@SwissRob I can't help you with tools for converting WMV to FLAC on Windows as I use a Mac but Rifleman's suggestion of Media Monkey does seem to be a popular choice.

 

As regards file and folder structure on your external drives - USB or SD Card - you can put them wherever you like, in any mixture of recognised audio formats, so long as you don't exceed the previously discussed limits of 1k files per folder (including root) and 10k total. There is however a view by folder menu option so it's best to keep some sort of order to your hierarchy. You may also want to reduce the total number of folders or you'll end up with an excessively long list to scroll through.

In your example I'd be inclined to create a single folder titled "Dire Straits" and copy (nest) the three separate album folders into it.

 

You are correct in your opinion that you don't need the 'Music' folder.

 

Columbus will scan and catalogue all valid audio tracks on the inserted drive using the metadata tags which it then uses to compile and arrange the show by track/album/artist/genre menus. For that reason it's advisable to ensure those tags are all set correctly. Also ensure Track Numbers are set if you want an album to be played in the correct order rather than alphabetically.

Album Art is purely eye candy but is aesthetically more pleasing than the bland default icon used if the artwork is missing (at least that's the case with the MY16 & MY17 Columbus). 500x500 to 600x600 images are a good compromise between file size and on-screen quality.

 

I've probably gone beyond the realms of your original query, but hey-ho!

 

7 hours ago, Rifleman said:

Give MediaMonkey a try

Thanks Rifleman! I definitely will give it a try this weekend. I take delivery next Wednesday! Happy me! 

 

7 hours ago, BillyJim said:

I've probably gone beyond the realms of your original query

Thanks BillyJim! It was exactly the kind of knowledgeable answer I was hoping for! That's great! All the best, Rob

On 3/12/2017 at 21:21, Xaime said:

I'm pretty sure it plays 96 kHz / 24 bit material

Hi Xaime - that would be great if it does!  

Thanks for adding that. Can you test it and report your findings? 

I will experiment also - but I don't have the car yet  .

All the best, Rob

In a world of Bluetooth and Android Auto/Apple Car Play it would be interesting to know the % of owners who use mainly 

 

• SD CARD
• CD's
• BLUETOOTH 
• APPLE CAR PLAY 
• ANDROID AUTO

I use AA almost all the time just for the convenience and the voice commands 

 

I can say 

 

Play (insert artist and album) using (insert app such as Google play music  / Spotify) and it just does it. 

 

Usually I'll throw 50 albums into a play list on Google, Play Music and use shuffle then change the content every few weeks. 

 

Personally for a vast array of coding formats I'd use VLC via Bluetooth.... 

 

But as a music lover and with a degree in Music Technology I have particularly loved the deep dive into this subject..... 

 

 

Edited 4 August, 20178 yr by Zenbasses

(I'm on a Mac, so I'm probably talking to about 8% of you...)

 

I wasted countless hours arriving at my final solution for feeding music into Columbus. I started with FLAC, but found that it would not display the album art, so I converted all my CDs to WAV. That produced large, albeit lossless, files. But, as I recall, also did not display the album art. I finally ripped everything in Apple lossless format and am happy with the result: smaller files, good sound and album art. I used iTunes to do all the ripping and create custom folders.

 

I bought a 256 Gb SD card and found out I could only fill 180 Gb's before breaching the 10,000 file limit. My 128 Gb card is full and works fine. The 8 Gb Jukebox is full and I have a 64 Gb USB stick in the slot next to the lighter socket. I have 700 Mb's of country music (there, I've said it) MP3's on a CD in the player.

 

It is almost my entire music library. The one problem I have is that it is difficult to find what I want to play on the move, which is why I was interested to read Zenbasses' post above. I don't have a mobile contract that would sustain continued use in the car, I believe. I'm guessing the Columbus Voice only controls the phone, not music selection?

 

I've tried to train TGBITW to choose the music. It's like trying to drive a nail with a banana. I lover her dearly, but she has never moved beyond the '80's. To her, computers are the enemy.

 

Second best, I've created a top level folder called "Music", select that and random play. Just use the next track button until I get something I like. Pretty crude. I've created folders of my favourite tracks that I can play, but after many plays, they need revising.

