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MP3 vs USB Drive Music ????

Discussion in 'Prius v Audio and Electronics' started by Capecodbeachfront, Feb 9, 2014.

  1. Capecodbeachfront

    Capecodbeachfront Junior Member

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    Picking up my 2013 V in a couple of days. Plain Jane Model2. I would like to bring some music with me. I realize BlueTooth is available but I am unfortunately not ready for BT. Actually my phone is too basic for BT. My remaining choices as I see them, are USB Thumbdrive and MP3 player hooked up thru USB port? Are either of these a reasonable choice? One much better than the other?
    My own thoughts are to use a dedicated USB Thumbdrive. No cables, no charging or batteries to worry about? Can anyone point me to a good source (video?) that could help me learn how this will look on the music screen? Thanks.
     
  2. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    You can view and download the relevant sections of the manual at Toyota.com. Pay particular attention to the supported media files and thumb drive formatting. I use a 64GB thumb drive with about 5000 MP3 tunes on it. the system takes a few minutes to index it all. You'll want to have the files properly tagged, as the system uses tags to sort by artist and album, as well as sorting by folders. FWIW, folder sorting is a bit hit and miss, it appears to use creation dates for folder sorting. Sorting by artist or album is alphabetical, each artist will have separate albums listed and drill down to files.
     
    Kurt E Sanders likes this.
  3. Kurt E Sanders

    Kurt E Sanders Junior Member

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    I prefer the large USB music library for the Prius. I can have digital music as well as audiobooks on the miniature device and not have to use my phone's battery and Bluetooth for playing music.
     
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  4. Capecodbeachfront

    Capecodbeachfront Junior Member

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    The "Folder" then "Files" sort is a bit of work to set up. Biggest problem right now is my attempt to have a huge data base of songs to play randomly. After ripping the cd's I get multiple "Track 01"'s. I can keep Individual Cd files fairly well. Other problem is sometimes I am a level to deep and do not get the song name... just Group, Album, track info. Still a work in progress... but I do feel I am making progress. Just not sure I could ever explain where to locate a song to my wife. Good thing I like RANDOM PLAY.
    Next thing to master is the TripA, TripB, Set display.... Then the heater / AC modes.... Then I will open the hood and look for dipsticks and fluids.... Quite a learning curve for a first time Prius owner!
     
  5. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    Its WAY easier if you use a dedicated CD ripping tool that automatically tags the tracks and albums and artists, which is the best way to organize. Proper tagging is crucial. Other programs are available that can do a lookup and apply tags to existing files. I like dBpoweramp for automated ripping, and there's a free proggie just for tagging called Mp3tag.

    If you want random playback, its a bit more problematic because the Prius system really only supports random playback within a single folder. If you drop all your files in the root of the drive with no folders, you can still sort by artist and album tags, and random then becomes truly random. Get familiar with the interface and you'll see what I mean
     
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  6. Capecodbeachfront

    Capecodbeachfront Junior Member

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    Thank you for the suggestions re: ripping Cd's.
    So far I have decided to rip and keep separate about 8-10 favorite albums.
    They have good detailed artist & song info and are Perfect for short trips...
    I am also creating a 'big' master folder adding music when I am bored....
    Not bored today... as I am digging out from 18 inches of Upstate NY Snow!
    The master folder will be my Random source, especially for longer trips!
    The ripper I used was FairStars and it was decent to use...
    I selected WMA files over MP3. any reason to select one over the other?
    Any Recommended sources for audio books?
    Is there a way I could move some of my Kindle books to USB?
     
  7. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    I haven't bothered much with WMA, mainly because its a proprietary format that's not universally supported.
    If you use MP3 with minimal compression (320k) and max quality (slowest) setting, you get very high quality comparable to CD. With WMA you have to use the lossless format to get comparable results, and the system doesn't support that.

    Regarding your folders, if you format the drive, then put your "random" folder on first, it will be the first one that the system opens.
     
  8. skying001

    skying001 New Member

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    also have the similar problem, never find a good solution.
     
  9. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    Adding to this thread:
    Thanks to a suggestion in another thread, I confirmed that if you press the "random" button twice while in the USB screen, you will get "folder random" playback where it randomly selects folders and randomly selects files in that folder. I'm not sure if there's a limit on the depth of folders you can use, but I have 3-4 folder levels on my drive and it seems to be working as expected.
     
  10. Capecodbeachfront

    Capecodbeachfront Junior Member

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    Two taps on Random DOES give me random folder selection... thanks.
    After about two weeks now I am thinking of wiping the USB clean and starting over again.
    Probably can do a better job of ripping songs I want from within each album...
    May take the advice from above and try a small sample of MP3 format first...
    BTW It looks like I could be depending upon USB a lot more than I thought...
    FM Radio reception was horrible in yesterday's rain storm!
    Lost stations I had listened to for over a week! Will check antenna for loose connection?
     
  11. CTitanic

    CTitanic Member

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    I prefer to have my MP3 collection in an USB Memory stick. It works very well.