Remote Control my Music

[Harald]

Please excuse me if this is stupid, I don't have one so maybe there is a reason no one has mentioned it. Why not just put your music on your Zumo? It has a great big screen for controls and you are probably listening to it already.

Just a thought.

-worney

That exactly what I do with my Zumo 660 and it works great to have nav/mp3/phone all accessible through the touch screen. But Mike has a Zumo 550 which only has mono music (unlike the 660 that has stereo output).

 

[TomInPA]

Wait...the Zumo 550 is mono? My Streetpilot 2820 is stereo and works great with the XM antenna or internal MP3 files (wish it took a SD card). I can also use the iPhone 4S and all of it feeds through Autocom with either speakers or in-ear monitors. Great fidelity.

 

[Patriot]

I don't use XM - fidelity high with it...my oldies are on my MP3's

 

[Fred W]

No, the zumo550 is NOT mono. It delivers stereo audio, and of pretty high quality, from the 3.5mm audio output jack. At least it's as good as the digital bitrate the music was encoded at. The only sound output that is limited to mono is the bluetooth audio. The Zumo 550 doesn't have the A2DP bluetooth profile needed to stream stereo audio out.

Since I never use the bluetooth output on any of my GPSes, I consider the sound quite good on both the Zumo 550 and 660.

 

[Patriot]

thanx fred...the Zumo talks through my J&M with the 3.5mm output to the amplirider...guess I could put music on a SD card...doesn't matter if the music is on the zumo or the mpe...I still have to "manually" click the mp3 to go forward or back the songs and reach and turn the amplirider knob up or down. I do that each song as the recordings are quite different in volume plus whatever my speed determines the serverity of wind noise and need to increase or decrease the volume. Perfect would be music unit protected inside the tank bag with attached remote which does all the functions that the controls on the unit do. I'd probably still put the unit (sounds like ipod) inside the clear map case on top of the tank bag if I can see the screen at stops as I change to an artist or genre.

I probably can move the amplirider knob to the left side on a trial so right hand doesn't have to leave the throttle...

going now to queu up Allman bros "Ramblin Man" which I am

 

[Harald]

No, the zumo550 is NOT mono. It delivers stereo audio, and of pretty high quality, from the 3.5mm audio output jack. At least it's as good as the digital bitrate the music was encoded at. The only sound output that is limited to mono is the bluetooth audio. The Zumo 550 doesn't have the A2DP bluetooth profile needed to stream stereo audio out.

Since I never use the bluetooth output on any of my GPSes, I consider the sound quite good on both the Zumo 550 and 660.

I should have been more specific about my mono comment referring to bluetooth. Thanks for clarifying that. For my purposes, the Zumo 550 IS mono because I only care about the bluetooth connection. You're still using that ancient wired technology, Fred? :lol:

 

[Patriot]

J&M pricewise is VERY proud of their merchandise (Zumo integrated multiple harness $275 !!!) and wireless is much more imperfect than wired. The one wire is never an issue with me.

 

[worney]

So here is where i am in this whole discussion, which i'm following because i'm thinking i'll be doing something similar in the spring. Patriot is looking for a wired sol'n but needs bigger than 2 gb. Zumo has stereo out wired (mono bluetooth) but advertised limit of 4gb but online people have reported using 8gb successfully. I can buy an 8gb sd card here in the great white north for $17.99 at the moment. I would just buy one and try it then if it works buy however many more you need and put the mp3s on them by genre (card 1 is 50s rock, card 2 is death metal whatever).

Does that make sense?

- worney

 

[Fred W]

I should have been more specific about my mono comment referring to bluetooth. Thanks for clarifying that. For my purposes, the Zumo 550 IS mono because I only care about the bluetooth connection. You're still using that ancient wired technology, Fred? :lol:

... and wireless is much more imperfect than wired. The one wire is never an issue with me.

Exactly right, Mike.

In addition to my Zumo 550, I actually also have a Zumo 660 (with stereo BT output), but I still do not have any BT helmet headsets, mostly because there are no systems that meet all of my desires in an intercom (at a reasonable cost). I (still) use a Starcom1 intercom with the Zumo feeding it my stereo music, nav prompts and bluetoothed phone connection. I need the Starcom because in addition to the Zumo, I also want to hear my Radar Detector audio and (sometimes) connect a FRS/GMRS radio for Bike2Bike. I am not aware of any wireless systems that can integrate all of those inputs.

