Playing Mp3s Through Standard W58814 Head Unit.

[abharris]

First of all I want to thank Man-Bing for his comprehensive posts including photos (http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/gallery/Misc?page=92) that gave me the confidence to remove my W58814 head unit myself :)

I recently bought a 06 Toyota Corolla which came with the standard Toyota W58814 head unit with built in cd player. Disappointingly the cd player cannot play mp3 cd-r media and so I wanted to be able to connect my MP3 player in some way. Previously in my old Corolla I could do this using a cassette adapter, not the best sound quality but more reliable than the FM transmitter I tried. Of course my new Corolla does not have a cassette deck so that option was not available this time.

I found a product out there make by a company called Connect2 which plugs in to the cd autochanger socket on the back of the W58814 head unit and provides both USB and 3.5mm inputs.

http://www.connects2.com/c2search.aspx?catID=52&Page=1

The adapter I purchased is the CTATYUSB002 model which fits the (6x6 pin) cd auto changer socket of later Toyota Yaris/Avensis/Corolla/Picnic/RAV4. They also do a CTATYUSB001 model that fits the older (5x7 pin) style connector.

The CTATYUSB002 allows you to spoof a cd autochanger by placing MP3 files on a USB device in a particular way that then allows the head unit to interact with them just like it would if a cd autochanger was physically connected. It comes with an SD card reader too and so rather than hooking up my MP3 player I decided to use a spare 4GB mico SD card and adapter that I had lying around from an old mobile phone instead. You simply create folders on the root of the USB device called CD01, CD02, CD03 .... into which you can put a recommended maximum of 99 mp3 files. Using the autochanger buttons on the Totoyta head unit you can then navigate through these files and folders just like they were disks in a physical Autochanger. Random also works too.

I mounted the CTATYUSB002 adapter in the compartment just above the ash tray in the center console so that it is hidden from view. It is at a slight angle in this compartment so that I can easily plug in the USB SD Card Reader directly into it and close the compartment cover making it completely hidden from view yet totally accessible. The build quality and styling of the adapter is very good and would allow you to mount it in plain view if your preferred, without it looking cheap and nasty.

The cable that comes with the CTATYUSB002 would reach the glove box if you wanted to install the adapter in there instead.

As I mentioned earlier it does also have a 3.5mm socket too and so you can plug anything with a headphone socket into it too. However the sound levels will not be as good as using the USB part. When playing straight from USB the volume level is just like a normal cd where as when using the 3.5mm socket I really had to turn the head unit volume up to 40-50 to achieve the same output and that was with the MP3 player volume up to max also.

That said as soon as you see how neat and easy it is to just play files from the SD card reader plugged into the USB socket of the adapter you will probably never use the 3.5mm socket anyway :-)

This is my first forum post and so I hope I haven't broken any rules? It does sound a bit like I am promoting this product which I suppose I am in a way. I really just wanted to get some up to date info on the forum relating to playing MP3s on a standard W58814 head unit as the posts that helped me were quite old (2005 - 2007) and some of the product links were out of date. Thanks for reading .

[St Thicket]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

The Audio/Video/Electronics page is not the most visited part of the forum, so lots of discussion about MP3 and audio interfaces is done in the respective cars own forum, in your case the "Corolla Club". Unfortunately the Corolla Club is crowded with T-sport owners that only talk about styling, pimping and other stuff that are not very interesting for us having a "normal" Corolla.

I'm currently playing with the thought of buying a USB interface for my sat nav unit in my 2004 corolla, so it is nice to hear about your experience with the connects2 unit. I've also been looking at the Grom and the Dension, and thought about the possibility to build my own interface like the clever polish guy Sloniu.

The biggest drawback with the dension is the price for the USB-interface, and the drawback with the connects2 is that you need to have standard folder names... but do you need to rename the mp3-files to be able to play them?

[DefiantFrog]

And whats wrong with T-Sport owners, styling, and pimping?? ;)

Welcome abharris, and nice informative first post, thank you :)

[abharris]

The biggest drawback with the dension is the price for the USB-interface, and the drawback with the connects2 is that you need to have standard folder names... but do you need to rename the mp3-files to be able to play them?