 

I've found that I'm listening to more and more classical music in the car, especially in heavy traffic situations. Really calming...

59 minutes ago, freelunch said:

I've tried to train TGBITW to choose the music. It's like trying to drive a nail with a banana. I lover her dearly, but she has never moved beyond the '80's. To her, computers are the enemy.

 

Hahaha! I laughed out loud when I read that! 

 

I have designated my shoe/handbag consumer as "Queen of The Music" - it's a title she likes so much that she will overcome all difficulties to be worthy of (OK, while still complaining). 

(N.B. Churchill once said that "Sentences with the preposition at the end is something up with which I will not put"!  so I rewrote the above )

 

 

13 hours ago, freelunch said:

 

It is almost my entire music library. The one problem I have is that it is difficult to find what I want to play on the move, which is why I was interested to read Zenbasses' post above. I don't have a mobile contract that would sustain continued use in the car, I believe. I'm guessing the Columbus Voice only controls the phone, not music selection

 

 

So when Android Audio is plugged in the voice commands work from your phone not from the car.. So you can say anything you usually would when using Google voice... 

 

You can even go 

 

'' Okay Google, play me music similar to (insert artist) on (insert app)'' and it will just get a random selection. 

 

I also like the ability to go

 

'' okay Google navigate me to the nearest petrol station/supermarket/pharmacy etc etc''

 

As for music saved on the HDD and SD cards if the metatags (ID3) are correct in the file structure of the mp3 I would assume the Columbus would play like them via voice as long as you have a single layer folder structure and don't have an Artist folder under which is said Artists albums....but I haven't tried 

 

And yes I have 30gb of data a month on a Sim only contract but it's on £17 a month including Spotify for free. And my Google play music is a one off annual fee... 

 

However you can save playlists and music to your phone so you do it over your homes wifi so your not using data when driving

 

Saving Google maps for offline use at home before travelling also negates the need for a data connection. 

 

I for one have used the Columbus only a handful of times on its own I much prefer using AA where everything is in one place, I can use '' okay google'' and this way I don't have to take my eyes off the road or hands off then wheel. 

 

 

 

Edited 5 August, 20178 yr by Zenbasses

@Zenbasses, @freelunch, @BillyJim @Rifleman

 

All: many thanks for your inputs!

 

I have now several large (128GB, 64GB) SD cards, 64GB USB sticks and have now converted my Storage Area Network music collection (.WAV and .WMA) to .flac, 

I have pulled metadata off the internet with freedb, have Media Monkey Gold [MMG] and Exact Audio Copy [EAC] as converters. 

EAC is very slow to rip but uses an online database to correct the ripped CD so it is bit-perfect and it gets metadata. It can also do the flac conversion and delete the WAV original. 

MMG is very powerful: have bought lifetime updates (=Gold). I love its conversion algorithm that makes use of multiple CPU cores to multi-thread the conversion. I run conversions in parallel. My CPU has 8 cores. 

Have converted about 600GB of WAVs. I will have to be selective about what goes on those cards. 

 

The most tedious part has been correcting the metadata. For some reason, my original rips have often not correctly extracted metadata for the first track so have corrected these semi-manually with Media Monkey. Perhaps this lay with earlier versions of Windows Media Player. Anyway I will never use Windows Media Player again. 

 

Have almost finished converting >800 CDs on disk and will spread them over at least two SD cards. Only one level of directories:  \<Artist> <Album>\*.flac

 

Queen of the Music (handbag/shoe specialist, aka TGBITW) will accompany me on our first drives and we will see how we fare. 

 

I have a company iPhone (and am an Apple atheist) so can't/won't be using that or iTunes with any music functions. 

 

Conscious of freelunch's experiences, I am going to keep an eye on the behaviour with the Columbus display and see whether I can (or want to) live with how it performs. 

I will let you guys know what works/doesn't work for me. 

 

Again: many, many thanks for all your knowledge, help and encouragement! 

 

Rob

PS. We pick up the car tomorrow, 9th August 2017! 

