USB Sequencing

[Guinness 2]

I've looked on here and in the manual and haven't found an answer so here goes. I use a USB stick to listen to music in the car. Works brilliantly with loads of different playlists on the stick. My 'problem' is that the order of each track in a playlist folder is defined by the name of the band/artist (All Art Garfunkle tracks will play before any Beatles track etc.) I would like to sequence the order by the title of the track (so tracks beginning with A play before those starting with B etc) but I can't find a way of doing this. Any ideas most welcome.

[Kremmen]

FAT and FAT32 is a FIFO (first in first out)

So if you want them to always play in a set sequence then load the USB in that order

[Lord Voltermore]

Kremmen's  FIFO suggestion seems to be the way to go.

My knowledge on the  subject is almost nil  but when I  converted my CD's to digital  on my desktop the files appear under 4 columns NAME  TITLE ARTIST  ALBUM.  Tracks appear alphabetically under NAME.  Name  and title are normally the same.  But  I manually  changed the NAME  for some   tracks to include things like artist  first.    When transferred to a memory stick for the car they presumably load in the same order  because of FIFO rather than because its alphabetical.

 It was too many years ago to remember exactly how, or why, I did it    . But its possible  with a bit of ingenuity and creativity  with naming  you might be able to add some flexibility in play order or searching.
I dont know if this will work with all conversion software, FAT  memory sticks or on the car.  But you could perhaps experiment by making  a short  test album  to see if it works and worth the effort.

[Nicksey]

I converted a lot of CDs onto my Brennon, then took the USB files from this. I always play on 'random'.. but the algorithm is terrible. It seems to play a small batch of things, sometimes repeating tracks in a couple of journeys. If I play A to Z, it is fine and will happily go through Aardvark to Zeppelin without a glitch. Random, and I get maybe 50 tracks cycled out of the 700+ on the stick 

[coldstart]

...
Random, and I get maybe 50 tracks cycled out of the 700+ on the stick 

May I ask how you have organized the tracks on the stick?
Are they all in one folder?

[Kremmen]

What I did was .......

In Windows, first folder was my favourite singles from Also Sprach Zarathustra through to Zabadak sorted alphabetical

Second folder is all my Moody Blues albums in their own sub folders. To make sure they are in the correct time order I preceded them with a number starting 01 - Days of future passed, 02 - Threshold of a dream, etc

Third folder is Tubular Bells

I then use Windows 'send to' and perform 3 operations and when in the car they all play in the sequence sent to USB then when all finished they start over

If I want to add any more then I can't just add to USB because it will go the end, last played, which may not be what I want

[coldstart]

Thank you @Kremmen for the clarification.

What I was getting at was to learn how @Nicksey had organized the 700+ tracks on his USB device.

I've seen this effect (random only playing a limited number of tracks) on a previous (VAG) car where the random function was thrown by large folders with many tracks.
Somehow like it could only read a limited number of entries at a time and randomizing only among these tracks.

However, this has never happened to me with the Jazz!
I have a 32 GB FAT formatted USB drive organized by Artist - Album (473 folders / 4782 tracks) and the Jazz is capable of randomizing them well enough.

[Nicksey]

...
Random, and I get maybe 50 tracks cycled out of the 700+ on the stick 

May I ask how you have organized the tracks on the stick?
Are they all in one folder?

Yes. Nothing else on the stick, just one file containing 749 tracks. They are arranged alphabetically, as thats how the Brennan/file/stick sorts them.

[Guinness 2]

Thanks Guys. At present I have multiple folders on my USB stick taken from my hard drive on PC. Each folder on hard drive is organised alphabetically  by artist.  I was hoping to change to alphabetically by track name. I guess this isn't possible. Therefore I will change the ordering on the hard drive (to title of track) and reload the USB. Thanks again.

[Kremmen]

Windows should allow you to sort by track name, artist, and a few others I forget as long as the Windows folder is a 'music' folder

Once sorted then just copy the whole folder and they should be loaded onto the USB in that order for FIFO

I also use MP3 Tag which is useful for sorting as well

[Lord Voltermore]

Just a reminder ,its a good idea to use a compact flash drive. Such as a SanDisk ultra fit . They are physically very small and less likely to get knocked. 

My music files  on windows still appear under the various CD albums I converted to digital.  And I have been a bit lazy , often just transferring whole albums  straight over  to a flash drive for the car.    I really must take on board some of the  suggestions on how best to organise it  into play lists, removing unwanted tracks etc  .
A lot of work could be wasted unless you plan it well for your personal needs  right from the start 

Hmm. A nice project in the snug and warm  . Except my smart watch will probably record it as me  asleep or napping      . I will try to persuade Mrs LV to sort out some 'hers' play lists as well. 

[coldstart]

Just a reminder ,its a good idea to use a compact flash drive. Such as a SanDisk ultra fit . They are physically very small and less likely to get knocked. 

Yes, I have one of those as well - the are indeed very tiny and hardly noticable when installed.

please see https://clubjazz.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15569.0;attach=10315;image

[Guinness 2]

Yeah I have one too. Only problem is I'm scared if I drop it I'll never find it again it's so small!!

[richardfrost]

I use the cheapest Apple iPod I can find. The head unit should then offer you all sorts of sorting and random options. You just need to use iTunes to load up the iPod. Have a look on eBay. One of mine has a broken screen but that doesn’t matter as you don’t note it.