Tips on using Music Mode with the Car Kracker 3

The Car Kracker 3 emulates a CD changer, and can play audio files stored on a µSD card, or enable Aux-in.  There's also an optional connection for DSP support.  Here are some tips on using music mode.

Setup

In the Kustomizer, set the default boot mode to 'Music Player';

In the Music tab, you can remap the CD change buttons on the radio to do other things;

I usually remap CD1 and CD2 to switch between CD's.  This also lets you have more than six albums.  If you only want to use the Kracker for Aux-in, set the default audio source to 'Just open Aux-in'.  If you have a DSP, set the default audio output to 'DSP'.  With analog audio, I suggest setting the volume to '2'.

Using Bluetooth Audio

Here's a video walkthrough on setting up Bluetooth Audio;

Any Bluetooth Audio adapter should work, I've been using this one, but there are many choices.  In the Kustomizer, set your audio source to 'Just open Aux-in'.

The Car Kracker 3 also offers 5V power to keep the Audio Adapter powered up.  All the adapters I've found use 5V to charge — look for one that comes with a USB 'charging cable'.

Playing audio from the SD card

You can also play audio files directly from any microSD / SDHC card.  44kHz and 48kHz wav files are supported, which is CD quality, although MP3, AAC, and WMA files will need to be converted.  Audacity is my preferred program for conversion and it's free.  Here's how to convert files;

You can use the buttons on your radio to move between albums and tracks, be sure to map them in the Kustomizer. Albums are grouped by filename, your SD card should look something like this;

01-01.wav
01-02.wav
01-03.wav
02-01.wav
02-02.wav
and so on...

Put everything on the root of the card, no need to use directories.  Most radios support 99 tracks per album.  My radio supports several dozen albums, although the display doesn't count past 9.