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Like some updates on playing USB music files

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by ETP, Jan 17, 2019.

  1. GSK

    GSK Active Member

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    My Prime seems to play WMA Lossless files without any problem, despite the manual stating that it can only read lower bitrates. Maybe it's downsampling the files?
     
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  2. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Have you tried a larger USB? I will stick the 256GB stick today and see what happens.
    I did discover that sometimes you can format a larger micro SD in an old dash cam and read larger files using a USB stick converter.
     
  3. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    OK have verified GSK's test on the WMA files on a 32GB fat 32 stick.
    In process of checking exfat/NFTS on a larger stick.
    The music sounds very good and it appears to be lossless.

    I guess they finally ran out of those old radios. :LOL::ROFLMAO:
     
  4. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Just verified that exfat and NFTS do not work.
    Last test is the 256GB micro SD formatted in a dash cam. This will take awhile.

    64GB micro SD works formatted to fat 32 with WMA lossless files.

    Will rerun the exfat test! Can't believe that is still broke.

    Also discovered that in some cases you have to do a hot unplug and replug in the slot.
     
    #24 ETP, Apr 26, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
  5. GSK

    GSK Active Member

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    I have not tried anything larger than a 128GB drive, which seemed to work fine. I have a over 70GB on files on it and I'm pretty sure I see them all in the car but I haven't looked closely. I mainly stick to 32GB or less just because it takes so long to index large drives. I have a case with maybe 10-12 drives in it, each 32GB, dedicated to one artist or one genre each, which is how I like to listen to music.
    But yeah I'm pretty sure WMA lossless works since all files on these drives are only in that format, and everything sounds good at least
     
  6. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    For WMA lossless only. Have not tried anything else on the larger micro SD.
    256GB failed to show a proper menu but there were songs you could play but I had no way of telling what they were until they started playing. Close to broke..

    If you divided them into separate master folders it may help/or make two drives on one card.

    Also it has not been ruled out that the adapter sticks I am using are different in some way.

    Trying a 128 next to test your findings that 128 may be the limit.

    Same results as the 256. But the 64GB works if you mess with the controls and leave 5 n 1 plugged in. As long as it stays in it will read the 5 N 1 stick. Maybe not worth the effort as you can use multiple cheap 32GB USB sticks and separate your music by categories. I do not have software to format a USB stick in FAT 32 above 32GB.

    Example:

    1. Old stuff

    2. really old stuff

    3. Pre civil war stuff

    4. Pre revolutionary war stuff
     
    #26 ETP, Apr 26, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
  7. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    C:\Windows\system32>format/FS:FAT32 D
    Invalid drive specification.
    C:\Windows\system32>format D:/FS:FAT32
    Insert new disk for drive D:
    and press ENTER when ready...
    The type of the file system is EXFAT.
    The new file system is FAT32.
    Verifying 114.6 GB
    1 percent completed.
     
  8. GSK

    GSK Active Member

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    I definitely see my files the way I intended for them to be setup. I setup each drive as artist folders containing album folders, then in the car I just select Artist>Album, and everything works as expected.
     
  9. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    This failed also. No luck on a 128GB stick. with WMA lossless.
     
  10. PaulDM

    PaulDM Active Member

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    Even using the command line tools in the latest win10 there is a hard limit of 32gb per volume I get the “disk is too big for fat32” as an error if I go above that using the /fs:fat32 switch and I know from bitter experience that the head unit doesn’t like anything other than Fat32.
    464695F4-1B78-4CB4-83BE-B73855955E42.jpeg
    it only sees the first partition Ruby32 on the source list

    I would be interested in how you got around this limit and had a partition that can hold 70gb as it seems a bit of a waste to only use 32 out of 256.
     
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  11. GSK

    GSK Active Member

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    looks like I made a mistake, I was thinking of a larger drive that looks the same as the one I was referring to. Turns out it is only a 64GB drive, not 128GB. But I didn't do any formatting, I simply plugged it in, transferred music, then put it in the car. So I can't explain it.
     
  12. PaulDM

    PaulDM Active Member

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    Sounds like it was probably pre formatted at the manufacturer. Thanks for replying.
     
  13. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    OK/ my test results are flawed as my computer is having a format issue on USB sticks.
    If I format the USB sticks on another computer the transfers work so I will rerun the whole test one more time.
    Even after rebuilding the hard-drive drive I still have issues. Not sure it its hardware or something else.

    Bottom line is I will try one more time to do a 64GB micro SD card formatted in a dash cam, WMA on a 32GB USB, and an exfat USB with WMA on the big box.
    Not hoping to get much better results but I was very surprised that the PP read the WMA files. Highlander will not recognize the USB stick.
    You have to leave the USB stick plugged into the PP for a few minutes before it will recognize WMA content with a menu.
     
  14. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),24 Venza Limit,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Initial results:

    Highlander is pretty much 32GB MP3 or WMA files that are not lossless!

    PP is good with the same files but can pretty much play most file formats you throw at it. It takes some time to get the browse menu up on WMA lossless and WAV files as well as over 32GB micro SD card.
    Same with 64GB micro SD formatted in a dash cam. I loaded 40 GB of a mixture of file types and so far they all play on a USB card reader with a micro SD formatted to FAT 32.

    Have not tried EXFAT as I am pretty sure that will not work.
    As far as sound quality, I cannot tell a difference in the car as all my files are high bit rate or lossless.

    To me the best thing to do is just use WMA high bite rate (MP3 compatible) at 32GB and call it a day. Those stick menus pop up instantly.

    Nothing is better than a CD but that is no longer an option and noise in the cockpit is making that option unnecessary. However, if they ever make a soundproof electric car then all bets are off.
     
    #34 ETP, May 10, 2021
    Last edited: May 10, 2021
  15. privilege

    privilege Active Member

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    generally we stream Amazon music or play mp3s from the phone , over Bluetooth. I haven't even tried direct connections, as Bluetooth is rock solid as far as playback, over multi hour road trips, so I don't know if there is a difference in quality.
    we use older Android Kyocera Pro 2 (duraforce) for our waterproof/rugged GPS stuff on dirtbikes, hiking, geocaching, etc.

    the sdcard size limit (according to the manufacturer) is 512gb. generally I don't need anything more than 64gb, so I doubled the capacity and slapped 128gb cards in the phones.

    using the phone's faster indexing/faster reading, there is no lag between searching for a song/file and playing it. generally we just use whatever mp3 player was last installed, muzio was the latest, works fine.

    honestly it looks like most of your issues are with ripping and what windows screws up in the process of filesystems/ formatting. I can't help with that, we stopped using Windows in about 2005. I remember the headaches, but that's about all.

    have you tried loading your mp3s on to a modern tablet or phone ? they're really fast now, and shouldn't have any trouble indexing your playlists it providing you with days of music.
     
  16. GSK

    GSK Active Member

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    It really doesn't take too long to index my 32GB USB drives with WMA lossless. I have a lot of music ripped from BluRays at 24bit/192kHz or 24/96, or high-res downloads, so I don't want to downsample to the USBs if I can help it. There's no definitive way for me to tell if the files are being played at the higher resolution, but they sound good and I know I transferred them as lossless, so I'm satisfied.