[sc489]

My 2017 UK Mazda 3 currently has software version 59.00.331. I've had a couple of issues with the navigation screen not loading once and a blank screen once after disengaging reverse (manual version)

My dealer is going to upgrade the software to version 59.00.502A next week under warranty.

What do people think of version 59.00.502A? Are there any significant improvements and does it introduce any new problems?

It seems Mazda software has as many 'bugs' as Microsoft Windows. You might naively think that the MZD Connect software would be sorted out by now considering the length of time it has now been available.

 

[lomo]

My infotainment has been upgraded from 56.00.513 EU version on my request, since I've been unable to pair and use my new phone (Xperia XZ Premium, it's Android 7.1.1 with Bluetooth 5). Upgrade solved this problem. I did not encounter any issues since the upgrade, except song info is not displayed while streaming music using bluetooth (using the new phone, works with the old one). No other issues or reboots for me. Everything works as expected.

If you ever plan to use the unofficial android auto or any other modification, you should not upgrade to 502, since the access is removed in this version.

 

[sc489]

My infotainment has been upgraded from 56.00.513 EU version on my request, since I've been unable to pair and use my new phone (Xperia XZ Premium, it's Android 7.1.1 with Bluetooth 5). Upgrade solved this problem. I did not encounter any issues since the upgrade, except song info is not displayed while streaming music using bluetooth (using the new phone, works with the old one). No other issues or reboots for me. Everything works as expected.

If you ever plan to use the unofficial android auto or any other modification, you should not upgrade to 502, since the access is removed in this version.

Thanks. I have absolutely no intention of modifying the software. There seem to be enough reliability problems with the basic Mazda software without adding further risks due to mods.

 

[JimInRussell]

The only problem/irritation I have with 59.00.502 is that when playing music from a USB stick it quite often displays a generic album cover rather than the one I have on my USB stick. Older versions would use the folder.jpg file I put in each album folder for the cover if Gracenotes didn't have a cover for it but that seems to be broken in this version (it worked just fine in 59.00.441). There hasn't been a Gracenotes update from Mazda for a year now so this is becoming more and more of a problem with new albums.
Gracenotes is somewhat broken anyway on the Mazda infotainment system as it doesn't seem allow the proper use of the ID3 tags such as Genre for your music but this is a problem no matter what version of the firmware you are running. Some have tried to get around this particular problem by reinstalling the Gracenotes update and forcing the install to fail by pulling out the usb stick with the update on it before it completes the install. I haven't tried this myself.

I know you say in one of you posts that you don't want to modify it but for me not being able to install any of the tweaks it is a bit of a pain as well. I didn't use many of the tweaks but pause on mute is one that I really miss having.

 

[vondiesel]

The only problem/irritation I have with 59.00.502 is that when playing music from a USB stick it quite often displays a generic album cover rather than the one I have on my USB stick. Older versions would use the folder.jpg file I put in each album folder for the cover if Gracenotes didn't have a cover for it but that seems to be broken in this version.

The correct image will display if you embed the image into the MP3 (or whatever file format you're using). A quick Google search for "how to embed album art" plus the name of your usual media player should give you some instructions.

 

[sc489]

The correct image will display if you embed the image into the MP3 (or whatever file format you're using). A quick Google search for "how to embed album art" plus the name of your usual media player should give you some instructions.

I just copied over the iTunes music folder from my PC to the USB stick and the album art shows fine in version 59.00.331. I exported playlists from iTunes too but had to edit the file path in the playlist file. I hope this method still displays album art in new v 59.00.502A. I'll post next week when the software is updated.

 

[JimInRussell]

The correct image will display if you embed the image into the MP3 (or whatever file format you're using). A quick Google search for "how to embed album art" plus the name of your usual media player should give you some instructions.

Okay so I gave that a try, embedded the album cover art into all of my MP3's and it still doesn't display them properly for any newer albums I have. :frown2:

 

[sc489]

My dealer just updated my software to v59.00.502A (under warranty). The job took about an hour while I waited. The update kept my radio & navigation favourites and my system settings which surprised me. I now see the UK DAB radio details and the album art loads fine - note I just coped my entire iTunes music folder so whatever iTunes does with album art works on MZD Connect. Lets see if the minor display gremlins I was having are now solved.

 

[vipermoon64]

I just talked to my Mazda dealer about updating the software but wanted to make sure it was still v59.502 and not something newer. Their system was down but the guy said he's pretty sure they were on that for a couple of months and have been on something newer for at least a month. The last reply mentioned just getting it updated and it was still 502A. That for sure was 502?

 

[vondiesel]

Okay so I gave that a try, embedded the album cover art into all of my MP3's and it still doesn't display them properly for any newer albums I have. :frown2:

Hmm... that's odd. Embedding the image has always worked perfectly for me. What media player are you using? I use Windows Media Player on a Win7 64bit PC , but maybe other media players do things differently in a way that the Mazda doesn't recognize. You could double-check that there are no JPG files in the folders. Maybe if it sees an embedded file and a separate image it gets confused?

