W204 Audio 20 - USB Playlist Issues

[Fam]

Hi Guys,

Apologies if this has been posted before but i tried taking a look and could not find it.

So i have transferred my music to a USB and plugged it into the car which has USB interface.

The issue that i am having is with how the tracks are playing.

Firstly the song that begins with an A comes up as track number 66 so it starts to flick through all the songs till it gets to track 66 and then starts to play even though this is the first track in the sequence and should come up as track 1.

If i select track one it just flicks through all the songs back to track 66. Again i can use the scroll wheel to flick forwards through the song one at a time in sequential order.

Another issue i have is if i pull up the list of all songs and select a song randomly in the list it also flicks back to the first track (track 66).

I have reformatted the USB and checked the metadata on the mp3 files and this all seems fine.

For the life of me i cant work out whats causing it so i am hoping someone else has had the same issue.

Thanks in advance chaps

 

[Mr-Goose]

Comparing the working and non-working files, do they differ in bit rates etc.? Do they have any 'special' characters in the name? Are they in the root directory?

Just to check, your thread subject mentions a playlist. Are you using a playlist or just playing my directory/folder? The playlist structure is slightly different to one such as iTunes. I am in the process of writing a utility to sync iTunes playlists to SD/USB cards in a MB compatible format.


My ntg 4.5 command won't play longer (over 30 mins) m4a files although when converted to MP3 they work fine.

 

[Fam]

Comparing the working and non-working files, do they differ in bit rates etc.? Do they have any 'special' characters in the name? Are they in the root directory?

Just to check, your thread subject mentions a playlist. Are you using a playlist or just playing my directory/folder? The playlist structure is slightly different to one such as iTunes. I am in the process of writing a utility to sync iTunes playlists to SD/USB cards in a MB compatible format.


My ntg 4.5 command won't play longer (over 30 mins) m4a files although when converted to MP3 they work fine.

So the bit rates are all 320kbps and there are no funnies in the names with numbers etc. I have checked the metadata to make sure this is clear and follows the same format for all songs.

By playlist all i did was dump a number of songs onto the usb i then created a folder and dumped another lot of songs in that folder to see if it was because the songs are not in folders but again this made no difference.

All of the songs play however its more the ability to select a specific song and it not following a sequential order which i cant figure out.

 

[Mr-Goose]

So if I understand you correctly, each individual song plays but the order is wrong. It will use some kind of order denoted by the file system. This is essentially random to the user.

You can create a playlist file to specify the order. I'm writing this from memory as I don't have access to my notes or SD card at the moment. I will double check when I get home.

Create a file in the root directory called (for example): RockClassics.m3u

Add one line per track with the directory and track names delimited with backslashes and with no leading drive letter or delimiter:

Jason Dononvan\I should be so lucky.mp3
Kylie\Take on me.mp3
Firestarter.mp3

You should now see the list name under playlists (if it's the same as mine).

I got my info from here: How to use album art/playlists with an SD card (and likely USB sticks) [long] - Mercedes GLA Forum

As mentioned above I am working on a utility to be able to export playlists from iTunes and have the files sync to SD/USB and generate a suitable playlist file. Hopefully it will only take a couple of weeks.

 

[artyman]

I have the Universal Media Interface in my 2008 W204, now called Navigation 20, I have my music collection on a USB stick, which has a Genre Folder, ie Blues, Classical, Pop etc then in each of those Folders the Album Title as a folder with the tracks in each folder. I have no trouble selecting a particular album or individual track.

 

[Mr Filipov]

Are you by any chance using a mac to put the music on the usb? If so it creates hidden files which serve no purpose, but the car can see them and skips them as they are just files, but no audio etc.

 

[Fam]

Are you by any chance using a mac to put the music on the usb? If so it creates hidden files which serve no purpose, but the car can see them and skips them as they are just files, but no audio etc.

Hi Yes i am, i will give it a go on a windows PC reformat and maybe copy the MP3's across and see if this does anything.

So if I understand you correctly, each individual song plays but the order is wrong. It will use some kind of order denoted by the file system. This is essentially random to the user.

You can create a playlist file to specify the order. I'm writing this from memory as I don't have access to my notes or SD card at the moment. I will double check when I get home.

Create a file in the root directory called (for example): RockClassics.m3u

Add one line per track with the directory and track names delimited with backslashes and with no leading drive letter or delimiter:

Jason Dononvan\I should be so lucky.mp3
Kylie\Take on me.mp3
Firestarter.mp3

You should now see the list name under playlists (if it's the same as mine).

I got my info from here: How to use album art/playlists with an SD card (and likely USB sticks) [long] - Mercedes GLA Forum

As mentioned above I am working on a utility to be able to export playlists from iTunes and have the files sync to SD/USB and generate a suitable playlist file. Hopefully it will only take a couple of weeks.

Thanks for your help but still no luck i have reset the radio system and still having the same issue.

I have uploaded a video so you can see it in action... let me know if you cant see the video.

https://youtu.be/YHSLu9EkRLU

 

[Mr-Goose]

TBH, I'm still fairly new to MB so my knowledge from their point of view is about finished. However I can still suggest a couple of things to try.

Check that the USB drive is formatted to FAT32 (in Windows right click the drive and select properties to check the existing format).

Wipe the card and try the following tracks. They use different bit-rates. I have just tested them in my car and they are OK.

Payday (320 kbps)
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?feature=blog

Kolsch Mini Mix (128 and 64 kpbs)
BBC Radio 1 - Annie Mac's Mini Mix - Downloads

I saved them with the default names (my browser renamed one of the mini mix files to avoid overwriting).

 

[Fam]

TBH, I'm still fairly new to MB so my knowledge from their point of view is about finished. However I can still suggest a couple of things to try.

Check that the USB drive is formatted to FAT32 (in Windows right click the drive and select properties to check the existing format).

Wipe the card and try the following tracks. They use different bit-rates. I have just tested them in my car and they are OK.

Payday (320 kbps)
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?feature=blog

Kolsch Mini Mix (128 and 64 kpbs)
BBC Radio 1 - Annie Mac's Mini Mix - Downloads

I saved them with the default names (my browser renamed one of the mini mix files to avoid overwriting).

Thanks I will give it a go tonight and i shall use a Windows PC to eliminate the risk of it being a Mac Issue.

 

[Mr Filipov]

Thanks I will give it a go tonight and i shall use a Windows PC to eliminate the risk of it being a Mac Issue.

Just plug the usb in the windows pc, change the settings so that you see hidden files and you will see 1 hidden file with the same name as the mp3 beginning with ._ from memory. I know this because I have a mac personally and have dealt with it not long ago.

I believe the hidden files are a from of resource files for different formats of the storage.

 

[Fam]

Just plug the usb in the windows pc, change the settings so that you see hidden files and you will see 1 hidden file with the same name as the mp3 beginning with ._ from memory. I know this because I have a mac personally and have dealt with it not long ago.

I believe the hidden files are a from of resource files for different formats of the storage.

Popped down to the car at lunch time and plugged the USB into a PC. You are correct and it turns out Mac's store a hidden file onto the drive. It is a spotlight indexing file and deleting this has resolved the issue.

Next challenge for tonight will be to figure out how to stop it indexing on the USB. From memory i think there is a way to stop this from happening within system preferences and i know there is also a way to view hidden files on the Mac.

Will keep you posted