nullname

I'm looking for very easy instructions on how to get music to play in a specific order when I copy the mp3 files to the USB.

No, I do not want to download a Freeware program that displays ads on my computer to do this.

No, I do not want to download the Java program on my computer to allow this to work.

1) I have a PC with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

2) I have a USB drive.

3) I have every CD I own ripped to it's own folder on my computer

4) When I copy (drag the folders) to the USB and insert it into the Ford Truck with Sync the songs SOMETIMES play in the order of the album -- this worked best on the last MySync update -- now this is not even happening!!!!!! Do any of you know what it's like listening to The Doors while cruising down the highway and then in the middle of the album it switches to The Supremes????? OMG, I want to drive off the road! (Yes, I have one of their CDs, ok?)

5) And what the hell is GrayScale or GrayNote? What does it do? Where is it from? Should I turn that on or off?

However, what I really want to do is to create a folder on my Windows computer, put the mp3 songs into it named

01 first song.mp3
02 second song.mp3
03 third song.mp3
...

and when I plug that USB into the truck, it will play those songs in alphabetical order! Something so simple, how can I do it without 5,000 steps.

Please, I'm at the end of my rope, I could use an intervention with a step by step here because the manual doesn't say how and I don't want to litter my computer with free adware and heaven knows what other Trojan spying programs (other than the NSA) from the Ukraine.

Thanks in advance!

packplantpath

Create a playlist in windows and add it to the thumb drive.

However, my first thought if it doesn't play in order would be to check the files metadata to ensure it is correct. If you tell it to play the doors and it plays anybody else I would assume that the song that shouldn't be played has incorrect metadata.

Check this in windows by right clicking the file and selecting properties. It is under there somewhere. Can't remember exactly.

If you have lots of files it can take a while to fix all of them. A program I used ages ago was mp3tagtools. Make it a bit faster to fix if the files are in a hierarchical folder structure like artist-> album->song

jgohlke

I've noticed that the sorting algorithm between iTunes and the truck are different. In other words, my list of songs, sorted alphabetically in iTunes appears in a different order in the truck. Mostly this a problem with the specially named songs that have spaces and funky characters (like the '(' or the '!' character). I don't find it easy to manage this way, so I use playlists.

If a specific play order is important to you, create a playlist.

While thinking that you've copied files to a USB Flash drive in a specific order should automatically guarantee that they are played in the same order....it doesn't really work that way. It's like throwing marbles in a bag and then pulling them out one-by-one. They won't come out in the same order then went in..."bag" storage doesn't work that way. Computer memory and drive storage don't either.

TJPlatinumEB

I had the same issue and was able to resolve it by doing it this way......

The music service I use allows me to choose how the music files are named and when I changed it to this method, it has worked on my 13 w/ MyFordTouch. I can't speak to how other versions of Sync would do, but the new 3.6.2 update will allow it to work this way.

I have the files named like this

Artist Name_Album Name_Track Number_Track Name.mp3

I also do NOT use folders within the USB Drive. I only have the root directory and all the music files are within it there. Windows will automatically sort it that way, but when I leave them all in the root directory and name them as I have listed above, it works just fine.

I also can't speak to the Metadata that is input when I use the music service that I do, but after a few attempts of getting things to work correctly on the USB drive, I found this was the best way to do it and make it play each album completely before moving on to the next.

SteveLord

On my old vehicle with an aftermarket USB, the songs would play in the order they were copied to the flash drive.

Haven't paid attention to how they work currently.

nullname

Hi all, thanks for the input.

It's not the metadata since I see all album and song info appear on screen in the truck while playing. I'm also know it's not metadata because the MP3 files were ripped from CDs directly and the folder of each alum has the artwork too (which also shows up in the truck too).

My file names when ripped begin with the track #, for instance:

01_light_my_fire
02_the_end
03_break_on_through

When I put these into a separate folder Sync ignores numbers in the filename!! So it would play the above songs 03_break... the 01_light... and then 02_the... WTF!

So here is here I need very detailed help: ask said, all my folders are on the USB drive. Please tell me step by step how to make a playlist using Windows Media player. I assume I plug the USB into the computer. Then open Windows Media player, right? I click Create Playlist, select the songs, but then what? Because when I save it to the USB drive it does not work in the truck!!!!

Please tell me exactly what you did. Thanks!

(FYI, I've been a programmer for over 30 years so I'm not an idiot when it comes to these things. Just need the step by step because all that I've tied isn't working.)

Theocoog

I am not sure what version of SYNC you have since you don't specify, but in any case, the version of SYNC that I have (Gen 1 - V3.2.2) uses the ID3 Tag called "Track" to order the songs. If this tag is null or 0, then all bets are off, but it looks like SYNC then alphabetizes the songs according to the "Title" tag.

To get my albums to play in the correct order, I needed to use a metadata editor to edit the "track" tag to be correct. Then the songs played in the correct order.

You can use Windows Explorer (Win 7) or File Explorer (Win 8) to edit these tags but it will take much longer than if you use a good mp3 metadata editor that can try to look up the album and track listing online and enter that data for you.

In Windows, the mp3 "track" tab is displayed as the hash symbol (#). Here is a screen capture of the properties of an mp3 that shows some of the tags, with the track tag highlighted:



Try editing this tag for all the songs in one album and see if SYNC plays it correctly. Note that the mp3 tag "Title" is different than the file name. So you can set the "Title" tag to be the real name of the song and keep the file names like you have, using 01, 02, etc in the file name and it will keep your folder listing looking nice.

Edit: I've never been able to get playlists to work correctly. But I have all my albums in their own folders, and the songs all play in the right order.

nullname

Thank you very much! I have Gen2-v3.6.2 and I will try the track edit. I am absolutely in shock Ford and/or Microsoft has made this so difficult. Same here, I've never been able to get playlists to work so I was desperate in finding help. I'll try the track # edit and get back.


If anyone else knows how to get playlists to work please provide step by step instructions with Media Player and it would be sincerely appreciated.


Maybe the Ford Rep can get in here and teach us using Windows Media Player.

arent_we_sarcastic

I feel your pain. I went through the exact same thing.
I have a couple more suggestions for you.

First, make sure shuffle is "off" in Sync (Media Settings) and confirm off. It likes to reset itself to the "on" setting for some reason and what ever you do with file names won't matter then. Also in Media Settings turn "autoplay" on and set "on"

Second, when you put the tracks in a folder, before you move them over to the USB stick, make sure that you click on the "#" tab in Windows Explorer (View/Details) to put them in order by track #. If they are in alphabetical order in the folder when moved to the USB stick then Sync will try to play them in alphabetical order. No, I don't know why it does this.

Hope this helps.

nullname

Thank you, I will check the setting and try the track when creating a folder of mp3 files.

Update on all files that are on the USB drive -- they all have the # track # set in every album and they are correct so I will check shuffle.

I hope the folder with the # track setting will work, I really do because if it doesn't, then FORD should be embarrassed and really needs to get involved because software is suppose to make life easier, not harder!

The last thing you need while driving down the road at 65mph is to have unnecessary problems with your radio, come on FORD, don't be stupid!

And if it's Microsoft's fault, well, ok, I expect this from them.

I'll report my results in the AM and again thanks everyone!