I going to have to wipe the SD card and transfer the mp3 files again but this time manually so as to keep them as seperate songs on one SD big file??

Well I just downloaded the Bolero manual & this is what I found in regard to the playing of MP3 music files.

• Data names must be no longer than 64 characters.

• The list structure is restricted to a depth of 8 list levels.

• The name of the artist, the album and the title of the reproduced MP3 data can

be shown as ID3 tag, providing this information is available. The list and data name

will be displayed if there is no ID3 tag.

• Playlists are supported.

Whether this makes any sense to you at all I don't know. BTW have you tried telling it to scan the SD card first?

• Playlists are supported.

On page 11 of the on-line Bolero manual it says "Play lists are not supported." but this may only apply to CD's. I couldn't find any other mention of 'play lists'.

It says on page 16 (set-up media) :

Scan/Mix/Repeat including sub-folder - plays all MP3 data one after the other according to the sequence on the played medium, which are stored in the folders and sub-folders.

Ok, loaded up a diff SD card but this time on the laptop draged the mp3's across from one open list (c drive) to another (the sd card on f drive) as songs with no folders/sub folders, tried it out in the bolero and this time the 'mix' setting works fine, but better still there is no loading up time for the media player and it is lightening quick!

Obviously the Bolero is a bit confused by anything more than one sub-folder layer (and then becomes very slow as well), so perhaps this may help others with slow loading times!

God help it when my music collection hits it then.

I've got nearly 2800 tracks, taking up 13,8Gb; Each artist has their own folder, as does each album.

I'm having problems getting random play to work properly too, with MDI as well as SD card.

You seem to need one file in the top file level - that helps.

But MIX mode still gets "stuck" in a folder sometimes.

Maybe the 64 character limit applies to the whole path, not jut file name

e.g "MDI\Artists A\Aerosmith\Greatest Hits\06 - Back in the saddle.mp3" is 65 characters.

I'm not sure I can set up a file structure which covers my music collection without some paths exceeding 64 characters.

hmm. any tips much appreciated.

You could just simplify the file structure to a single folder.

Eg: C:\Itunes\Abba\Unknown Album

So you could have several Abba Albums within the initial Abba folder, each Album having its own folder, but what you could do is just empty all of the contents of each Album folder into one named Unknown Album.

That may help it.

Hmm yeah, I could have a random play folder I suppose, where I put an additional copy of everything. With a 250GB hard drive I've got the capacity to do that.

Might have to do without an easy option random play - probably the case that my music collection is just too big? Still, I'm happy with the touch screen navigation, it's so much better, and safer, than plugging in my mp3 player into an Aux port like I used to.

Anyone know if this sort of thing (random play, playlists,etc.) is easier with iPod/MDI?

Abba albums.... Indy ??

Hey, don't knock the 70's & 80's, it's where the best music comes from IMHO.

I have just copied 300 songs into the root folder of the SD card much easier to flick through songs which in esence appear randomly than going back through folders.

I'll be using the CD (mp3) for albums, the SD with random selection from my fav albums. I call it "driving tunes". So I then bring the card indoors and zap/add music when needed.

Btw, into the La Roux album at present, worth a punt.