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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.

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  1. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    So far the only thing I have tried that works is MP3 on a FAT 32 / 32GB USB stick.
    Anyway to play higher quality file types on a Prius via USB sticks?
    Also do all the new Prius radios have the CD player removed?
    Cell phones are normally limited to 64GB for a micro SD card.

    So the reason I ask is I am going to rip my 600 CD collection to a hard drive in a lossless format to play on my XBOX ONE X for the house and do not want to re-rip all 600 in MP3.

    Is there a noticeable quality improvement in the highest bit rate for MP3 and can the Prius use it?

    Or as Simon and Garfunkel said, " Is analysis worthwhile, is the theater really dead"?
     
    #1 ETP, Jan 17, 2019
  2. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I haven't heard that the CD player has been removed - is this really happening?

    I play PODCASTS on USB stick, but only play music from CDs.
     
    #2 alanclarkeau, Jan 17, 2019
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  3. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Looks like most car makers are deleting CD players. Looks like Toyota base models get it deleted but the Premium JBL still has it for 2019 so far.

    Automakers Remove CD Players, Gas Gauges, Speedometers | Money

    Ford Removes the CD Player From Upcoming Vehicles

    It's Time To Say Goodbye To The CD Player In New American Cars
     
    #3 ETP, Jan 17, 2019
  4. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    My issue is that Toyota may not support lossless formats and larger USB sticks. I would need at least a 256GB stick for lossless audio of 600 CDs.

    I actually do not want a CD player but the MP3 files are lower quality and limited to 32GB.
     
    #4 ETP, Jan 17, 2019
  5. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    I was told a historical fact ages ago - that a LEXUS model (not sure which) was the last car to have a Cassette Player. So, TOYOTA might be close to the action.

    The thing I don't understand is that the CD was the logical successor to the Compact Cassette. BUT - there is no logical successor to the CD player - they're either trying to play through SmartPhones - which is pathetic (and erratic), or USB - which is very poorly done. A CD will play a Mozart/Beethoven/Haydn 4 movement Symphony, Piano Concerto etc - all in the correct order. But a USB stick will shuffle the order and drive the listener mad. Fancy starting with the SLOW movement. Just Rong.
     
    #5 alanclarkeau, Jan 17, 2019
  6. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Exactly! Very poor execution by Toyota. You can put lossless audio on a USB stick and play it on most home devices.
    With Toyota you are lucky to find the CD title on the stick after renaming it so you can find it. Even the file structure they have is very poor. F for a grade.

    I couldn't find Lakme by Leo Delibes for days and suddenly I saw it under artists I think. It was not under albums. Maybe!

    First song was truncated in MP3 for Abby Road at joo joo eyeballs.
    Come Together
    Song by The Beatles
    Lyrics
    Here come old flat top
    He come groovin' up slowly
    He got joo joo eyeballs
    He one holy roller
    He got hair down to his knee
    Got to be a joker
    He just do what he please

    My wife tolerates my taste in music.:LOL:

    Love Thelonious Monk.
     
    #6 ETP, Jan 17, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2019
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  7. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    With PODCASTS on USB stick - I generally only put 6 or 8 tracks on - which, seeing they're usually between 25 and 50 mins, is a reasonable amount of time. I bought a few multi-coloured small USB sticks.

    I tried the same with Classical Music - put just one Concerto etc on the USB stick - yes, I can manually manipulate. I'd listen to what came first, click to next track, next - and come to the conclusion they're in order of tracks 3;2;4;1. And flick to the right track on the move.

    But - what possessed TOYOTA to put the USB stick where they did - out of sight :eek::oops::rolleyes:o_O:cautious::cry::notworthy::sneaky:.

    Wouldn't it be logical, to put it where it can be seen and used?

    Almost as stupid as VW & AUDI, back a few years back, put the CD player IN the Glovebox!!!

    upload_2019-1-17_20-12-24.png

    I've actually got an old USB Hub on a cable sitting in the QI Charger bay - that way I can have 2 in, and swap between them while moving. It'll only work on 2 outlets. Or easily swap to another USB stick.
     
    #7 alanclarkeau, Jan 17, 2019
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  8. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Yep, the slot is very hard to find and you have to be careful not to force it in upside down. At one time it was inside the console compartment.
    They need a spot that is easily visible and not require you to hang upside down over the dash to see it.:ROFLMAO::notworthy::confused::mad:
     
    #8 ETP, Jan 17, 2019
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  9. The Professor

    The Professor Senior Member

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    It doesn't support any lossless containers like FLAC or ALAC. The best you're going to get is MP3/WMA/AAC at 48KHz sampling and 320Kbps bitrate.

    In terms of storage, a trick I've used on many devices in the past (PS3, multiple dashcams, phones, digital cameras, etc) to use USB Mass Storage above 32GB is to simply format the device as FAT32. Windows will insist on using NTFS for these larger drives, which are often not compatible with non-Windows devices, or xFAT which isn't supported on many older tech devices. That doesn't mean you can't format a 250GB drive as FAT32 though with free Windows software or on Linux. You can, and then these devices often work perfectly fine with bigger storage. Try it and see.

    All that being said, be aware of other software limitations... It'll only see up to 3000 folders and 9999 files on a USB drive in total, and up to 255 files in any given folder.

    I would bite the bullet and use any one of a number of batch audio file converters to convert your lossless files into MP3 or AAC and they'll probably fit on a tictac sized tiny 32GB USB drive without any further hassle other than having to rip any new music to both formats. You're not going to hear any loss of quality outside of a really good soundproof room or studio, with audio equipment costing 4x the cost of a new Prius anyway. Even then, most people can't notice any difference, and studies show only the very experienced or people with training can reliably tell which is which. A car audio system just can't pull this off.

