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Organizing MP3s on a Flash Drive

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by qdllc, Oct 30, 2013.

  1. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    Okay, let's start with the basics. 2013 Prius Two. Using the following flash drive on the USB port in the center console:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00812F7O8/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
    SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 32GB USB Flash Drive (SDCZ33-032G-B35)

    Got my MP3s on it (has to be MP3), and organization on the flash drive itself is what I want to figure out.

    I figured I'd have to navigate folders and sub-folders. So, I put the most popular ones near the root and the less popular ones in sub-folders. Turns out the audio system displays the name of any folder on the drive with MP3s in it.

    The problem is one of order. It appears that the system reads the most nested folders first, so I have to scroll through the least popular ones to get to the more popular ones. So, I reversed the process, putting least popular in a "music" sub-folder with more popular in a sub-folder of that and my most popular in a sub-folder of that one.

    That improved the situation, but it didn't help in that 2nd nested sub-folder didn't get treated as a priority.

    My guess is that the system only prioritizes by one sub-folder (or two if you count the root directory as one level).

    I will experiment by moving everything one level up, and if that doesn't work, I suppose I'll try putting a number sequence (e.g., "01", "02", "03", etc.) on the folders that are my top playlist choices because it seems the system lists things in the order of (1) most nested then (2) alphabetical order.
     
  2. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    So far, this is what I've found out....

    Made a sub-directory named "Music." In there is another sub-directory named "0 - Playlists."

    In that directory are all my favorite playlists. Each prefix numbered in order of preference.

    In the Music directory is all of my other music folders.

    Now, here's what's odd....

    I've gotten it so that all my "music" directory is in alphabetical order AFTER the favorites, BUT the favorites are not listed alphabetically by prefix.

    So, I've dumped it all into one directory...the "music" directory.

    Now, all the playlists are in correct order BUT AT THE END of all the albums.

    My conclusion is that to the Prius OS, a zero IS NOT prior in order to any other number or letter. With the way things are, an album that starts with the number 20 in its title is first and everything else is alphabetical with my 01, 02, 03 playlists being in order LAST.

    Anyone know what symbols come BEFORE the number 1 to the Prius?
     
  3. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    Tried all the top row symbols allowed including -, =, and +. All of those came last after alphanumeric characters.

    What doesn't make sense is that the first folder has "20" in it's title, but a folder starting with "10" is at the end of the list.
     
    ReDave likes this.
  4. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    Okay, what I think I have figured out...at least on a 2013 Prius Two.

    Folders are displayed alphanumerically (0 to 9 then A to Z). HOWEVER, folders are displayed by date (oldest first). So, if you make a playlist folder or add any new media to the collection, you need to remove all media off the drive, perhaps quick-format it for good measure, then copy the files back to the drive so they all have the same "write" date on the drive.

    Failure to do this means the name priority will be trumped by the older folder dates...resulting in anything new being at the end of the list and not where it belongs within the list.

    CONFIRMED

    0-9, A-Z but older folders precede newer folders. Copy all contents to drive at one time to ensure proper alphanumeric ordering of folders/files.
     
    Placius, ReDave, Nora and 2 others like this.
  5. ftl

    ftl Explicator

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    Thanks for researching and documenting this.

    Yet another feature in the audio system designed by someone who never actually tried using it.
     
  6. 102mm

    102mm Junior Member

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    I thought the head units were basically the same. My folders don't display. Everything is sorted by album title, artist, genre.. Whichever one I select. I have the entune system with the cruzer fit 64Gb. It also plays WMA files.

    swyped from my Note II with Taptalk 4
     
  7. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    That may be the Entune system. The Prius Two doesn't have that, but it can play off bluetooth and USB. If you plug in an iPhone/iPod or go off bluetooth, it works that way. A USB drive works differently on the Prius Two.
     
  8. BillyBuerger

    BillyBuerger Junior Member

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    This topic has been discussed before here. You are close in your final assessment. It's true that wiping the drive and copying your files directly in the order you want them will sort them correctly. But not because of the date. The sorting is strictly based on the order the files exist in the file system. If you start with a clean drive and copy one file over, it will be first. Next file will be second and so on. If you delete some files and add new ones, the new ones might end up in the old ones location and not be at the end. It's a cheap way to read files off a USB drive and saves them from having to implement a more robust file system in the software. See this post for more information and options for dealing with it...

    Playlists on USB thumb drives | Page 2 | PriusChat

    And folders act playlist sort of. But there is no nested folders. Going with the simple file system structure, each folder, no matter if it's nested or not is treated as a playlist. The MP3 files in that folder belong to that playlist. And the order in that playlist again is by the order in the file system.

    It's crap and it sucks that they did this. :(
     
  9. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    As a follow up, when I want to add new content to the flash drive, I often have to copy twice in Windows. Often the first copy of content (say from Folder 1 to Folder 2) doesn't date/time stamp the content the way I want. I normally tell windows to organize by name, Ctrl-A, copy & paste to a new folder and double-check the date/time stamps. That usually makes them ready to bulk copy to the flash drive in the right order.