Installing Alpine CHA-S634 changer/MP3 player

[justamy]

Just wanted to post a follow-up to my previous question and let you folks know that the Alpine CHA-S634 does work with the stock USA head unit on the 2003 Cooper. I believed minhi when he said it would work, but I kept worrying just a little bit since the Alpine book at the stereo place only listed the 630 as being compatible for my car.

I got the Blitzsafe BMW-ALPINE MBUS adaptor and the Alpine KCA 130B cable and everything hooked up just fine. A few notes:

• The Minibus switch on the changer needs to be in position 2. We started with it in position 1, it didn't work, we changed it, it didn't work, and we fiddled with it for quite a while before we realized we needed to unplug the changer before we changed the switch. (RTFM, Amy.) Once we put the switch in position 2 and plugged it back in, it worked like a charm.
• The cable that comes with the changer is very long. We tried to find a short version of the same cable, but I was told they don't make a short version of it. That long cable is now coiled up in the access panel on the right side of the boot.
• I ordered the Blitzsafe adaptor immediately after minhi recommended it, so I didn't get the one with AUX input. If the 2003 Cooper head unit has an AUX input, where would it be? I don't think I'll be buying an MP3 player anytime soon since I now have a CD changer that plays MP3 discs, but I could change my mind about that someday.
• I can't seem to figure out how to use the randomization feature with the CD changer. If I want to play random cuts on, say, disc 6 in the changer, I put disc 5 in the changer and hit the "random" button. The changer goes to disc 6 and plays cuts in random order. If I stop the car and restart it, the current cut picks up where it left off, but the rest of the cuts play in order.
• Is there a "shuffle" feature to allow you to play random cuts from all discs in the changer?

Thanks again for all your help! I love having my tunes!

Amy

[oldnell]

Great news. Thanks for the feedback.

It's a shame that there still doesn't seem to be an MP3 changer that will work without a Blitzsafe adaptor.

I'm interested in getting the same setup. Just a couple of questions, if I may.

How do all the MP3s appear to the head-unit? Do you end up with 6 CDs with a huge number of tracks on each? Is there any way to sift through a directory at a time, or do you just have to remember where each album starts?

I take it that you don't get the track name or artist appearing on the head unit.

Cheers

Oli

[justamy]

The one MP3 disc I've burned just had all the files in the root directory, so I haven't been able to test the way it works with subdirectories. According to the changer's documentation, it plays the files in this order.

Directory 1
...Directory 1a
...Directory 1b
Directory 2
...Directory 2a
......Directory 2aa
...Directory 2b
etc.

I would have to play with subdirectories to see just how it works. Since all my files are in the root directory, it just plays them in alphabetical order.

The display on the head unit shows only the disc number and track number. As I understand it, once it gets to track 99, it just wraps around and displays track 1 when it's playing track 100, and so on.

Wish I had better answers for you, but I've only been playing with the changer for about an hour.

Amy

[minhi]

Quote:

Originally posted by justamy
[*]I ordered the Blitzsafe adaptor immediately after minhi recommended it, so I didn't get the one with AUX input. If the 2003 Cooper head unit has an AUX input, where would it be? I don't think I'll be buying an MP3 player anytime soon since I now have a CD changer that plays MP3 discs, but I could change my mind about that someday.

Thanks again for all your help! I love having my tunes!

Amy

good to hear it worked! no-one knows where the aux input on the 2003 cars are (still), in the end it might just be a blitzsafe like adaptor, so you might be ahead of the game. if you ever decide to get an MP3 player (but like you said, who needs it with 6 discs!) you could always resell the adaptor you have on here!