MelissaGT

Hello! I've been a lurker ever since I bought my Mustang and this board has helped me greatly! Now it's time for my 1st post!

I've been searching and searching through the many threads regarding the Shaker 500 system and all the problems people have. However, I was unable to find an answer to my exact situation.

I have a 2006 GT that I purchased almost 2 years ago. I've never had any problems getting the Shaker 500 to play burned disks - any brand seems to work though I've noticed sound quality differences. So far it seems to like the Sony ones the best. Anyways, it plays mp3 disks no problem, meta-data and all. However, I've noticed that it will skip certain songs and I can't figure out for life of me why. For certain songs, instead of playing it just displays the song title and then :00. It sits at :00 for a couple seconds and then moves to the next song. I know the system knows there's a file there because it displays the meta info. It seems to consistently effect the same song. Now here's where it gets really weird. As a test, I've taken an effected song and burned it all by itself on a disk (or on a small list of 5ish songs) - plays fine. Then I create a whole new playlist with that song in it - system skips it. I would say it does this to about 5% of my songs when I burn a lengthy playlist (+100 files). It's always done this. I gave up trying to figure it out and just moved to burning audio disks but it would really be nice to be able to use the mp3 capabilities.

I generally use iTunes as a burning/arranging tool, but I've also tried wmp (hate it!) with the same results. I always burn at 16x or less and I've tried various brands of blanks. I don't like the folder option so I use the single list option but I have the same issue either way. Most of my files are from Amazon, some are ripped from actual CD's and others are 10+ years old from who knows where. They all have the same meta-data format (I use TuneUp). I read somewhere that the system can get iffy around VBR, however some of the songs the system will play no problem are VBR...but to be safe I went through every song on my current playlist and reformatted to fixed bitrates. All my bitrates are 192+. No matter what format I burn with, my b/f's Mitsubishi Eclipse (Rockford Fosgate) plays anything I throw at it.

Any ideas? Thank you much for your help!

aaaa1236

Mine did the same thing. All my songs were on the same discs and all from itunes (bought from itunes, not even downloaded and transferred) and it would still pick and choose.
Never figured out why

I ended up with a pioneer head unit.

MelissaGT

Thanks for the response! I really didn't want to go the route of an aftermarket head unit as it seems to change the whole look of the interior. I dunno, call me crazy lol. I was just hoping there was a way to get it to play 100% right rather than using 6 audio CD's to give me the same amount of music I would get out of 1 single mp3 CD.

Speaking of aftermarket head units, I really don't mind the sound of the Shaker at all. Would simply swapping out the head unit make a huge different sound-wise? I've only ever owned Fords as an adult. I had an '04 Eddie Bauer Explorer and the stock "high end" system was just fine for me...then again I also had a '10 Eddie Bauer and the sound system was hideous....which is part of the reason why I only kept it for 4 months before trading it for the Mustang! I like quality sound that can get rather loud, but I'm not trying to win any competitions and I'm past the whole pair of 12" subs in the truck full of dynamat part of my life, lol.

aaaa1236

Its noticeable, alot of which Id say has to do with a legitimate equalizer. It changes the look but often for the better (unless you really like stock). Then again, I went with a touchscreen, single din head units look cheap imo. I paid 250 for my unit, touch screen, usb, aux,etc. i din get bluetooth (it was like an extra 100) but overall im very happy.
I also had the shaker 1000 so i had to deal with a harness/regulator for the subs but it sounds pretty great and works awesome.

Sorry i couldnt be more helpful about fixing your actual issue. But if you can afford aftermarket, go for it.

Lifter583

I went with a Pioneer FH-P8000BT head in both my 06 GT and 08 GT500...the display is blue and goes very well with the blue color displays I have my cars set with...it REALLY wakes up the stock speakers...you will be amazed by the difference and has a direct Ipod interface...It is pretty basic and without Nav etc... but sounds great!

MelissaGT

I was looking on Crutchfield and would probably go with something like this if I were to do it:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_130X350...l#overview-tab

I can't justify the price of a nav unit as I have a GPS and also nav on my phone. What's cool about this is that it gives me the ability to hook up an mp3 player via USB which would be ideal (I had that with the Sync system in the '10 Explorer and that was awesome). That's the one thing that's really dumb about the '06 Mustang...it has an Aux button but no line in! Guess I should have waited and bought an '07 lol.

JayBeStangs94

I've had that same problem before. Doesn't happen too often. Although I found that some of my songs on my mp3 cd will show the first letter of the song name as well as the artist and album, and doesn't give me the full name. Not sure why, whether its itunes or what, but when i play my cd through my computer, all the names are there. Looks like a new faceplate could possibly be a reasonable picture in the future

akdoggie

I was reading about the Shaker's not playing all the songs just last week. A rep for the company who makes the units for Ford, was saying, the reason was that MP3's won't read is a certain parameter isn't present in all MP3 songs. The reader looks for these, and if they aren't readily present, it won't start the particular song in the Shaker unit.

I'm guessing what he was saying was that the 1,0's weren't right at the beginning, so the unit won't play that song. It will automatically skip it and go on. If you ask me, it was double talk for we don't know why this happens. lol.

Horylev1145

Had the same problem a year ago.Try messing with the ID3 Tags im pretty sure it has something to do with those. Compare the ones of the songs that do play and the ones that dont. I have been coverting all of mine to v1.0 before i burn the disc and havent had a problem since.

MelissaGT

Thanks for the info! I checked on of the songs that won't play and it was v2.2. However, one of the songs that plays just fine is v2.3. Maybe I'll change them all to v2.3 and give it a shot!