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Slow USB directory listing

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by SPlautz, Nov 11, 2009.

  1. SPlautz

    SPlautz Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2009
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    Location:
    Virginia Beach VA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    I have a newer 2010 Prius with built in USB port and Safety Connect. I was able to play music files through the USB port but there are issues..

    Plus:
    + It has a random shuffle option.
    + It remembers the random shuffle setting and continues playing the current song even if car is turned off and back on.
    + You can skip to the next song or restart the current song using the arrow buttons on steering wheel or dash.
    + I haven't yet been able to determine if there is any kind of folder file limit

    Minus:
    - Unable to pause the music
    - Unable to do any kind of search
    - Listing music within folders can be very very slow when scrolling on the nav screen.
    - Scrolling is unavailable when driving.
    - Only playlist support I've determined so far is to group your songs in separate folders. But keep in mind the random function only works per folder (or root folder), there is no global shuffle.

    So basically, it does serve its purpose in that I can put a bunch of music on a card and listen to it, with shuffle support. But THAT'S IT. If I want to listen to a specific song and have 100's on there, forget it. The best way to find a song is to keep skipping forward until you happen to get to it. Even if scrolling through on the nav screen was speedy, there'd still be the issue of it not working while driving, so it's useless anyway.

    Can someone else with a built-in OEM USB port in the center console confirm that the listing is very slow as well when scrolling down through the list on the nav screen? I have no idea how it differs with an IPod connected in there. I read somewhere that it might offer a pause option. My only guess as for as why the listing might be slow is perhaps because when the music is playing, most of the bandwidth (or other performance limit) is used up making it difficult for the nav system to read the directory at the same time. just a guess
     
    #1 SPlautz, Nov 11, 2009
  2. stream

    stream Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2008
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    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    Your observations and questions have been well covered in several threads. I was all set to have it installed in my car until another forum member beat me to the punch, and communicated the significant shortcomings of the accessory.

    The nav interface is slow for me, and exhibits the shortcomings you describe, when playing an MP3 CD--so it appears that carries over to the USB interface.
     
    #2 stream, Nov 11, 2009
  3. NovaStu

    NovaStu New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 3, 2004
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    Location:
    Fairfax, VA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    Normally directories are simply added to the end of a list as you create them. To help locating a specific folder, try ordering your directories into logical groups. For example, on my USB stick, I have a single MP3 folder which contains seperate folders for each album I've created. From a DOS box with the MP3 folder as your current directory, execute the following command:
    dir /ad /on /b > movethem.bat
    You'll wind up with a listing of your folders that looks like this:
    Evita - B'way Cast
    Evita - Soundtrack
    Amadeus
    Marat-Sade - US

    Using a text editor, arrange the folders into logical groupings
    -shows
    Evita - B'way Cast
    Marat-Sade - US
    -movies
    Amadeus
    Evita - Soundtrack

    then edit each line so that it reads:

    move "Evita - B'way Cast" \MP3a
    move "Marat-Sade - US" \MP3a
    move "Amadeus" \MP3a
    move "Evita - Soundtrack" \MP3a

    make an \MP3a directory and execute the "movethem.bat" batch file. This will keep the directories in the specified order as opposed to having them be dropped in somewhat randomly. When it's done, move the batch file to the \MP3a directory, remove the original MP3 directory (which should now be empty) and rename the MP3a directory to MP3. Now, as you scroll thru your folders, you'll find all the shows, then all the movies. Of course, you may have additional logical groupings you'd want to include (classical, vocals, jazz, etc.). Keep the batch file and edit in new folders as you create them later so you don't have to start from scratch re-creating the batch file each time you want to rebuild the folder structure.

    I have about 160 albums/folders on my USB and, yes, it's painfully slow to scroll thru the lists but at least they are organized, making it easier to find something.

    I think the slowness has little to to with bandwidth since it's slow even when nothing is being played. It is probably a result of ineffecient cacheing in the directory scrolling routines.

    Stu
     
    #3 NovaStu, Nov 11, 2009
  4. SPlautz

    SPlautz Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 24, 2009
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    Location:
    Virginia Beach VA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    Nothing being played? how were you able to get it to play nothing? There is no pause option. Whenever I select the USB, it begins playing a song on it. There is no way for me to stop this unless I switch to SAT, FM, etc or unplug the card itself. But than there'd be no way scroll through the directory anyway.

    Also, with everything in folders as you described, is there anyway to get it to globally shuffle all the songs and play them at once? or is it limited to where you can only shuffle the contents of a single folder, and this doesn't even include music in sub-folders within the selected folder? This is the behavior I seen when I tested it.
     
    #4 SPlautz, Nov 12, 2009
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