USB Thumb Drives as Music Storage Devices

[Plasmatopia]

Can't speak for Honda, as I drive a Chevy, but I think the size of the drive may be the culprit here. You might want to check your manual to see if there are parameters for your USB jack - some can only handle up to 32 or 64 GB. With my car, it takes a few minutes for the data to index. If I put in a new drive, it takes longer than if the drive has already been indexed and is in the port, but it must index every time I start the car.

I looked around a little online this morning and found some different solutions. Looks like it has something to do with how many folders can be indexed. I read conflicting reports, but it might be 200 folders...or 299...or...

I think I'll just rearrange things into different folders and see what works.

[rcarlberg]

Old DOS-based systems (and the Windows based in them) were limited to 256 files in the root, if memory serves. That limitation was removed decades ago.

[Plasmatopia]

Old DOS-based systems (and the Windows based in them) were limited to 256 files in the root, if memory serves. That limitation was removed decades ago.

Right - I don't really know if it's related to that sort of issue. None of the numbers mentioned were the typical 2^16 (or whatever)....

[PeterG]

Which brand sounds the best? <ducks>

Well it was always a toss up between Memorex, TDK and BASF wasn't it?

[rcarlberg]

Memorex wins, hands down.

[strawberrybrick]

Is there a "permanent storage" option for data?

Yes. Having it in two places.

[Plasmatopia]

Gotta say (knock on wood) I've never had a thumb drive die...only lost or stolen.

[Jubal]

I've had issues where I deleted everything on the drive, add a new playlist, and then found most of the tracks I had deleted were still playing on it even though they didn't show up when I opened the file. The only way I could get rid of these files was to format the drive completely.

[Plasmatopia]

I've had issues where I deleted everything on the drive, add a new playlist, and then found most of the tracks I had deleted were still playing on it even though they didn't show up when I opened the file. The only way I could get rid of these files was to format the drive completely.

That's a strange one.

[rcarlberg]

Happened to me as well. My diagnosis: erasure (file name changed to be flagged as deleted) isn't recognized by some USB readers. I've noticed my TV shows different files than my computer.

[JKL2000]

the poin is all of you using sterio using in you r car good but my dear friend, just tell my ols days past 50 years , my ambassedar car have a tape recorder to listen music no indian karnatic songs ..oh the changes i see ..anyway new changes are good

Word.

[JKL2000]

I'm on my second USB drive in the car. The first one totally died.
My problem is that my car's stereo cant display the folders in alphanumeric order.

[Spiral]

Yep, a 128GB drive is handy to keep most of the library anywhere. I keep a folder named 000 for the things heaviest in the current rotation, so they pop up first in the car. Then it's simple to switch them around every so often when the urge for something different hits.

I've seen a few artists offer things in that format, usually for hi-def files (Crystal Method or Marillion) or bundling a whole catalogue together (Steve Lawson and James). Nice idea, and it only shows yet again how dumb it would be to accept Apple's insistence on wireless everything.

[Burley Wright]

Here's a question for you folks. I have a 2015 Nissan Quest with a USB port. When I have my relatively new 128G thumb drive in the port it will start playing every time the vehicle is started even if the whole stereo is powered off when the vehicle was turned off. When I have my older 4G thumb drive in the port it doesn't start playing when the vehicle is started (this is the behavior I prefer). I've read that autorun or autoplay is dependent on the presence of an autorun.inf file in the root directory of the drive. There is no such file on either thumb drive (and I did search hidden files). I can't find a setting in the van's stereo that controls autorun/play. Is there some difference between the older and newer drives that make the van automatically start the newer but not the older? Anybody know how I can make the autoplay stop? The salesman that sold us the van said we just have to live with it. BTW our 2013 Quest did the same thing. It's annoying to have to hit the off button every time I start the van, the button could wear out. And it starts playing the USB device even if the van was set to another source (XM, CD, etc.) when it was turned off.

Thanks

[rcarlberg]

You'd have to check the USB 2.0 specs versus USB 1.0.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove the USB before turning the key, though?

[JKL2000]

You'd have to check the USB 2.0 specs versus USB 1.0.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove the USB before turning the key, though?

My Subaru Outback has the USB drive in a place that DAMNED hard to reach - you can't see the slot when you're sitting (it's inside the compartment by the drivers's right elbow - thanks, Japanese engineer!), so it may not be so easy Burley. Just saying...

[Jerjo]

I just had a 32gb drive lock up as write only. I tried every trick I could find to unlock it but it's still frozen.

For those of you using USBs are you using lossless files or MP3s? And with road noise, would it make any difference?

[Scott Bails]

For those of you using USBs are you using lossless files or MP3s? And with road noise, would it make any difference?

I use .mp3s. For me, it's more bang for my buck - I can't tell the difference.

[Burley Wright]

You'd have to check the USB 2.0 specs versus USB 1.0.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove the USB before turning the key, though?