    SM-T813 ?
     
    #9 The Professor, Jan 17, 2019
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  10. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Excellent! Did rip a few CDs in Windows Media Audio Lossless and played them off a hard drive on my XBOX One X through my receiver and what a difference in the house. No skipping, cutouts, and sounds as good as the CD but they are very large files. So once I get them all ripped I will look for converter software to MP3. I have noticed cutouts, skips, and some songs truncated in MP3 straight rip.
     
    #10 ETP, Jan 18, 2019
  11. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    OK, so after 200 RIPs I had two disks that won't hunt after that rabbit. Tried a different ripper and that worked better but still no rabbit.
    Error correction is on so I will try those two on WAV and see what happens. Looks are perfect which means nothing in life.
     
    #11 ETP, Jan 21, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2019
  12. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Downloaded NCH suite and it ripped the two CDs in question without an issue. Nothing else would work so I guess media player was the culprit.
     
    #12 ETP, Jan 21, 2019
  13. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    OK, realized my media player had defaulted to WMA on my old burns (two years ago) to a 32GB stick and I have been playing mixed files of MP3 and WMA for a long time. Now to see if it will play WMA files at a higher bitrate. Already tried the lossless and that will not work.
     
    #13 ETP, Jan 21, 2019
  14. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    What a learning experience.

    So I ripped all 800 CDs (yes I had a pile) in WMA lossless format. In the process I may have wore out two drives/maybe.

    Anyway do not ever download freeware off the internet to do this stuff as it can and will corrupt your OS (Windows does not like two player software's in the same system). I had to rebuild one computer because the directions on the Microsoft site left out about 20 steps. It said delete Atapi drivers in device manager for a fix. The freeware had corrupted the registry.

    DO NOT EVER DELETE YOUR ATAPI DRIVERS:mad::mad: Even if your life depends on it.

    Went into regedit on the other computer and fixed the issue.

    So I bought two el cheapo drives at Amazon and they ripped perfect for awhile and then started to refuse to rip disks. But not every disk.
    Finally as I was about to send them back I turned off auto rip and auto eject and now everything is puuurrrr fect!
    So I may have thrown away two good very old drives. Maybe!
    Evidently Windows media player will not auto rip a CD that it smells traces of that CD on the system in previous rip attempts.
    After my horrible experience I decided to just re-rip the ones I wanted for the car.

    BTW/ WMA high rate is awesome and plays perfect in the car.
    I still get the weird folder structure/where is this stuff and occasional song out in the middle of no-where but the quality over low rate MP3 and WMA is very noticeable.

    You can also burn around 30-40 tracks in WMA lossless format on a CD and play it in a CD player.

    There is a setting in library in media player that says check this box if you want to rearrange rip music in rip folders using rip music settings. What up with that?????
    libraries - How can I configure Windows Media Player to manage my music library? - Super User
     
    #14 ETP, Jan 28, 2019
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2019
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  15. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Wow, I need to try that. Wonder if you can have two USB sticks working at the same time?
     
    #15 ETP, Jan 28, 2019
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  16. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Well - no - the music would be interesting o_Oo_O. Beethoven mixed with Bach would sound like a Latin flamenco.

    I had an old USB Hub (very old, hadn't used for nearly a decade I guess) with 4 ports. I plugged it in and put 2 USB sticks in - and only one showed up. Hmmm I expected 2. Anyway, when I finished the PODCASTs on that one, I pulled that one out (could see which it was by the light flashing), and plugged another in, but I think at random to another port. And - I then had 2 working. I took it inside, plugged it into my laptop, only 2 of the 4 ports were working reliably. So, now, if I plug into Ports 3 and 4 of the USB Hub - they show up as USB1 and USB2 on the screen to choose from. Interestingly enough - it doesn't matter which of the 2 ports I use, the first I plug in becomes USB1.
     
    #16 alanclarkeau, Jan 28, 2019
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  17. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    Ever try an USB hard drive?

    Also the Prius system is casting some songs out of folders to unidentified. :mad::mad::mad:

    Anyway I have completed my second rip in WMA high rate best quality for the car and so far it works fine.

    BTW/ My car is older than yours.

    First car ever that was ever made when Ford was in diapers.
     
    #17 ETP, Jan 30, 2019
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  18. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    A Trike at that :D. Mine is the first (barely) commercial Hybrid - the Woods. Though, PORSCHE apparently had one earlier, but not really commercially.

    upload_2019-1-30_21-25-55.png
     
    #18 alanclarkeau, Jan 30, 2019
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  19. ETP

    ETP 2021 Prime(Limit),Highlander HYB Plat,B52-D,G,F,H

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    What year was that? I have heard rumors that the electric vehicles were first.
    History of the electric vehicle - Wikipedia
     
    #19 ETP, Feb 3, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2019
  20. alanclarkeau

    alanclarkeau Senior Member

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    Yes, EVs were first - quite early. The Woods in my photo is a 1917.

    EVs, in a crude form, started in the 1800s, WIKI says 1827, and an electric carriage in 1830s. Then says "The first mass-produced electric vehicles appeared in America in the early 1900s". Studebaker's first car was an EV. 1913, with the start of mass production of ICEs saw the decline of EVs, partly because of range anxiety - which wasn't called that.
     
    #20 alanclarkeau, Feb 3, 2019
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