This is one of those "surely there must be a solution, but suspect it's a feature" rather like the issue where you can accept a phne call from a button on the steering wheel but not end it!

I like to listen to recordings on a USB stick with material ripped from CDs and other sources. Each collection/album is in a file. If I set the system playing tracks from 'album X', I expect to return to the same album after parking and leaving the car. However, all to often the car starts playing music from a completely different album which is almost never the next one alphabetically.

Am I doing something wrong or is it a fault or.....a feature?

Any ideas?

It’s a fault I’m afraid which Škoda seem to have no idea how to fix!

I had the same problem from the day I picked up the car in Feb 2025 until January of this year. In January I spent some time in the car trying to document the problem so I could present the document at my first service (23/02/2026). During the process the infotainment system suddenly went blank and eventually reset itself. That reset seemed to fix the problem so I couldn’t recreate the fault and consequently I had nothing to submit to the dealer. 4 days after the service the fault returned!! When its faulty a press of the “next track” button results in it going to the next album rather than the next track.

You may find also that playlists don’t work either, same effect.

Also it went through a phase where if I selected an album to play and that album was also present on my phone then the infotainment system would play track 1 from the usb stick then the same track from the phone then track 2 from the usb stick etc. etc.

A cheap £5 mp3 player from China does a better job than Škoda. Not very good considering it’s a £45k+ car.

Needless to say I won’t be having another Škoda…

Having returned to trying to understand what's been going on with playing "random" MP3, I realised that they weren't random at all. The unit had managed to set itself to play tracks in artist aphabetical order. I had previously set it to play in folder order. Quite why it decided to change setting, I can't fathom. I'm certain is wasn't me!

On 20/03/2026 at 14:24, 100andthirty said:

Having returned to trying to understand what's been going on with playing "random" MP3, I realised that they weren't random at all. The unit had managed to set itself to play tracks in artist aphabetical order. I had previously set it to play in folder order. Quite why it decided to change setting, I can't fathom. I'm certain is wasn't me!

I’m finding the same trouble. Having struggled to get it to play an actual album from my iPhone’s Music app, once I leave the car and return, it then plays tracks from my phone’s whole library in alphabetical order.

Selecting the randomiser only works for one track.

Every other modern car I’ve had can do this with no hassles but it seems the software writers at Skoda have never listened to music before.

No problem with Spotify premium, it continues where I leave off and runs/plays flawlessly.

I dropp Apple Music a few years ago

Thanks. Though that might work for you, I'd like to play tracks from my phone. I find Spotify will collate music for the user, rather than just an album or tracks randomly. Plus in my locale, there are big areas with no mobile coverage, so it doesn't connect well.

Every other car I've had (with bluetooth) has worked fine. They just play random tracks from my phone.

I started to consider if returning to a USB stick would work, but that's the very first post here, saying that doesn't work.

I wish I'd kept my Pioneer 6CD changer now and put it in the boot.

1 hour ago, Trickiejohn said:

No problem with Spotify premium, it continues where I leave off and runs/plays flawlessly.

I dropp Apple Music a few years ago

All very well if you want to subscribe to streaming services but as the owner of 2000+ cds, all of which I converted to flac (for my own personal use) I can’t justify paying for the music all over again. All my favourite music is pre-mid eighties so not interested in any newer stuff other than a few exceptions.

Every other car I’ve owned has managed the very simple task of playing back the music I choose in the order I choose so why can’t Skoda manage it on the mk4? My mk3 Superb had no problems with this..

Flac??? Wow, that IS dedication to the cause of sound quality.

Interesting that the MK3 did it though. What the chuffin' 'ell has happened?

12 minutes ago, Supratad said:

Flac??? Wow, that IS dedication to the cause of sound quality.

Interesting that the MK3 did it though. What the chuffin' 'ell has happened?

The house is filled with speakers in my SONOS music system. Lossless format is essential to get the most out of it. All of my files are stored on my home server so makes sense just to copy the files I want from the server onto a usb stick and plug it in to the car…

It took quite a while to rip all those cds but well worth it. All the original cds sit in my loft now gathering dust.