Iron_Mike

Fortunately, I can confirm that the USB storage option works for MORE than 4K files, at least on my 4E0 057 785 F version... I currently run app. 10,000 files... no probs... it sometimes hangs a little bit but then recovers after 5-6 sec...

I tried m4a lossless mutiple times and it did NOT work - they appear in white but when try to play always jumps to next file...

JonDeutsch

Woah. You're blowing my mind here. So, where do I find the version of my MMI? And, Iron Mike, can you confirm you are driving an 2010-2012 A4 with MMI 3G?

I've tried loading more than 4K and while it will display all the tunes, it simply won't play back the "over 4K" tunes toward the bottom of my folder list. So, basically, if I have 5k songs on a USB stick, the albums / folders starting with T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z would show up and have songs inside them like normal, but it simply won't play the songs back.

Iron_Mike

@JonDeutsch: I'm driving a 2004 D3 A8L. I have not tried to play each one of my files, but I use playlists which reference files in folders all over the place, e.g. Dr. Dre (-> D), Jay-Z (-> J), Tupac (-> T)... and they all work.

The "occasional" hanging I referenced in my other post occurs when I open a playlist with songs all over the place and it queries if these files exist... which takes a sec or two...

Iron_Mike

I wanna add 2 things I forgot to emphasize in my last post:

(1.) I am using AMI version 4E0 057 785 F (F is latest version as of 01/2012)

(2.) I am using a 500 GB external USB hard drive

--> both of these points might factor in, whether files you can play 4K+ files or not...

JonDeutsch

OK, mind officially un-blown. Iron_Mike -- this is a B8 forum, so I just assumed that unless otherwise notified, we're talking B8s here! And even in B8 land, the MMI 2G is different than the 3G. I don't even know what MMI you might have on a 2004 A8L! Heck, I'm impressed you can playback MP3s at all on a 2004 model!

Oddly, it does seem like the older audio systems had more flexibility and features than the new ones in some ways.... including the below non-limitation and A2DP bluetooth audio streaming. What a bummer.

Iron_Mike

AMI specifications are the same across the board, that's why I replied to the original post, asking who got lossless music to play on the AMI. Only replied to your post since you stated the "4K limit" which I don't have (possible reasons for that mentioned in my last post).

My AMI is retrofitted - again, it is THE NEWEST AMI version (F), I have a 2G MMI. The AMI is the main factor for playback of files.

JonDeutsch

Huh. So, it's not based on MMI intelligence at all... just AMI? For some reason, I thought the MMI CPU would be the one determining the # of files, files supported, etc. I thought AMI was just the physical interface bit.

Am I wrong?

Iron_Mike

the MMI is just the visual interface to interact with the AMI. It communicates and queries the AMI, but the AMI (not the MMI !) has specifications that limit / disable certain audio play capabilities: file types, bit rate etc (see post below for full specifications). The MMI just receives data (overview info about folder / files) and displays it, and you can click on a file that then will be accessed and played by the AMI. Now another thing to keep in mind, the specifications posted below are very old, depending on your AMI version, some specifications might have changed.

Now following that chain of logic, with the AMI being the main part, it is clear that the connected storage device (iPod, USB hard drive, USB stick, flash card etc.) might be another factor in what the AMI can handle and / or will accept as a data (--> audio) stream.

One thing I must say though where the MMI might be a factor is what software version you are on with the MMI, which AFAIK are also uniform across the board for all Audi's. Most current one in the US is 4610, and that might help with the AMI interaction IF (!) you experience behavior that other people (with the same AMI / storage device setup) don't.

Coming back to the original problem of you not being able to access files above the 4K limit, I highly assume that has either to do with your AMI version (older versions might have and execute that 4K limit) or your storage device.

JonDeutsch

Well, thanks for the education. Very interesting. So, with this, is the AMI version # a hardware or software thing? In other words, can I upgrade to a version of AMI that supports 4k+ files readily?

Also, how do I locate the various versions of AMI and MMI?

Thx.
Jon

PS - my USB stick is 128GB, so I have ppppllenty of space for over 4k files!

Iron_Mike

the MMI software version can be seen in a submenu of the SYSTEMS screen... I don't know top of my head how to get there but it's only 2-3 clicks deep (CAR > Systems or something like it). Now there are numerous threads in this forum how to upgrade your MMI, which can be done by yourself if you follow the instructions exactly... here's a link to ao thread that deals with upgrading your MMI. this is the A8 forum, but AFAIK everybody can upgrade their MMI (please check for your car, I might be wrong)... since you have an AMI you are at least version 3360 (which is min. required for AMI usage)...

The AMI version (AFAIK) can unfortunately only be seen when you look at the physical sticker on the AMI... I bought my AMI recently (version F) and I realized (from my prior research) that other people have version A, B, C, D, E... not sure if there were hardware changes (physical dimensions are the same) but I definitely believe there were software (--> AMI firmware) changes... therefore the new version F...

would like to know where I can find the changelog (specifications) for the different AMI versions...