Build 2.42.40 improves USB audio

[LastGas]

I installed Build 2.42.40 of Version 8.0 on my Model S (refresh 60) Friday night. Its release notes say:

New 8.0 Enhancements

There are multiple improvements to the USB listening experience. You can now use search to quickly find a song, artist, or album on your USB. Or use the alphabetical index to select music from long lists. Songs in the artist view are now grouped by album--particularly convenient with artists with multiple albums. Performance has also been improved, including faster scrolling of lists and faster USB loading when you return to your vehicle.​

Since this is my first 8.0 release, I can't compare it to earlier 8.0 builds, and can't say what's faster. Scrolling seems reasonably quick, and the column of letters that lets you jump to songs alphabetically is there, as it was in Version 7.1. Overall, I was satisfied with how my own USB music appeared within Artist, Album and Song collections (following how they appear in iTunes from which they were copied). I verified that the search feature returns results both from Streaming and USB.

I inserted a USB drive with 1800 songs on it, and it started loading at a rate that seemed a bit faster than 2% per second. When I returned to the car, I didn't specifically notice any delay in the accessibility of USB music.

I spent some time with Streaming too and I did not observe the cut off at the end of the song that has been widely reported. I may not have listened long enough to be sure this issue is fixed.

 

[steve841]

Any improvement with XM navigation?

 

[LastGas]

Any improvement with XM navigation?

Sorry, I don't have XM.

 

[outie]

Do the songs now play in track order or still in alphabetical order?

 

[TR5642]

Quick add. Just installed and ran through USB before going to bed.

• Alpha scan bar on the right is back! YEAAAAAA!
• Album grouping works and presents cleanly by song. Not sure if it plays sequentially (didn't try) but it looks promising.
• Voice and text search now return USB results at the top of the list. HOWEVER, the songs I tried (looked to make sure they were there first) didn't come up in the search :-( It's possible that it's still indexing for search though.
• Initial scan took a while after update was finished. I have not been one to have rescan issues despite 60GB of music so I can't speak to whether that's improved.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Interesting report. I'd also be interested to learn if the new version supports WMA files, although that's a hard question to answer unless someone with 2.42.40 already has some WMA files on their USB drive. (I have converted a couple of folders to FLAC, to test the process, and they are about twice the size, so I'd rather not do that if I don't have to.)

 

[LastGas]

When selecting an album, the names of each track are displayed prefixed by the track number, and that is the order in which they are played. I had one two-disk album and it repeated track numbers on the 2nd disk, but kept it all in order.

I had bad results searching for USB songs and albums. It only worked a small percentage of the time. I also found the voice recognition poor (car sitting in garage).

 

[bucksport]

When selecting an album, the names of each track are displayed prefixed by the track number, and that is the order in which they are played. I had one two-disk album and it repeated track numbers on the 2nd disk, but kept it all in order.

I had bad results searching for USB songs and albums. It only worked a small percentage of the time. I also found the voice recognition poor (car sitting in garage).

With respect to XM. It appears that you can save up to 8 stations on your favorites side. And you can rotate thru them with your push button on left hand side of steering wheel. Now I haven't had much time to play with the setting and saving stations but it is somewhat of a challenge. to me its just not intuitive. maybe more time playing with the setup and it will become second hand.

 

[Jlwine]

Interesting report. I'd also be interested to learn if the new version supports WMA files, although that's a hard question to answer unless someone with 2.42.40 already has some WMA files on their USB drive. (I have converted a couple of folders to FLAC, to test the process, and they are about twice the size, so I'd rather not do that if I don't have to.)

Unfortunately no. 2.4240 was also my first 8.0 release and my entire library (9500 song) was in WMA and no longer worked. I could see every song but when I attempted to play any song I received "Loading error" and it would not play. I converted all to FLAC and now they play but 3/4 of my cover art is gone.

 

[supratachophobia]

Unfortunately no. 2.4240 was also my first 8.0 release and my entire library (9500 song) was in WMA and no longer worked. I could see every song but when I attempted to play any song I received "Loading error" and it would not play. I converted all to FLAC and now they play but 3/4 of my cover art is gone.

Who rips their entire music collection in WMA? What kind of monster are you?

Also, mp3 tag-it might be able to recover or transfer your art correctly.

