Problem with USB "Random track" mode

[Gimli]

I just started using my external hard drive to play MP3s in the Genesis this past weekend and I think the "random track" mode is anything but random. Understand that I have over 120GB worth of music on that HDD, all split in folders by Artist name, then album.

For whatever reason the DIS system, after scanning the drive (and it does scan it all because I can access everything on it manually), always starts at the first song on the drive and in regular sequential mode. Minor annoyance but it should remember when I set it to "random track" mode.

The biggest annoyance is that even after switching it to "random track" mode it seems to only like about a dozen artists on the drive, most of them near the beginning of the folder. For example, 10 of the "preferred" have names that start with A or B. The other two start with M. I have over 100 artists on that drive but the DIS always picks a song from one of those 12 or so artists, except once every 7-8 songs where it appears to truly go random. This is definitely something Harman/Hyundai needs to address because it basically makes the convenient usage of the USB mode impossible.

Other things I'd like to see in USB mode and which shouldn't be all that hard to figure out since about 95% of MP3 players have them:

• ability to go random track based on everything on the disc, based on artist or based on category
• Instead of just displaying the partial file name of the song that's playing it should read the actual ID3 tag and display actual artist name, album name and track name, only to fall back on file name if that info is not available
• a nice touch would be to show album art on the DIS screen if it's included in the file/folder

I love my Genesis, and I really like the DIS but this aspect of it has been grossly botched and under-developed. Hopefully they can make it better with another update.

Also my Gen was manufactured after the DIS update TSB came out and it's VIN falls outside the TSB.

 

[thomaspf]

Agreed. The other non sensical limitation is the fact that repeat and random ignores subfolders.

Given that the navigation is implemented so slow and poorly the only way to navigate a larger collection halfway fast is with multiple levels of folders.

But once you got to a tracks the sound is so nice. Let's hope for an upgrade.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[cliffbig]

Randomization on iPod is execrable to nonexistent, too; don't know why Harman Kardon missed the boat so badly on this when everything else about the Lexicon system is superlative. It's a surprising failure--and even more surprising that, even when they've been aware of the problem for several months, they've done nothing (software update, TSB, etc.) to address it.

 

[Kurt]

I have noticed this issue also. Is there a specific number of folders per level that I should use on my usb key to allow the system to access all the music during random playback?

Is it like 16 songs per folder and 16 folders per level with all the songs at the same level heirarchy?

 

[jkohn]

I think this is an example of auto companies just not having anybody with software expertise. In pretty much all the vehicles I've owned with these types of systems, there have been annoying limitations of one kind or another. The DIS implementation seems particularly bad, though.

You'd think they could hire some high-school kid to write the software for these multimedia players, it's not like there aren't plenty of open source options on the internet to use as examples of usability and feature set. I mean why can't we have things like play list support, or the ability to queue up several albums when on a road-trip?

Hopefully things will get better in the future with the Microsoft/Sync integration. But realistically I think the chances of use getting updates for our existing systems to address these limitations is extremely unlikely.

 

[OBCT]

I have noticed this issue also. Is there a specific number of folders per level that I should use on my usb key to allow the system to access all the music during random playback?

Is it like 16 songs per folder and 16 folders per level with all the songs at the same level heirarchy?

I don't know.

In my (admittedly non-exhaustive nor scientific) long-term casual testing of the DIS's random playback of USB devices, there is no rhyme or reason for it's obvious limitations. I've done little to no testing on small capacity USB devices, or large-capacity devices filled with smaller numbers of tracks (because I don't consider that a practical use of the technology).

My findings are that, despite repeating tracks far too often, the system does not do so in any predictable or consistently discriminatory way.

For example. If the USB is loaded with 70 folders worth of music - some also containing sub-folders (a total of, say, 1000 tracks) - it seems to be able to play them all on random (eventually; at least regarding any observable alphabetical, numerical, number of files, file size, (sub-)folder depth, etc bias). This is based on almost a year of very consistent use and subsequent observations.

Now, there may be a minimum threshold that allows the system to do "random" fully properly, as per your question, but I expect/worry that this threshold is far too limiting to be useful for the average user, certainly including me.

 

[OBCT]

I think this is an example of auto companies just not having anybody with software expertise. In pretty much all the vehicles I've owned with these types of systems, there have been annoying limitations of one kind or another. The DIS implementation seems particularly bad, though.

You'd think they could hire some high-school kid to write the software for these multimedia players, it's not like there aren't plenty of open source options on the internet to use as examples of usability and feature set. I mean why can't we have things like play list support, or the ability to queue up several albums when on a road-trip?

Hopefully things will get better in the future with the Microsoft/Sync integration. But realistically I think the chances of use getting updates for our existing systems to address these limitations is extremely unlikely.

My thoughts exactly.

There are so many simple-yet-powerful media players on the market these days, it's a little frustrating that our otherwise brilliantly technological Genesises perform like vehicles with early-generation multimedia systems simply because of the software. The hardware, I maintain, is mostly top-notch across the breadth of the vehicle - especially for the price. I think Hyundai decided to go with the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" philosophy with the entire DIS software engineering, arguably to a fault.

I won't complain too loudly about this because the Genesis isn't the only vehicle out there with notable software "eccentricities". Also, the relative value pricing of the car makes things like this a lot more palatable to me. I'd be more upset if I was paying top-of-the-class-in-every-category money on a comparable Lexus or Benz.

It's definitely an issue and one of only a few caveats on an excellent vehicle as a whole.