I have a 2019 XLT SCREW 4X4 302A FX4...
I have a flash drive plugged in and play MP3 files from it. Navigating the files is horrendous! I would love to be able to skip FOLDERS (an album or cd), for example. I have several Gigs of mp3s on it, and it does NOT play them in appropriate order. The FILE NAMES of the mp3's were originally created to keep the files in the sort order of the album within a folder. Instead, it is playing them in order of SONG TITLE.
For a lot of albums--- that is just wrong!
I could not find a setting anywhere for this.... What am I missing??

 

Wow.... over 175 views, and nobody has an answer. Yikes.
Is playing files in Sync REALLY this bad?

 

I use an ipod which has a screen on the ipod itself, but I can browse the music by several options very similar to the ipod. Not any help for you but have you tried the search function to see if any soutions are out there.

 

Not sure but the folder may be the issue. I had a 2017 tacoma I made folders for albums instead of single songs. I was not able to play the folders. I erased it and just put all the songs on there individually. I could navigate them on my computer.
I have not tried folders on my ford , I just left the songs on there.
I have since moved on to spotify oh yeah!

 

I don't think the folder is it... it sees each folder and plays the contents (in song-title order) before moving on to the next folder. There is just no way to set a sort order. Every other mp3 player allowed you to designate how things were sorted. Not Sync. Even if it asked Gracenote what the order should be for an album and then followed that sequence, that would be great. I guess I won't hold my breath for an update on this.

 

SYNC is an operating system, not a processor. You will have to have an aftermarket radio for functions such as those; or simply plug in your phone or another MP3 device that can handle the functions you are requiring of them. Not a problem with your truck.

 

This is an uncommon way of listening to music in cars. I don't know of one person who uses flash drives to listen to music, or even mp3 players for that matter - do you have a smartphone? Smartphones can be your mp3 player - a couple gigs of music isn't a lot, should have enough room on most phones. If your phone supports microSD cards, even better.

iPhone are also iPods - you can simply put your mp3 files on your iPhone and play from the music app.

Android has mp3 player apps you can use too.

Now you can simply play from your phone via charging cable, aux, or bluetooth.

Streaming music is now by far the most common way, too, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Amazon, etc just to name a few. I'd say this is a big reason why Sync doesn't seem so refined with their file management system.

 

I play USB music once in a while.
It may be a bit cumbersome, however aside from the single DIN Kenwood in a previous vehicle this is the only other vehicle I've used USB music in.

I don't have any issues with it. I either have it on Random or am looking for a particular artist to play.

It sounds like you wish to use it as a playlist (having the file name changed to the order you wish them to playback in).
A gripe of mine is when playing an artist with multiple albums on the drive it's not as nice as I'd want. But it gets the job done.

I don't drive enough to need it to be honest. When I had an office to go to, it was 4 miles. I'd listen to the morning shows on the radio to get to work and be in the vehicle long enough for a few songs to play to get home. I also ride mountain bike which has be in the cab a longer period of time to get to the trailheads. Sometimes I'd get a wild hair and want to listen to something in particular so I'd switch to USB.

For the amount of time I personally use USB, it works fine. If it was my only music source I would probably find more complaints/issues with it.
A big complain by owners is the lack of playlist support, just as you're taking about here.

 

I've got almost 2,000 songs on a USB and that is the only way I listen to music in my F150 and in my wife's car we do the same. We are the odd ones thou.

 

I do the same thing. I only have music I enjoy on the USB, put it on shuffle, and let it play. My only control is to skip a song using the >> button. On the USB, the songs are all in album folders, which are then in artist folders. If I want to hear a specific song, I have to use my phone via bluetooth.