Hello, first things first - I'm not a Skoda owner. But my dad is. We want to get him an mp3 player to use in the car for his upcoming birthday, but can't make head or tail of the audio system manual, and I'm not sure if an mp3 player will work.

He has a Skoda Octavia Elegance, 2009 plates, with a Bolero audio system. We were looking at a Sony mp3 player to connect into the audio system, but I can't see where it would connect. I came across a reference to an AUX socket in the box between the front seats of a Yeti, does the Octavia have this and can an mp3 player be connected directly into it?

All help much appreciated

If you have a jumbo box between the front seats, theremay be a 3.5mm Aux input located in there.

If there is then you just need a cable to connect to that. Nice and cheap.

If not, it can be easy retrofitted.

However, you have to 'push' the music from the MP3 player to the HU.

The best OE suction is MDI which allows control of the iPod/iPhone from the HU or select from a large selection on a USB thumb drive (probably the best solution and also removed the need for a MP3 player).

I really like mine as it charges my iPhone and allows me to select podcasts, music, etc. from the HU and I sync the phone with my computer and can pick and choose what goes on there.

I do have a Comumbus as well so my 'normal' music is stored on the hard drive.

Following on from the answer above, I don't think that a Sony MP3 player is able to be controlled from the Bolero (via the MDI) so it will just be the same as connecting the output into the AUX socket if that's there.

 

The other easier (and far cheaper) way of doing things is to simply use an SD card which fits straight in the front of the Bolero and which then can be HU controlled.

Thanks folks, sounds like an SD card might be the easier option but I'll have a look at what is in the front seat box tomorrow.

As above, the SD card is a better option than the MP3 player.

The only negative being that you can't listen to it out of the car.

Have to admit that I didn't spot he had a Bolero, otherwise I would probably have suggested SD card as well.

If the Bolero is slow at reading the card, a firmware update may fix it. Mine was a xxxxxxxx 156 F model in a 2010 Octavia, with firmware 0053 and it took 3 minutes to read a half-full 32GB card, and a few seconds every time you changed album. After paying £39 for an update to 0054 it's instant. There's a long thread on "bolero firmware" in the octavia 2 section on this.

 

I think it's somewhat dangerous changing album while driving. I'd prefer a voice-activated system for controlling the music, but I'm not sure if one exists either in-car or e.g. on Android.

For voice activated stuff you'll need a Columbus and preferably a mfsw.