What happened to Music Box CD recording on 2013 370z?

[cosmicdust73]

To my surprise... I noticed today that it is impossible to record a CD into Music Box on my 2013 370z Touring w/Sport & Nav. This was possible on the 2009 370z. In fact, I think the 2009 had a 40gb hard drive. Now it seems the entire Music Box feature is gone and there is no option to Record when you put a CD into the system. There is also ZERO mention of this feature in the user manual. Is this what you get with the 3-4k price hike on the 2013 model?

If anyone has some info on this or a link to an article... it would be much appreciated, thanks!

[Zaggeron]

In the earlier models the HD equipped Music Box was only on models with Navigation. Does yours have Nav?

[cosmicdust73]

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

In the earlier models the HD equipped Music Box was only on models with Navigation. Does yours have Nav?

Yes my Z has Nav. That's why I'm so confused. Nowhere in the brochure or the manual for the 2013 is there anything about recording music. The option is gone when you insert a CD. The sticker for my car states hard drive based navigation... but I'll be damned if I know what the hard drive is used for! Maybe for storing map data? Lol... kind of a bummer!

[Zaggeron]

Bummer. My 2010 has Nav + 9.3 GB HD for saving CD files. But it won't play music files directly from a USB drive. Can the new one do that?

[cosmicdust73]

Yes the new one can play music files off a USB drive. In fact, there is no longer a strange adaptor cable in the center console. The plastic tray is gone as well! (the one that you used to have to lift out in order to access the Aux and Ipod connecotrs) Instead there is a USB plug which makes it much easier to plug in a Nano or Iphone. I guess that is what I'm going to have to do if there is no longer a hard drive...

I just checked out Youtube and the 2013 370z does not have a Music Box tutorial video. I found videos for the 2012 so I know that model had the feature. There are also 2013 videos for other features... but it seems that Nissan pulled a fast one on us with the missing Music Box. Very odd indeed...

[Zaggeron]

Actually the ability to play off of a USB drive is better than the HD. The capacity was only 9 GB and you can get a 32 GB USB drive for much less than $20. It really was a pain in the ass to copy a bunch of CDs to the HD. You're probably better off without it since copying from the CD was the only way to get the music into the music box.

[cosmicdust73]

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

Actually the ability to play off of a USB drive is better than the HD. The capacity was only 9 GB and you can get a 32 GB USB drive for much less than $20. It really was a pain in the ass to copy a bunch of CDs to the HD. You're probably better off without it since copying from the CD was the only way to get the music into the music box.

Interesting way to look at it. Hmmm... I wonder what format the music files need to be saved in for it to work. For instance, how would you copy your Itunes files onto such a drive? I will have to read up on this... maybe this is the best option. Either that or live with my 8gb Nano.

[Thechidz]

Originally Posted by Zaggeron

Actually the ability to play off of a USB drive is better than the HD. The capacity was only 9 GB and you can get a 32 GB USB drive for much less than $20. It really was a pain in the ass to copy a bunch of CDs to the HD. You're probably better off without it since copying from the CD was the only way to get the music into the music box.

I agree, seems like a better setup now. I'm jelly

[sparky]

I don't think you're missing much without the HD. I tried it out and the playback sounded like crap. CD's at 1000+ kb get compressed down to something like 194kb (from memory, may be wrong). I found the best setup was an old iphone in the console always plugged in and filled with Apple lossless ripped from CD's. My .02

[Zaggeron]

Originally Posted by cosmicdust73

Interesting way to look at it. Hmmm... I wonder what format the music files need to be saved in for it to work. For instance, how would you copy your Itunes files onto such a drive? I will have to read up on this... maybe this is the best option. Either that or live with my 8gb Nano.

I don't know about Itunes since I never used it -- does it let you copy your MP3s to devices other than an Ipod/phone? In any event, if you still have CDs, every computer can rip those to MP3s (typically you can set the bitrate higher for higher quality). Once they are MP3 -- or whatever format is supported, just copy them to the USB drive. My USB player in my new BRZ recognizes up to 10 folders deep, but I don't see why you'd ever need to go more than 2 -- e.g. artist/album.

[cosmicdust73]

I just tested it out on a crappy 2gb USB stick. I basically copied Itunes album directories onto the stick and plugged it into the USB slot in the Z. Sure enough everything popped up on the screen. Considering the 32gb cards are $20... I guess this is pretty good afterall. I also have a crapload of old ipods and iphones sitting around that I can probably use. The only downside is that your music folders needs to be pretty clean in order to navigate on screen properly. Itunes sometimes bastardizes your directories... so it could take some manual effort to get things set up. That's why I'm leaning towards using an old iphone instead.

Thanks for the help guys! I'll confirm with Nissan tomorrow that the Music Box feature was removed from the 2013 just to make sure I don't have a problem with the car.