The radio can play MP3 files; however, acceptable MP3 file recording media and formats are limited. When writing MP3 files, pay attention to the following restrictions.

Supported Media (Disc Types)

The MP3 file recording media supported by the radio are CDDA, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, and CDDA+MP3.

Supported Medium Formats (File Systems)

The medium formats supported by the radio are ISO 9660 Level 1 and Level 2 and includes the Joliet extension.

When reading discs recorded using formats other than ISO 9660 Level 1 and Level 2, the radio may fail to read files properly and may be unable to play the file normally.

UDF and Apple HFS formats are not supported.

The radio uses the following limits for file systems:
• Maximum number of folder levels: 8
• Maximum number of files: 255
• Maximum number of folders. (The radio display of file names and folder names is limited. For large numbers of files and/or folders, the radio may be unable to display the file name and folder name and will assign a number instead. With a maximum number of files, exceeding 20 folders will result in this display. With 200 files, exceeding 50 folders will result in this display.)
• Maximum number of characters in file/folder names:
• Level 1: 12 (including a separator . and a threecharacter extension)
• Level 2: 31 (including a separator . and a threecharacter extension)

Multisession disc formats are supported by the radio.

Multisession discs may contain combinations of normal CD audio tracks and computer files (including MP3 files).

Discs created with an option such as keep disc open after writing are most likely multisession discs. The use of multisession for CD audio or MP3 playback may result in longer disc loading times.

Supported MP3 File Formats

The radio will recognize only files with the *.MP3 extension as MP3 files. Non-MP3 files named with the *.MP3 extension may cause playback problems. The radio is designed to recognize the file as an invalid MP3 and will not play the file.

When using the MP3 encoder to compress audio data to an MP3 file, the bit rate and sampling frequencies in the following table are supported. In addition, variable bit rates (VBR) are also supported. The majority of MP3 files use a 44.1 kHz sampling rate and a 192, 160, 128, 96 or VBR bit rates.

ID3 Tag information for artist, song title, and album title are supported for version 1 ID3 tags. ID3 version 2 is not supported by the radios.

Playlist files are not supported. MP3 Pro files are not supported.

Playback of MP3 Files

When a medium containing MP3 data is loaded, the radio checks all files on the medium. If the medium contains a lot of folders or files, the radio will take more time to start playing the MP3 files.

Loading times for playback of MP3 files may be affected by the following:
• Media - CD-RW media may take longer to load than CD-R media
• Medium formats - Multisession discs may take longer to load than non-multisession discs
• Number of files and folders - Loading times will increase with more files and folders

To increase the speed of disc loading, it is recommended to use CD-R media and single-session discs. To create a single-session disc, enable the “Disc at Once” option before writing to the disc.