 

[JimInRussell]

Hmm... that's odd. Embedding the image has always worked perfectly for me. What media player are you using? I use Windows Media Player on a Win7 64bit PC , but maybe other media players do things differently in a way that the Mazda doesn't recognize. You could double-check that there are no JPG files in the folders. Maybe if it sees an embedded file and a separate image it gets confused?

I did still have the folder.jpg files in each album folder, so I deleted them, still didn't work properly, getting generic album art for some of my more recent albums. However I think I do have it working now. What I did was take the usb stick out with the car not running and put a different one in and started the car, that made the infotainment system notice that there was a change. Took that new usb stick out and put the original one with my embeded images in the music files back in and it seems to be working properly. It would appear that the system was caching data and the only way to get it to work properly was to force it to reread the usb as though it was new. At this point I don't know if deleting the folder.jpg files was needed or not to fix this but certainly they don't need to be there.

Anyway thanks for the help, it is working correctly now. :smile2:

 

[vondiesel]

I did still have the folder.jpg files in each album folder, so I deleted them, still didn't work properly, getting generic album art for some of my more recent albums. However I think I do have it working now. What I did was take the usb stick out with the car not running and put a different one in and started the car, that made the infotainment system notice that there was a change. Took that new usb stick out and put the original one with my embeded images in the music files back in and it seems to be working properly. It would appear that the system was caching data and the only way to get it to work properly was to force it to reread the usb as though it was new. At this point I don't know if deleting the folder.jpg files was needed or not to fix this but certainly they don't need to be there.

Anyway thanks for the help, it is working correctly now. :smile2:

I'm glad it's working! I think you're right; the system definitely caches some info from the music files. It's handy to know that we can force it to reset by removing/inserting a different stick/re-inserting. I think pulling a stick and then re-inserting without changing to a different stick in between probably wouldn't work. Or at least not without starting the car in between.

 

[Torpidlittle]

I'm glad it's working! I think you're right; the system definitely caches some info from the music files. It's handy to know that we can force it to reset by removing/inserting a different stick/re-inserting. I think pulling a stick and then re-inserting without changing to a different stick in between probably wouldn't work. Or at least not without starting the car in between.

Hi all! Tried the same on my CX-5 2017 and didn't work! It seemed to work at first but, no! A lot of my album arts still not showing up. Version 502A seems buggy regarding ID3 Tags and album arts. As soon as you want to update the data on the key (for example add/delete songs), you get unpredictable results about album arts. I've tried many combinations and versions of ID3 TAG with no avail...real mystery for me.

If there is a cache for the playlists, I'd like to find the way on how to properly flush it ! Please let me know if someone finds some tips on that...And it can also be confused with the GraceNote data. I even tried to uninstall the database and didn't help neither...

Once again, Mazda has screwed up something in this firmware version...unfortunately !:frown2:

 

[Ralphtheman]

Hi all! Tried the same on my CX-5 2017 and didn't work! It seemed to work at first but, no! A lot of my album arts still not showing up. Version 502A seems buggy regarding ID3 Tags and album arts. As soon as you want to update the data on the key (for example add/delete songs), you get unpredictable results about album arts. I've tried many combinations and versions of ID3 TAG with no avail...real mystery for me.

If there is a cache for the playlists, I'd like to find the way on how to properly flush it ! Please let me know if someone finds some tips on that...And it can also be confused with the GraceNote data. I even tried to uninstall the database and didn't help neither...

Once again, Mazda has screwed up something in this firmware version...unfortunately !:frown2:

I have the same experience with ID3 TAG in the past. It's hit or miss as far as album arts. Try Audio Transcoder instead. As far as Gracenote, it doesn't serve any purpose unless you're not adding cover arts. Gracenote database is not perfect. It's incomplete with some album arts of familiar artists wrong or missing & of different sizes.

 

[Ralphtheman]

I like the latest firmware overall except for one thing - the full music catalog indexing during start. Might not be a huge problem if you have less than 8GB of music files but anything larger takes a lot of time to load. I'm using a SanDisk Cruzer Fit 32GB USB thumb drive (about 80% full of AAC music files) which takes a lot of time to load already in the past & even longer now with this new firmware. You'll get stucked listening to the last single album that you played while driving for couple of miles before you have full access to your entire music files. Good if you're long driving, bad if you have frequent stops. I like the partial indexing before when done as you click the letter of artists/album folder listed in alphabetical order.

 

[Torpidlittle]

Hi all,

I think I solved my issue about album arts that were not showing up. In my .mp3 songs library, I have a mix of .jpg and .png embedded images. And it seems that the Mazda system doesn't recognize the .png format. So I replaced embedded .png images with .jpg images on some of the problematic songs, updated those on the USB drive and did another test in the car. At first, it didn't work. Still no album arts showing for the updated files. Probably the system still has the previous data saved in a cache. But, I read in a thread somewhere that we have to "Restore the factory settings" for the system to see changes on the USB drive (maybe I found a way to flush the cached data...hey hey!). After the restore, I plugged in back my USB drive, and voilà ! All the album arts are now showing correctly ! :smile2:

I'm wondering if I will have to restore the system every time I want to add new songs? We'll see...