Just got this unit installed from Circuit City. Two to three times a song it will jump over parts of the song in playback. The mp3s are VBR encoded at an average of 160kbps and the same mp3s on the same CD-R will play just fine on a several other players.
It skips even when the car is parked, so I don't think it's a buffering or mechanical issue, it seems like the software or computer is just buggy or limited on resources. It seems to happen sometimes on constant-rate encoded files, too.
I plan to take it back and get a different unit. Just wanted to warn people since this is a newer model and see if anyone has had similar issues with Pioneers.
They made thousands of those units...I doubt they all have the same problem. The only time I've experienced playback problems with a Pioneer was due to worn parts in the mechanism (and the unit was eight years old). Perfectly acceptable.
I understand your frustration however, but the new unit should work. Keep in mind VBR mp3's don't like to play on some mp3 players...