Newbie to Honda & Jazz - how on earth can I get my mp3 music files to work?!

[Graham Dicker]

I don't know the version. I did request to have the unit updated with my first year service in December and they must have done that because I can now turn traffic announcements on and off while moving which I couldn't do before. Fortunately the CD player keeps its own record of where it last stopped and so is not affected by reboots so I will make and use a CD instead.

[guest6636]

Well I collected the brand new Jazz today and it has now got 130 miles under its belt.  I asked the dealer about listening to the Walkman and she described an adaptor/connector which "marries" the aux-in jack to a usb connector, apparently can be found at Maplins, PC World etc - so long as adaptor/connector doesn't cost a King's ransom then I shall give that a whirl.

On another matter does anyone have a slick way of keeping on top of the car's interior humidity levels to prevent near total "fogging" of all windows - I was forever juggling with a combination of fan speed and heater temp and vents with lack-lustre results.

I do like the auto headlight function though!  

Thanks!

[Skyrider]

On another matter does anyone have a slick way of keeping on top of the car's interior humidity levels to prevent near total "fogging" of all windows - I was forever juggling with a combination of fan speed and heater temp and vents with lack-lustre results.

I do like the auto headlight function though!  

Thanks!

Air con on , recirc off, fan on two, air to feet and screen, heat set to comfortable.

[ColinB]

On another matter does anyone have a slick way of keeping on top of the car's interior humidity levels to prevent near total "fogging" of all windows - I was forever juggling with a combination of fan speed and heater temp and vents with lack-lustre results.

Assuming you have manual vent controls rather than automatic climate control, use the A/C in combination with the heat setting because that produces warm dry air. Direct it up onto the screen, adjust the fan speed according to your tolerance level of the noise, and it should clear pretty quickly. I think the handbook also suggests setting it to recirc rather than fresh, but personally I never bother.

[andruec]

Well I collected the brand new Jazz today and it has now got 130 miles under its belt.  I asked the dealer about listening to the Walkman and she described an adaptor/connector which "marries" the aux-in jack to a usb connector, apparently can be found at Maplins, PC World etc

I'm sceptical about that. Not the adapter per se - technically it would be possible for an adaptor to include digital sampling technology that makes the analogue device look like a USB microphone. Also I think a standard might exist for transferring analogue data via a USB connection. Maybe.

What I'm sceptical of is that the Infotainment unit would be able to use such a thing.

There is a big difference between being able to communicate with something that claims to be a 'block storage device' and something that claims to be 'a bit stream device'. It's an entirely different type of conversation. The bit stream device 'conversation' consists of:

<frequency sample>..<frequency sample>..<frequency sample>..<frequency sample>..<frequency sample>

Several thousand of these every second per channel. It is nothing more than a series of integers (or floating point numbers) that indicate the electrical state of a signal at a given moment.

But the conversation with a block storage device consists of:

<get me a list of files>
<open this file>
<get me the first block of data>...<get me the next block of data>....<get me the next block of data>

Each block of data does contain a series of frequency samples but they are encoded in various ways (MP3, WMA etc. etc.) and after decoding them you then have to use them to reconstruct the original (approximately) <frequency samples>.

Technically the Infotainment unit could support such a cable. There does come a point when a sequence of <frequency sample>s get sent to a D/A converter. So the file system traversing, block reading and decoding steps could be skipped. But I didn't see anything in the manual that implied such a thing had been implemented and frankly I'd be astonished if it worked. It's the kind of clever thinking and attention to detail that sadly I have yet to see in the Infotainment unit.

A less technical explanation here.

[andruec]

On another matter does anyone have a slick way of keeping on top of the car's interior humidity levels to prevent near total "fogging" of all windows - I was forever juggling with a combination of fan speed and heater temp and vents with lack-lustre results.

Yah, I started a thread a while back complaining about it. I've never found Hondas to be particularly good where cabin ventilation is concerned. I have a model with climate control and what I've settled on is driving around with vent position set to foot+windscreen. The temp and fan speed are still controlled by the car and it works quite well. On a really cold damp night the screen does sometimes still need the proper demist function but infrequently.

[Dayjo]

Yah, I started a thread a while back complaining about it. I've never found Hondas to be particularly good where cabin ventilation is concerned. I have a model with climate control and what I've settled on is driving around with vent position set to foot+windscreen. The temp and fan speed are still controlled by the car and it works quite well. On a really cold damp night the screen does sometimes still need the proper demist function but infrequently.

That setting works well, for me too! 

[guest1372]

Something like this item: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5-LED-Bluetooth4-1-EDR-APT-X-Audio-Stereo-Music-Transmitter-for-TV-PC-MP3-DVD-/332072839078 would take the 3.5mm audio output from your walkman and send it to the infotainment unit as a bluetooth stream; you wouldn't get the prev/next/pause functions returned to the player but at least your audio would be clear.  This one like most similar ones only takes power from the usb socket.  (A memory stick would still be a better option overall)
--
TG

[andruec]

That's a good idea. Only one thing slightly bothers me - when I stream audio using Bluetooth from my phone I get full control and artwork on the Infotainment unit. I also get full control with my streaming headphones. There's no way this device can do that so I assume it's either faking them or the standard allows for 'not supported' and hopefully the Infotainment unit can handle this.

Hmmm.

So it sounds like the Infotainment unit just has to accept that AVRCP is not available for this device.

Ah ha.

"Q: Why can I not browse through all albums / songs etc. when using Bluetooth
audio?
A: This functionality is controlled by the phone that is connected. Some phones
allow for folder, album, track searching through Bluetooth audio, some phones limit
the amount of actions possible down to only playing one album. Please check the
Bluetooth Audio protocol on the phone.
See below for the different phone Bluetooth Audio protocols and their functionality:
A2DP Features
Stereo audio from Bluetooth music devices shall be played back via vehicle speakers.
AVRCP 1.0 Features
Play/Pause/Fast Forward/Fast Rewind features are supported.
AVRCP 1.3 Features
Music status (playing/paused/stopped) and track meta data are supported.
AVRCP 1.4 Features
Browsing features, including music browsing and now playing list are supported"

So I think it will be fine.

[ColinB]

... I asked the dealer about listening to the Walkman and she described an adaptor/connector which "marries" the aux-in jack to a usb connector, apparently can be found at Maplins, PC World etc ...

Came across this US article:
https://phys.org/news/2017-02-test-driving-car-technology.html
In summary, the suggestion is that customers should test out the tech before parting with their money (which is not easy in the context of the average test drive), and some dealerships are providing specific help with using it. The article reports the reason as "Consumers' complaints about phone connectivity, navigation and infotainment systems have lowered vehicle dependability scores in annual rankings from J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. Poor showings in such rankings can put a dent in sales."
Seems like an enlightened attitude compared with what Zafira was told, which seems to have been "Go and find your own adaptor, it might work"!