DICE Silverline on 2005 - Random playing

I have a 30 GB video iPod (with up to date software) and a 2005 with/NAV. I have had a DICE since May 2006 and last night installed a Silverline.

I had problems.

First was lack of information. It arrived without instructions. No problem, I thought, as this was an upgrade. Of course the settings were wrong and I didn't know how to get the settings for SAT. A search on Google and this site eventually found the answer.

Today was my first full day of using the Silverline and again, I had a problem. Yes, I could dial quickly from Playlist to Playlist, but it's in the playlist itself where the problem occurs.

The songs are random. I do not have the Shuffle activated. When I go to a playlist it starts in the middle (as opposed to the first song with the old DICE). Then the next song will be from another location. This is a problem as at least three of my playlists are designed to play in a certain order. Even worse that that by turning the dial (or pressing the button on the steering wheel) won't let me go to every piece. It's like opening a book in the middle and being unable to go to the first chapter.

I figure I must have a setting wrong as I haven't seen any complaint like this during my searches here. I downloaded the instructions from the site, but that's for the old DICE. If I can't get this corrected, I'll probably sell the Silverline and re-connect my old DICE. At least I could be certain what song would be next.

EDIT: I did a Google search and found another site asking the same question, but for a different car. Here's the answer I saw there:

After playing around with itunes and the dice setting, I found out that the DICE Silverline plays the playlist in alphabetical order based on album names. Then if no album names are available or if your playlist is an album itself it will play it according to the track # of each song. Then, if there are no track# set, it will play the playlist in alphabetical order based on artist name.

PLAY ORDER OF PLAYLIST:
1. Album name
2. track #
3. Artist name
4. and so on........

Have others noticed this, or does a playlist play in the order you set them up in, or random?

 

Today I tried 16 different ways to throw the switches. The best was in SAT mode, but it tends to start a playlist in the middle, which is bad if your playlist is designed to run in order (like an audio book). I'd like to think it's album driven, but the same thing occurs when the whole playlist is one album.

I've contacted DICE and hope to hear from them on the matter. If it can't be resolved, I'm going to try to get my money back and use my old DICE.

 

I did find a solution to random playing, but it's a pain. I used fweeper's suggestion to rename all of your albums if you want the playlist to play in a certain order. All you do is put an 01-. 02-, etc in front of the Album name for every song on the playlist. That means you have to rename 50 songs in a playlist, even if the album is the same name. You should also change any numbers that appear in the Album name (like 20 becomes Twenty or Vol 2 becomes Vol II).

It's a pain, but when you turn the dial to a certain playlist, it starts on the first song, and then continue in order.

 

I have some playlists with multiple artists where I want to hear artist H before artist B. Also I have some playlists where I want Album S before Album C. A number in front of the album allows you to keep the album name, as long as you have to put a number in front of something. It may be different on a 2008 (a 2005 doesn't get MP3 mode, but has an MD mode).