stupid friend of mine. a story — AVIC411 Forum Archive

Posted Jun 11, 2006 · 15:23 UTC#1

i have a freind who just ordered a z1. he is basically getting it on tuesday. tonight he just told me he was downloading a bunch of mp3 songs for the new unit. i told him a few info about the unit in the past becuase he doesnt like to research, or even read. such as the ability to store music on the hard drive. well i also mention that the unit only does it with original store bought ccd's. he insisted that it will store it even with a home made mp3 cd. i kept on saying it doesnt work that way. he kept on saying he can make it work. the knowledge this guy has is basically highschool level so he is no engineer or computer scholar. he works as a community college safety patrol. you know the guys who goes around the campus writing tickets to those who's meter has expired. i told him at this point it is impossible to just do it. he said he can do the possible when it is impossible. he told me he is going to sit in the parking lot to fiddle with the unit till it works with the cd full of mp3. i dont know why this is bothering me as much as it is, i know i should not even say anything to him like it did. it was just so hard to resist.

Posted Jun 11, 2006 · 18:25 UTC#2

yea some people are just thick headed. You can rip home made cds to teh hard drive as long as they are in audio cd format. but you cannot as of yet just transfer mps3 straight to the unit. hey but what the hell, if hes in his car fiddlin with buttons he wont be out writing parking tickets to student who cant afford to pay them !! :)

Posted Jun 11, 2006 · 22:32 UTC#3

i didnt know u could put in wave files straight onto the HD of the z1?
will it be able to just play it?

Posted Jun 12, 2006 · 03:40 UTC#4

949 said:
i didnt know u could put in wave files straight onto the HD of the z1?
will it be able to just play it?

Not wav files but CDDA CD's (ie regular store bought CD's or mp3's converted to audio cd's) can be ripped to the HD.

Also MP3's stored on CD can't be copied to the HD, but they can be played back on the z1.

Posted Jun 12, 2006 · 12:22 UTC#5

How can a college security/ticket writer guy buy a $2200 stereo for his car?

Posted Jun 12, 2006 · 21:19 UTC#6

dont know. i dont question how he has money. i do know he blows money pretty fast on different stuff all the time.

Posted Jun 12, 2006 · 21:38 UTC#7

It's always the kid delivering pizza's with the tricked out car and high-tech stereo. :P They're just enjoying life.

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 04:32 UTC#8

ImolaVirus said:
How can a college security/ticket writer guy buy a $2200 stereo for his car?

That's exactly what I was thinking. That has to be 2 months of his salary.

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 07:31 UTC#9

hey guys i need your help on this one.

he just emailed me this info to try to prove me wrong. what the hell is it saying? u can copy the mp3 over, as what i am trying to understand.

"This versatile DVD player reserves up to 10 gigabytes of the hard drive's memory to store music it rips from your standard CDs, plus the MP3 files you've burned on disc. The preloaded Gracenotes® software will even pull up and display the disc, artist, and track names for most CDs. You'll have a virtual jukebox in your dash, loaded with your favorite tunes."

where is he getting this?

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 10:18 UTC#10

949 said:
hey guys i need your help on this one.

he just emailed me this info to try to prove me wrong. what the hell is it saying? u can copy the mp3 over, as what i am trying to understand.

"This versatile DVD player reserves up to 10 gigabytes of the hard drive's memory to store music it rips from your standard CDs, plus the MP3 files you've burned on disc. The preloaded Gracenotes® software will even pull up and display the disc, artist, and track names for most CDs. You'll have a virtual jukebox in your dash, loaded with your favorite tunes."

where is he getting this?

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 12:38 UTC#11

From here:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-5SZbn83Y7a ... =130AVICZ1
or here:
http://www.dpcauto.com/products/864
or here:
http://www.jjielectronics.com/index.asp ... rodID=1230

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, it's not accurate.

However, it looks like crutchfields "hands-on-testers" figured this fact out as well:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-2weJ7ZfP38 ... 20Features

Auto Recording: When you play a music CD that is not recorded on the AVIC-Z1's HDD, the system automatically begins recording that CD to the music library. You can record the entire CD, or selected tracks. The unit can record up to approximately 200 music CDs onto the HDD. Note: Only CDs that contain 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo PCM digital audio can be recorded. It will not record MP3 files or music from CD-Rs or CD-RW.

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 17:18 UTC#12

949 said:
dont know. i dont question how he has money. i do know he blows money pretty fast on different stuff all the time.

