05 stock Sportivo head unit skips/glitches in MP3

[sl33py]

Hi all, just bought a 2005 Rolla Sportivo. Drives great, but there's an issue with the head unit:

It has what I believe is the stock head unit, with model number 32807 written on the front (6 disc unit + MP3 capability). It is VERY picky about MP3s and I can't figure out why. It skips through some mp3s like I'm holding seeking fast forward through them, sometimes skipping 10 or 20 seconds at a time and eventually jumping to the next song, or simply 'giving up' and moving to the next album. These are on BRAND NEW mp3 discs I burnt. No DRM or anything. Since it was totally happy with some albums and not at all with others (on the SAME disc!), I thought maybe it was having trouble decoding MP3 encoded at a variable bit rate, but several of the albums that work fine were encoded this way. Also, when I did a specific test, several albums encoded at Constant bit rate also skip. I know one solution is to replace the head unit, but I bought this car because everything is exactly as I want it, without having to modify. I will only replace it if I know it's a fault that can't be fixed. The bit that really confuses me in trying to solve this is that it reads some entire albums off a disc perfectly, but skips/glitches through albums on the same disc which were encoded/burnt/tagged etc in exactly the same way! What gives?!

I've read about how the Toyota head units can have picky/finnicky laser systems if they've copped a few hard bumps, but this seems like something that would affect everything, whereas this seems based on what album I'm playing, so I'm not convinced it's the laser...

Does anyone else have this issue with the standard head unit? Out of curiosity, anyone know how much the standard head unit costs to replace?

Thanks in advance.

Edited August 5, 2010 by sl33py

[sl33py]

So, I tried burning a CD closing the sessions: no dice. Tried finalising the disc: no dice. Various bit rates: no dice. Then I tried a TDK disc withouth the printable surface on top... VIOLA. Everything works, whatever bitrate I like. :D I guess the printable discs are a tiny bit thicker than these other ones, and the H/U couldn't spin them quick enough to buffer properly. NFI. If you have troubles with your head unit, try other (thinner) discs!