9 minutes ago, SwissRob said:

@Zenbasses, @freelunch, @BillyJim @Rifleman

I will have to be selective about what goes on those cards. 

 

Yes, you should. Taking the easy road, I just loaded album after album on the SD cards. In the car, I find myself skipping half the songs. I should have taken more care. I keep copies of the cards on my computer, so I'll start weeding out the dross when I find the time.

Hi All

Newbie here

I've got an early Octavia 3 with Amundsen. I play .flac files held on an external hard drive through a Denon with no problem.

I've just transferred some flac files on to both a FAT32 formatted USB stick and SD card and the Amundsen can see both devices but can't see or read the flac files.

Any suggestions please?

Cheers

Andy

Hello Friends

 

I have come very late to this subject, mainly because I only took delivery of my Superb L&K at the end of April. Since then I have been trying out different audio formats and have been amazed by the versatility of the Columbus and Canton combination. Where to start....?

 

The CD/DVD drive: As well as the usual CD it will play Dolby Digital and DTS audio from DVD. It is necessary to select which alternative you want (where present). It will also play the hi-res 24/96 stereo files if present. It will not play DVD Audio (MLP) files from DVD nor, strangely, DTS from the CD versions released by DTS in the early 2000s, e.g. Santana Abraxas in 5.1.

 

I have no doubt that MP3 can be played but I have not tried. I have many hi-res FLAC and WAV lossless files from 16/44 to 24/48 to 24/96 (both stereo & 5.1) as well as 24/192 in stereo and so far all play which is a major surprise given the specifciation for the unit from the Skoda adroid app which seems to show that Skoda don't seem to know what they have fitted! It is true to say that the Skoda dealers don't know its capabiliaties. I did play a 5.1 album for my local service manager who was stunned by it and had no idea it existed in a Skoda, let alone fitted as standard in this model. It's a pity that Skoda don't provide a sampler disc with some 5.1 music as Mercedes once did with one of their convertibles. One small caveat; my 24/192 files are vinyl conversions and seem to have a high level hiss not apparent on my home system. I am going to re-record these in 24/96 to check but although they play I am just not sure there isn't some type of incompatibility with 24/192.

 

One area that is not quite so good. I have a number of 1970s quadraphonic albums converted from vinyl into 4.0 DTS. The results playing these are rather mixed. It was not unusual back then to place the bass guitarand sometimes the drums in the rear speakers. That is a bit of a disaster with the Canton system as the rear speakers in the doors have no woofer, only mid range and tweeter. So that funky bass behind you, well...isn't!! With 5.1 this problem is largely dealt with by the .1 although I have noticed occasional tracks with marginally depleted bass but not enough to trade in the car!!!

 

As to storage, I cannot believe the number of inputs into the system; CD/DVD, 2 SD cards and 2 USB plus BT for the phone. Even with the huge files (up to 3GB per album) it is still possible to get a significant number of albums linked into the system and....oops, forgot the hard drive in the Columbus! So, way in excess of 500GB can be accessed at any time with 4 x 128GB SD or USB drives. Phew!

 

My only other comment, and I noted this from another set of posts on Briskoda, at first I thought that the sound was incredibly bright, even harsh. I think that the speakers are now settling down, probably in a similar way that home hi-fi speakers can become sweeter with use. I actually have a CD that is meant to 'burn' them in more quickly. However, despite this improvement I still have the treble on the equalizer set to the absolute minimum of -9. And with the much more refined top end of the 24/96 files, whether stereo or 5.1, I can say that they are now better described as revealing. For the more prog rock orientated I have been listening to Deep Purple: Machine Head and ELP: Brain Salad Surgery this week both in 5.1 surround. I can honestly say that I have heard some more intricate elements in the mix on both, particularly Jon Lord's and Emo's keyboards, than I have on my home system with ostensibly much better Arcam amp and Spendor speakers.

 

To conclude: Would I recommend this system? Answer: absolutely! My main concern is that most owners with this system may not be aware what it can really do and may not have the relevant audio files. So, would Skoda maintain this amazing capability in future models? I certainly hope so but who knows?? Anyway, the one thing I can say is that long queues on the M25 are just that bit more bearable.