I have an 06 IS350. mp3s burned to any type of DVD will not play in the ML system. only mp3s burned to at CD-R will play in the ML system. My sales guy told me that mp3s would play on DVDs but he had no idea what he was talking about. the convenience factor would have been huge though...
to answer your other question, random function only works within a particular folder on the CD. for instance, if you have created several folders from the root on the CD-R, the random function will only randomize the mp3 tracks from within a given folder. if you burned a cd that has no folders on it (ie all the mp3s files are on the root), then the random function will randomize all of those tracks.
Otherwise, the ML system will play the files in the order in which they were burned (which usually is alphabetical). The annoying thing with iTunes is that it burns folders for each artist and puts the track under that so the random function becomes very limited.
-a
I'm interested in knowing this for the IS350's. Is anyone able to burn a DVD+R or DVD-R and have the ML system play it? When test driving a loaded gs450h the dvd i burnt with mp3s was unable to be detected, the same dvd-r played fine in a computer.
An alternate question is how well does the mp3 random mode work for mp3 CDs? Can you make play lists burnt on the cd to ensure the order of songs is performed and not by alphabetical order like I've heard the mp3's tend to be playing for the Mark Levinson upgrade?