Easy enough but then when the thumb drive is put back in it starts playing from the first file on the drive. It should work like any other device: if I'm playing a CD when I turn the van off then when I start it up again it resumes playing the CD where it left off. I shouldn't have to scroll through a bunch of directories to find where I was. The older thumb drive behaves like it should, maybe it is USB 1.0 versus 2.0 or 3.0, seems like a strange change to incorporate though. Can a 2.0 or 3.0 drive be camouflaged to look like a 1.0?

[progmatist]

Here's a question for you folks. I have a 2015 Nissan Quest with a USB port. When I have my relatively new 128G thumb drive in the port it will start playing every time the vehicle is started even if the whole stereo is powered off when the vehicle was turned off. When I have my older 4G thumb drive in the port it doesn't start playing when the vehicle is started (this is the behavior I prefer). I've read that autorun or autoplay is dependent on the presence of an autorun.inf file in the root directory of the drive. There is no such file on either thumb drive (and I did search hidden files). I can't find a setting in the van's stereo that controls autorun/play. Is there some difference between the older and newer drives that make the van automatically start the newer but not the older? Anybody know how I can make the autoplay stop? The salesman that sold us the van said we just have to live with it. BTW our 2013 Quest did the same thing. It's annoying to have to hit the off button every time I start the van, the button could wear out. And it starts playing the USB device even if the van was set to another source (XM, CD, etc.) when it was turned off.

It could be the way 128GB drives are partitioned. Up to 2GB uses FAT, which is limited to 256 files/folders in the root directory. 4 through 32GB use FAT32. 64GB and up use exFAT. Your car may be reacting the way it does because it sees an exFAT partition.

Any drive can be re-partitioned. I re-partitioned my 2GB drive to FAT32 so I can put as many files as I darn well please in the root directory. I've also re-partitioned 64GB Micro SD cards from exFAT to FAT32 so they'll work in my FIIO X1 player.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply remove the USB before turning the key, though?

In my player, if you do that it loses its place and starts playing from the very beginning.

[frinspar]

I use .mp3s. For me, it's more bang for my buck - I can't tell the difference.

Back in my day, we had live bands play in the trunk, and the steel carriage area was designed by the greatest opera house architects of the time. There's no comparison to this digital plug-and-play crap in the homogenized plastic suppository vehicles we have now.

It could be the way 128GB drives are partitioned. Up to 2GB uses FAT, which is limited to 256 files/folders in the root directory. 4 through 32GB use FAT32. 64GB and up use exFAT. Your car may be reacting the way it does because it sees an exFAT partition.

Any drive can be re-partitioned. I re-partitioned my 2GB drive to FAT32 so I can put as many files as I darn well please in the root directory. I've also re-partitioned 64GB Micro SD cards from exFAT to FAT32 so they'll work in my FIIO X1 player.

Very useful information. Thanks.

[Burley Wright]

It could be the way 128GB drives are partitioned. Up to 2GB uses FAT, which is limited to 256 files/folders in the root directory. 4 through 32GB use FAT32. 64GB and up use exFAT. Your car may be reacting the way it does because it sees an exFAT partition.

Any drive can be re-partitioned. I re-partitioned my 2GB drive to FAT32 so I can put as many files as I darn well please in the root directory. I've also re-partitioned 64GB Micro SD cards from exFAT to FAT32 so they'll work in my FIIO X1 player.

Thanks for the info, based on my brief Googling of how to re-partition thumb drives it gets complicated in a hurry, it appears that Windows can't partition anything bigger than 32GB to FAT32 so then you get into third-party products and they appear to have issues as well. I probably shouldn't have sprung for such a large thumb drive, I'll probably just get a smaller one making sure to read the specs and verify that it's not exFAT.

[mitchgx]

Which brand sounds the best? <ducks>

I like the Monster brand USB drive. The gold plating and Tuscan marble handle really help limit signal degradation and there's way less static and a much brighter, more accurate sound than I got with my dime-store Sandisk thumb drive. Yeah, at $299 per GB it's kind of expensive, but I can totally tell the difference.

:P

[Hyfi]

Curious as to how you guys are setting up the drives. I have a 2014 LaCrosse with USB input.

I first loaded up the drive with each album in it's own folder, and if whole discography, Band Folder then all Albums. The issues I faced were with Shuffle. It never seemed to shuffle everything and sometimes got stuck in a sub folder.

After asking on other sites and getting no real feedback, I attempted to dump about 4000 tracks into a single folder. It would play and go to next track, but if I attempted to FF to next track, it would then start playing 2 seconds and go to next, 2 seconds, next.

So at that point I created 6 or 7 folders per Genre and then dumped related individual tracks into those folders. After that it has been playing and shuffling through all folders and tracks.

Took me a year to figure it out and get it to this point. How do the other cars handle single folders with all track or Folder per Album with Shuffle?

[frinspar]

So far mine has been fine. Except I have noticed that it has a strong affinity for RATT's "Body Talk" and wants to play it about once a day. Seriously.

I just throw on single album folders, group folders with multiple album folders inside, or single tracks. Maybe the fact that it's a stereo I put in myself, rather than a factory-installed unit which might not have been designed by people that only make stereos, it's more readily accepting of haphazard file-keeping. Just a random, baseless thought.