* - There actually is one "wireless to the helmet" solution that would meet all of my needs. That would be to use Starcom's Wire3 module, but that would cost me a ridiculous amount of money just to lose the single wire to my helmet.

 

[Fred W]

So here is where i am in this whole discussion, which i'm following because i'm thinking i'll be doing something similar in the spring. Patriot is looking for a wired sol'n but needs bigger than 2 gb. Zumo has stereo out wired (mono bluetooth) but advertised limit of 4gb but online people have reported using 8gb successfully. I can buy an 8gb sd card here in the great white north for $17.99 at the moment. I would just buy one and try it then if it works buy however many more you need and put the mp3s on them by genre (card 1 is 50s rock, card 2 is death metal whatever).

Does that make sense?

- worney

The limitation on the Zumo 550 is not the SD card. It will use SDHC cards too. I am running an 8GB card in my Zumo 550 right now just fine. The only real limitation is that the Zumo 550 software will only index the first 1000 MP3 titles it finds on the SD card. At an average song length of 5 minutes each that would be over 83 hours of continuous play. That is enough that I don't end up switching cards too much.

But even that limitation has a workaround. You can join a number of MP3's together into a single file and that will only count towards one of the 1000 indexed files.

edit - There is one little "trick" to getting the zumo to successfully find all of the MP3s on the SD card. You have to organize your files in a very specific file structure so that the MP3s all reside the same number of sub-directories from root. You also want to keep the number of files in one subdirectory fairly small (less than a hundred) so it indexes faster.

For example, on my SD cards I arrange them by this structure:

Drive letter / MP3 / Artist / Album / filename.mp3

 

[Patriot]

so whats the consequence of managing the music while riding that's programmed into the zumo ... i.e. how many screen how many button inputs with gloved finger, how intrusive to in interrupt focusing on the gps directions with brain or distraction overload while instructing the unit different music choices

Im seeing if I want to dump the mp3 and go with music on the SD card with the mp3 as a backup. I just dont want to be making a musuc input choice and have that make me miss important directional inputs of da gps

and will the gps let one play any specific genre,artist or album

thanx...this discussion is all so helpful

 

[Fred W]

so whats the consequence of managing the music while riding that's programmed into the zumo ... i.e. how many screen how many button inputs with gloved finger, how intrusive to in interrupt focusing on the gps directions with brain or distraction overload while instructing the unit different music choices

Im seeing if I want to dump the mp3 and go with music on the SD card with the mp3 as a backup. I just dont want to be making a musuc input choice and have that make me miss important directional inputs of da gps

and will the gps let one play any specific genre,artist or album

thanx...this discussion is all so helpful

To start the music playing you press the little "two notes" button on the home screen. This brings up the media player. Pressing the browse button will let you select the songs you want to play by Album, Artist, Genre (note: the mp3's have to be tagged for these to work) or "All". You'd typically want o get that all set before beginning to ride.

Once your playlist is queued up and playing you can pause the music at any time from the media player screen, which can either be navigated to from the "two notes" button or by cycling through the screens with the 3rd hard key. I do wish that this was a bit easier to get to. Like at a stop light when you want to talk to someone you are riding along with.

I typically have selected "Play All" (so have all 1000 songs queued up), with the "random shuffle" and "continuous loop" buttons turned on.

Anytime that the music is playing and the GPS needs to announce a navigation prompt (or you have an incoming phone call) it pauses the MP3 player for the duration. No missed direction prompts, and the music restarts where it left off so no missed music either. By the way, if you do take a phone call, that takes priority over GPS prompts so you could miss a direction announcement when you are yakking on the phone.

 

[HotRodZilla]

I have a 660, so it may be different than a 550, but using the player while navigating is super easy. The map screen has the media player icon on the right, so if I want to go the player, its one touch of a button.

I can sort music by type, artists, and albums. So if I'm not in the mood for country I can pick something else. I can shuffle my playlist, or just let it run in order, which is song by song alphabetically.

