I just bought my G37 (09) Sedan with Nav. It has the CF input for audio input. The book says it can only take up to 512 files. Does this really mean that you can only put up to 512 songs? Will it just not read the rest or will it cause an error? Can I not just get an 8GB CF and load 1000 or so songs?
Thanks for any input!

 

only 512 songs. The others will not be read or display on the screen at all so just get a CF that fits about 512 song and get a few of those

 

it won't recognize anything over 512. i use 4GB cards. if you have short tracks and low bitrates you can maybe fit 512 on a 2GB card. i don't even use the MusicBox. might as well not even have it.

 

Thanks for the info, it saved me some $$$ on what size CF to buy. I agree on the MusicBox - kind of useless. Oh well...

 

oh crap i didnt know this.

i have an 8gb card in mine but dont have that many songs on it. lol i guess it was a waste getting one that big.

 

I never use the musicbox or the CF slot. Both are severely hindered.. makes me sad. Ipod and Cd's, and the radio is all that i use.

 

Looks like I'm in the minority, i use the Musicbox and the CF almost exclusively. And occasionally XM.

Getting an 8GB probably ain't too bad, you can always save higher bitrate MP3's on it. I only use a 2GB where i rotate the songs every now and then, so i haven't hit the file limit.

I have 256bit MP3's on the CF and it sounds much better than XM (obviously), on par with CD's and noticeably better than those i ripped into the Musicbox.

 

I guess I've hit the 512 song limit on the CF because the last few folders I added to the card do not show up on the screen. I have about 40 folders on the card, and each folder holds the songs from a full CD, so I probably exceeded 512 songs. That's a bummer because I bought an 8MB card, and I've only used about 2MB on it. I guess I could save them in a much higher bit-rate to improve sound quality, but they sound pretty good already at roughly 200 kbps with VBR, certainly better than the MusicBox.

I have an 80GB iPod classic too, but it's full, so I've been using the CF card for newly acquired music. I wish the iPod interface cable would properly charge the iPod, but instead it seems to drain the power, perhaps because it doesn't turn the iPod off when you turn the radio off. Moreover, the radio seems to switch on it's own to the iPod a few minutes after starting the car, as if I just plugged the cable into it, even though it was plugged in all along.

It is also annoying that the CF card doesn't seem capable of playing the songs in album order, even though I include the track number at the beginning of the file name. The songs appear in random order within each folder. Have you all found the same?

One other annoyance -- the Random/Repeat setting seems to change on it's own. I usually set it to "CF Card Random", and invariably, within a few songs, it seems to change itself to "Folder Random" or "Folder Repeat". What's up with that? Is there a phantom in my car?

In general, I really enjoy the stereo in my '09 G37X, but these anomolies are a bit disappointing and distracting. Are there fixes or workarounds for any of these things?

 

Pretty much just use my ipod and xm

 

You may not have hit the 512 song limit, but rather the folder limit. From the owner's manual:

 

The following web page says that the Music Box will only recognize Compact Flash cards up to 2gb but some of you guys are using cards larger than 2gb.

http://g37-tech.com/wiki/Music_Box_FAQ

I'd like to get a 4 or 8gb card and use a higher bitrate for my MP3s. So can I get a 4 or 8gb card and put 512 tracks on it or will it only recognize the first 2gb of storage on the card?

 

That link says any size flash card will work but with the limitations listed. The owner's manual only references the file limit (512 with NAV, 999 without NAV), so I'm assuming this reference to 2GB is based on the file limit. You should be fine with a larger card, you just won't be able to use all of its memory capacity.

 

As long as I can put on 512 songs on a 4gb card and it will recognize all of them, then I'll be happy. I just don't want to get a 4gb card, put 512 songs on it that use say 3gb of the card, only to find out that the music box won't read anything on the card past the first 2gb. That's my concern. The link isn't really clear about that part.

Here's what it says.
The first question/answer gives the impression that I can put 512 songs on a larger card and it will recognize all of them no matter how much space they use. But the second question/answer says it will only recognize 2gb. So what happens if 512 songs take up more than 2gb? Will it be able to read all of them?

 

^ I guess I'll let someone chime in that's used a larger card and loaded it up.

The question I have is where that website got its info since the owner's manual has some specifications that don't list the 2GB limit. From the owner's manual:

Supported file systems

CompactFlash card: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32

Supported Versions

MP3: Version MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG2.5
Sampling frequency 8 kHz - 48 kHz
Bit rate 8 kbps - 320 kbps, VBR*4

WMA: Version WMA7, WMA8, WMA9
Sampling frequency 32 kHz - 48 kHz

Bit rate 32 kbps - 192 kbps, VBR

Folder levels

With navigation system:
Folder levels: 8, Folders: 255 (including root folder), Files: 512 (Max. 255 files for one folder)

Without navigation system:
Folder levels: 8, Folders and files: 999 (Max. 255 files for one folder)

 

theres no SIZE limit, just file #.

i use xm and the music box mostly.