I heard a scam once where the guys giving out the tickets were setting up the people in the parking lots to have stuff ripped off. The meter maid would get to know the schedule of the cars parked in the lots, of course could see how long they planned to stay by the time in the meter and were also supposed to be the security for the cars.

Janitors and meter maids - very overly trusted individuals.

Posted Jun 13, 2006 · 19:20 UTC#13

edrock200 said:
It will not record MP3 files or music from CD-Rs or CD-RW.

this part makes it sound like as long as its not from a r or rw that i will record but i wouldnt know of what other types of media there could be anyways.

Posted Jun 14, 2006 · 01:19 UTC#14

I am a little "slow" with all this. but in plain english, if i have songs downloaded on my computer from I tunes and then burn em on a cd will i be able to store them in my hard drive?

Posted Jun 14, 2006 · 02:37 UTC#15

PAID BY FORD said:
I am a little "slow" with all this. but in plain english, if i have songs downloaded on my computer from I tunes and then burn em on a cd will i be able to store them in my hard drive?

Depends on how you burn 'em. As long as you burn them as a plain old audio CD then yes, you can rip it to your hard drive.

Posted Jun 14, 2006 · 02:37 UTC#16

949 said:

edrock200 said:
It will not record MP3 files or music from CD-Rs or CD-RW.

this part makes it sound like as long as its not from a r or rw that i will record but i wouldnt know of what other types of media there could be anyways.

OK correction, an MP3 data disc on any medium cannot be copied to the hard drive, only CDDA audio CD's.

Posted Aug 02, 2006 · 23:45 UTC#17

edrock200 said:

949 said:

edrock200 said:
It will not record MP3 files or music from CD-Rs or CD-RW.

this part makes it sound like as long as its not from a r or rw that i will record but i wouldnt know of what other types of media there could be anyways.

OK correction, an MP3 data disc on any medium cannot be copied to the hard drive, only CDDA audio CD's.

I hate to beat a dead horse here... but when it comes to technology, I try to keep up. Essentially, when I make a CD (CD-R) with data, I can fit up to about 200 data files (MP3s), depending on size. However, I can create a "normal" CD also, writing the files to disc as music files, not data files, and can fit (on a good day!) about 17 songs on it.

Am I to understand this discussion to say that I can rip the "music" MP3s (from the latter-made CD) to my Z1, but I cannot rip the "data" MP3s to the Z1.

Thanks :D

Posted Aug 03, 2006 · 11:15 UTC#18

Well, kinda sorta, but you're a little fuzzy around the edges.

If I understand you correctly what you're calling a "music mp3" is not an mp3, it is an uncompressed PCM file which has 2 channels (stereo) and is recorded at 44hz (a sample is taken 44 times a second) at a 16-bit depth (each sample can represent 65,536 different values). That kind of CD is the kind you buy in a store or burned from as an "audio" cd. It can be put in any CD player and it will work (some players do have problems with CD-R's and/or CD-RW's).

What you're calling a "data mp3" is simply an MP3 and is highly compressed so is much smaller than the PCM file. This kind of CD requires a CD player or device that supports the MP3 format.

Technically any file is a "data" file but since the CDDA standard is specifically designed for music data files this format is called an "audio cd" and follows the Red Book standard. The disk full of mp3s is called a "data disk" and follows the Yellow Book standard. Video CD's would follow the White Book standard.

CD Standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM#Standards

How that clears things up a little.

Posted Aug 03, 2006 · 16:38 UTC#19

Cirbirus said:
Well, kinda sorta, but you're a little fuzzy around the edges.

If I understand you correctly what you're calling a "music mp3" is not an mp3, it is an uncompressed PCM file which has 2 channels (stereo) and is recorded at 44hz (a sample is taken 44 times a second) at a 16-bit depth (each sample can represent 65,536 different values). That kind of CD is the kind you buy in a store or burned from as an "audio" cd. It can be put in any CD player and it will work (some players do have problems with CD-R's and/or CD-RW's).

What you're calling a "data mp3" is simply an MP3 and is highly compressed so is much smaller than the PCM file. This kind of CD requires a CD player or device that supports the MP3 format.

Technically any file is a "data" file but since the CDDA standard is specifically designed for music data files this format is called an "audio cd" and follows the Red Book standard. The disk full of mp3s is called a "data disk" and follows the Yellow Book standard. Video CD's would follow the White Book standard.

