The second option is amazing. The audio system can automatically recognize artists if you save all your MP3 files using the format “artist_name – song_name.mp3.” This is an outstanding feature especially when you have literally hundreds of files inside your CD or memory card. When you click on the artist name, the system will list all songs by this artist it found in your media.

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Figure 9: Searching songs by artist.

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Figure 10: All songs by a given artist (The Cure, in this example).

The third search option, Album, allows you to list all songs that belong to the same album, similarly to what happen to the search by artist feature. This option is particularly convenient if you have several songs by the same artist on your collection.

The only thing we didn’t like on the system used by Honda is that when you are using the GPS you have an option to see the audio info instead of the current street name by touching the “Audio Info” icon on the screen. We thought the Navi system should list the name of the artist and the name of the song on the bottom of the map, but instead it lists the folder number and the song number. Conventional CDs usually have only up to 20 songs per disc and the CD changer can’t read the name of the artist and the name of the song, so this system makes sense for conventional CDs. But when playing MP3 files it doesn’t make any sense to know that we are now listening to song number 222 (only Rain Man would be able to memorize all songs he had on its CD or memory card).

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Figure 11: The system should list the name of the artist and/or of the song on the map, not generic information.

The sound quality of the Honda MP3 feature is excellent and we don’t have any complaints here. Response time between selecting a song and the system start playing is outstanding, almost immediate.