No need to rename your MP3 files, simply pop them in to the root folders CD01 CD02 etc and all is fine. The problem will be if you have some tracks with the same name by different artists. At that point you will just have to add a prefix to them to make the names unique.

[St Thicket]

And whats wrong with T-Sport owners, styling, and pimping?? ;)

Nothing wrong with it, just not my preferred discussion topics... I like more "technical" issues :)

No need to rename your MP3 files, simply pop them in to the root folders CD01 CD02 etc and all is fine. The problem will be if you have some tracks with the same name by different artists. At that point you will just have to add a prefix to them to make the names unique.

That sounds good. I was a bit worried about having to rename all tracks. Does it play alphabetically or does it play in the order it was transferred to the memory stick?

cheers!

[abharris]

Alphabetically. Not ideal I know but there you go :-)

Also I have discovered that my Head Unit will only recognise 12 folders i.e. CD01 - CD12 presumably as that was the biggest CD autochanger you could get at the time of manufacture. This limits you to 1188 individual MP3 files as you can only have 99 per folder.

I guess with some creativity you can merge cd albums into one MP3 track which would make things interesting. My 8GB Kingston data traveller drive is recognised fine.

[delboi]

Has anyone else actually tried this? I am thinking of buying one but not sure on their reliability. Does anyone know if these play up?

Thanks

Delboi.

[jsteven]

Experience with Connects2 CTATYUSB002 USB interface

Hi, I am new to the Club, I own 2009 RAV4 2.4 litre petrol auto. I bought from the UK the above interface and connected it to the AVC-LAN port of the orignal Toyota radio with 6x CD changer, MP3 capability and bluetooth. It works OK on basic level (it plays MP3 files) but has some significant flaws. As mentioned in earlier posts, MP3 files must be arranged in the max. of 15 folders called CD01 to CD15. Each folder can hold up to 99 songs, subject to the total limit mentioned below. If sub-folders are created, they cannot be selected, the radio does not recognise them as sub-foilders and plays them as part of their corresponding main folder. The total number of files in all 15 folders must not exceed 512 and it means there is no point in using USB memory stick larger than 2 Gb for standard length MP3 files. Also, song titles are not displayed, only Track 1... and ID tags are not recognised either. This makes finding a particular song impossible.

If you put more than 512 files on USB memory stick, say in 15 folders, the play will stop at track 512 in its folder, say 12. This explains why one member found only 12 folders accessible. If 512 file limit is reached, MP3 files will be played in the order they were saved to the USB memory stick, not in the folder No. order.

It seems to me the Toyota radio treats the CTATYUSB002 interface as a CD changer (max. of 15 discs) and also as a single CD disk (max. of 512 tracks). The Connects2 company was unresponsive to my e-mails and its website states that if you call them they charge callers over 1 pound Sterling per minute. IMO this company is one of those that are happy to take your money in a Web sale and then do not want to know you.

Overall the product and company are disappointing and cannot be recommended.

[St Thicket]

I need to note that this interface does not work full map sat nav systems. I tried it, but it didn't work at all... instead it locked the system, so the only way of making the whole stereo work again was to unplug.

I've been considering getting the Dension Gateway 300, but it is quite expensive... and hopefully worth it.

[mobileinstall UK]

I need to note that this interface does not work full map sat nav systems. I tried it, but it didn't work at all... instead it locked the system, so the only way of making the whole stereo work again was to unplug.

I've been considering getting the Dension Gateway 300, but it is quite expensive... and hopefully worth it.

Before you look at plugging something into the stereo, have a look at the latest Parrot MKi systems

Parrot make bluetooth hands free car kits, but their latest kit also have a built in amplifier and connections for ipod / iPhone USB memory stick SD Card and 3.5mm line in jack for connecting lots of different music sources.

The kit plugs in to the car stereo harness and effectively just steals the Speakers from the car hifi when you want to play music or make calls.

If you have the standard stereo still in the car then you'll need a thing called an SOT lead which converts the toyota harness to the standard ISO plugs used by all car kits and aftermarket stereos. expect to pay about £15.00 for one

The top of the range parrot is about £170 if you fit yourself or £250.00 if you have it professionaly fitted