CD Standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM#Standards

How that clears things up a little.

Well, that clears up the definitions of what I refer to as MP3 data vs. MP3 music. However, it doesn't answer my original question, which was: which, if either, can the Z1 rip? :D

Thanks for the info.

Posted Aug 04, 2006 · 02:11 UTC#20

The Z1 will play mp3 cd's in the cd drive but will NOT transfer the MP3's to the hard drive.

The Z1 will play audio cd's (wether you buy them or you make them at home by transfering your MP3's into an audio CD (generally 74 minutes of music...music, not data) and will rip them to the hard drive automatically.

The Z1 will NOT take your MP3 (data) CD's and transfer them to the hard drive.

So, basically, the iTunes library and MP3 archive of thousands of hours of music is useless to the Z1 until you make those MP3's and AAC's into music and make audio CD's out of them and then rip them back to the Z1's hard drive. Or you simply play MP3 discs in the Z1's drive.

Posted Aug 04, 2006 · 03:13 UTC#21

Scooter80 said:
The Z1 will play mp3 cd's in the cd drive but will NOT transfer the MP3's to the hard drive.

The Z1 will play audio cd's (wether you buy them or you make them at home by transfering your MP3's into an audio CD (generally 74 minutes of music...music, not data) and will rip them to the hard drive automatically.

The Z1 will NOT take your MP3 (data) CD's and transfer them to the hard drive.

So, basically, the iTunes library and MP3 archive of thousands of hours of music is useless to the Z1 until you make those MP3's and AAC's into music and make audio CD's out of them and then rip them back to the Z1's hard drive. Or you simply play MP3 discs in the Z1's drive.

Understood. So MP3-CDs ("data" MP3s) can be played but not ripped. MP3-CDs ("music" MP3s) can be ripped like any other CD.

When playing an MP3 "data" CD, is it possible to use a folder/directory structure and navigate that with the Z1? That may be asking for too much from it.

I'm getting it tomorrow. DucatiBoy's Z1-FC arrived today.

Posted Aug 04, 2006 · 15:17 UTC#22

I can be a little technology challanged compared to others, but this is the way I look at this:

What you call an mp3 is a data file. Period. Just like a Word document. The fact that the program you use to "open" it creates music is meaningless...it's still a data file. The Z1 hard drive will not accept these file extensions and even if you could, the software program to process these files is incapable of reading them from the hard drive....at this time. Work is in progress.

Now, when you convert the mp3 data file to a music (audio) file, it no longer has the mp3 file extension and is indeed in a format that the Z1 can use and play. It is now an audio file....not a data file....and is MUCH larger in size. Don't confuse the two...and audio file...even one created by converting an mp3 data file...is not an mp2 file any longer.

That's how I assess it and look at it. Hope that helps.

Posted Aug 04, 2006 · 19:46 UTC#23

03Aviator said:
I can be a little technology challanged compared to others, but this is the way I look at this:

What you call an mp3 is a data file. Period. Just like a Word document. The fact that the program you use to "open" it creates music is meaningless...it's still a data file. The Z1 hard drive will not accept these file extensions and even if you could, the software program to process these files is incapable of reading them from the hard drive....at this time. Work is in progress.

Now, when you convert the mp3 data file to a music (audio) file, it no longer has the mp3 file extension and is indeed in a format that the Z1 can use and play. It is now an audio file....not a data file....and is MUCH larger in size. Don't confuse the two...and audio file...even one created by converting an mp3 data file...is not an mp2 file any longer.

That's how I assess it and look at it. Hope that helps.

Got it. Thanks. One last related question: When the Z1 rips a store bought CD, it used the CDDB data on the CD to import information to the HU. What data, if any, will the Z1 "find" on a burned CD? Can I use the "idTag" information (acessible through an MP3 player like WinAmp)feature to create this information for the Z1 to import?

Thanks!

Posted Aug 04, 2006 · 23:42 UTC#24

thisiszachary said:

When playing an MP3 "data" CD, is it possible to use a folder/directory structure and navigate that with the Z1? That may be asking for too much from it.

Yes, the Z1 will navigate your folder system up to eight levels.

Yes, the Z1 will also read your "ID3" tag system encoded on your mp3 discs.
It can display:
Disc Title
Track Title
Folder Title
File Name
Artist Name
Genre
Release Year

only when encoded in the mp3's and the disc.