 

[dkonigs]

When selecting an album, the names of each track are displayed prefixed by the track number, and that is the order in which they are played.

Did you try selecting an album by using the "Folders" view, or just the "Albums" view?
In the original 8.0, order was correct in the Albums view, but totally messed up in the Folders view.
(For those of us with large collections, its much easier to hierarchy browse by folders.)

 

[markn455]

Any improvement with XM navigation?

XM Navigation ? I don't belive the navigation and XM are related in any way. The maps and traffic are Google and the navigation is Garmin under the covers.

 

[steve841]

XM Navigation ? I don't belive the navigation and XM are related in any way. The maps and traffic are Google and the navigation is Garmin under the covers.

Thanks man I needed a chuckle ...

XM tuning if that makes it easier ... the 8.0 method is archaic ...

 

[jelloslug]

I spent some time with Streaming too and I did not observe the cut off at the end of the song that has been widely reported. I may not have listened long enough to be sure this issue is fixed.

The cutoff only happens when you leave the car mid song and return later resuming the same song. Before 8.0 it would just skip to the next song, now it continues until close to the end and then skips to the next song.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Who rips their entire music collection in WMA? What kind of monster are you?...

I ripped my CDs using WMA in Windows Media Player because it was convenient and fairly easy. Not being an audiophile I haven't researched codecs and haven't any opinions on the subject of which is best.

I don't really "get" the love for lossless codecs for car use because a car, even an EV, is a noisy environment due to road noise and Teslas have very poor road noise dampening characteristics IME. The main problem I have with classical CDs is that the dynamic range is so great that the quiet passages are lost in road noise unless the volume is turned up so high that loud sections are too loud. I just live with it rather than trying to learn how to shrink the dynamic range, if it is possible. It's a car, not a concert hall or even my living room.

If you have a car quiet enough to be able to tell the difference between a lossless codec and a pretty good compressed one, you must drive very smooth roads or travel at very low speeds. The worst road I have driven on is I-84 through the Columbia Gorge. It is so loud at the speed limit that I get vibrations and rattles and music is almost impossible to hear at other than ear-splitting volume levels (which may, indeed, be how people here listen to their "songs", I couldn't say).

 

[supratachophobia]

The cutoff only happens when you leave the car mid song and return later resuming the same song. Before 8.0 it would just skip to the next song, now it continues until close to the end and then skips to the next song.

Did they fix the random restarts of audiobooks when re-entering the car?

 

[supratachophobia]

I ripped my CDs using WMA in Windows Media Player because it was convenient and fairly easy. Not being an audiophile I haven't researched codecs and haven't any opinions on the subject of which is best.

I don't really "get" the love for lossless codecs for car use because a car, even an EV, is a noisy environment due to road noise and Teslas have very poor road noise dampening characteristics IME. The main problem I have with classical CDs is that the dynamic range is so great that the quiet passages are lost in road noise unless the volume is turned up so high that loud sections are too loud. I just live with it rather than trying to learn how to shrink the dynamic range, if it is possible. It's a car, not a concert hall or even my living room.

If you have a car quiet enough to be able to tell the difference between a lossless codec and a pretty good compressed one, you must drive very smooth roads or travel at very low speeds. The worst road I have driven on is I-84 through the Columbia Gorge. It is so loud at the speed limit that I get vibrations and rattles and music is almost impossible to hear at other than ear-splitting volume levels (which may, indeed, be how people here listen to their "songs", I couldn't say).

Sorry, I can't hear you over the road noise and my high-bitrate MP3's.

But seriously, +1 for Windows Media Player making it easy to rip back in the day to WMA. I get that.

 

[steve841]

One thing noted... the XM Sirius favs are now all labeled .... some were missing.

 

[cynix]

Does the shuffle/repeat state persist across reboots now? With the previous 8.0 versions they get turned off after each reboot.

 

[artsci]

After resisting 8.0 I finally relented and had Tesla do a download when my car was in for service last week. I had confidence Tesla was paying attention to the complaints about the media player. I also followed advice on this site to set up folders in sets of three alphabetical letter: ABC, etc. As I already had my music organized into folders based on the artist or composer this was quite easy to do.

I just updated to 2.42.40 and the difference is quite extraordinary. It's now much easier to navigate though my music than v7. Tesla has been listening to our concerns about how the media player handles USB. My hat's off to them for addressing these issues.