The 660's capacity for MP3s is only limited by the size of the SD card. I've heard the 550 will only accept 1000 at a time, but I donno much about that.

Navigation has never been a problem, but my navigation is muted most of the time. By checking the screen, I know something is getting ready to come up, so I just let what's on play until the turns or ramps are navigated. Pretty simple.

I like it way better than my backup MP3 player.

 

[Patriot]

thanx all...removed my zumo and checked out the controls

I guess the only deal breaker for me is I hate for anything to interrupt the music. An advantage to the amplirider is all inputs to it are equal same priority. The zumo, music, & radar detector all talk all the time. Each has volume adjustment at its source. so RD is set loudest, zumo medium, and music a bit softer. The amplider volume knob controls the amp volume which is everything together. I love it that way. On the J&M side, the CB trumps the input jack which is the amplirider or before just music. Drives me crazy tooling down the highway on ch 19 for trucker warnings of impending doom situation ahead, and some motormouth is telling his latest exploits in long winded detail. I have to switch channels before I scream and then remember to switch back in case of doom reports.

decisions, decisions

 

[RPrice]

so whats the consequence of managing the music while riding that's programmed into the zumo ... i.e. how many screen how many button inputs with gloved finger, how intrusive to in interrupt focusing on the gps directions with brain or distraction overload while instructing the unit different music choices

Im seeing if I want to dump the mp3 and go with music on the SD card with the mp3 as a backup. I just dont want to be making a musuc input choice and have that make me miss important directional inputs of da gps

and will the gps let one play any specific genre,artist or album

thanx...this discussion is all so helpful

To start the music playing you press the little "two notes" button on the home screen. This brings up the media player. Pressing the browse button will let you select the songs you want to play by Album, Artist, Genre (note: the mp3's have to be tagged for these to work) or "All". You'd typically want o get that all set before beginning to ride.

Once your playlist is queued up and playing you can pause the music at any time from the media player screen, which can either be navigated to from the "two notes" button or by cycling through the screens with the 3rd hard key. I do wish that this was a bit easier to get to. Like at a stop light when you want to talk to someone you are riding along with.

I typically have selected "Play All" (so have all 1000 songs queued up), with the "random shuffle" and "continuous loop" buttons turned on.

Anytime that the music is playing and the GPS needs to announce a navigation prompt (or you have an incoming phone call) it pauses the MP3 player for the duration. No missed direction prompts, and the music restarts where it left off so no missed music either. By the way, if you do take a phone call, that takes priority over GPS prompts so you could miss a direction announcement when you are yakking on the phone.

As mentioned earlier, this is how it works for me with Zumo 550 (MP3 stereo music + Nav prompts) + ampli rider + RD "hardwired" to ear buds. Works good!

 

[carlson_mn]

+

So simple it hurts, I know.

Did I mention earlier it does Radio, too? I listen to talk radio while cruising in slow rush hour commute... helps pass the time

Keep your navigation simple and eyes on the road, plus you'll have nothing to disconnect when getting on and off the bike.... You can have this whole setup for about $150 brand new. I'm not even an Apple guy, but this is genious for the motorcycle, I swear it was designed by a rider with the placement of the controller sits a few inches outside of the helmet.

 

[worney]

So simple it hurts, I know.

Did I mention earlier it does Radio, too? I listen to talk radio while cruising in slow rush hour commute... helps pass the time

Keep your navigation simple and eyes on the road, plus you'll have nothing to disconnect when getting on and off the bike.... You can have this whole setup for about $150 brand new. I'm not even an Apple guy, but this is genious for the motorcycle, I swear it was designed by a rider with the placement of the controller sits a few inches outside of the helmet.

The only problem with your system is that i hate earbuds. I wear those custom ear plugs you can get at the motorcycle shows for $50 and wear for years (if you clean them) with zero pressure after a long ride. And a $10 set of helmet speakers i got from China off of ebay. What i am trying to figure out is how i am going to control my music, I have a streetpilot 2610 with no mp3 capability and my car nuvi with no audio out but bluetooth... decisions decisions.

-worney