USB Music File Structure/Naming Help

I've found a few threads on here that have discussed playing music via USB drive ("stick"), but none quite answer the questions I have, and the topics of the thread don't quite match what I'm asking, either (not to mention they have all been dead since late 2014), so I'm starting this up in hopes for updates from experienced users of 6th Gen Legacy's.

 

I have a 2016 Limited, with a Harmon Kardon head unit, so information regarding the HK system will be particularly useful!

 

I have some questions about setting up music on USB. I have about 4,000 songs that I plan on putting on a large flash drive (probably 64-128GB), so that I don't always have to rely on my phone (which is limited in space):

1. Has anyone found a way to store Playlists that include numerous artists on USB? I know that there are options for Artists, Genres, Songs, etc. but I didn't see anything for Playlists. Do I need to manually create a folder named "Playlists", and then find this under a "Folder" option, or some other way?
   
2. Do voice controls work well with the USB function for music? For instance, if I say "Play Playlist Rock Mix", will it find the Playlist/Folder "Rock Mix", or not even know what I'm talking about? What about "Play artist ...", etc?
   
3. I've heard mixed reviews about the loading time. I understand that the first time I load the USB drive into the car, it will need to index everything, but has anyone noted that it indexes any faster on subsequent loads, as long as I leave the USB drive plugged in?
   
4. Are there any naming/folder structures or hierarchies that work the best with indexing?
   
5. Any other tips for playing music through USB on a regular basis?
   

 

Thank you for any and all advice regarding this topic!

4. Are there any naming/folder structures or hierarchies that work the best with indexing?

 

You can use any directory structure you choose, as long as it's within Subaru's published limits (FAT32 formatted, total files, files per directory, directory tree depth, etc.). The head unit indexes music files using header tags rather than the directory structure. Unfortunately, this requires opening and closing each music file to build the index, which takes time. The indexing process does traverse the directory structure in its "natural" order, so the complexity of the directory structure does have a slight effect on indexing speed.

 

FWIW, my directory structure looks like this, and it works just fine:

 

/Music/<genre>/<artist>/<album>/<track>

 

All my music tracks are MP3 files.

Edited October 6, 2015 by ammcinnis

The drive must be formatted Fat32. I was able to copy the playlists from my Macbook to the drive and it works well.

Citadel - are your playlists just folders with all of the songs in there?

 

I noticed with my overnight test drives that it did have to be FAT32, and videos have to be a certain resolution/format as well -- that's another story for another day. Mostly focused on music for now.

 

ammcinnis - most of my music should be "tagged" properly, but I will have to double check. Luckily iTunes makes this fairly simple to change tags for all music within an album, for example. It will still be a painstaking process, but worth it if I can have ALL my music available on one source.

 

Any word on whether/how the voice controls work with USB?

 

Thanks guys!

also i think the limit is 250 songs per folder, any after that just get skipped.

 

i've broken down my usb stick like this

 

 

Artist -> Album -> Songs

-> Album -> Songs

Artist -> Album -> Songs

 

etc.

 

Then I just use shuffle.

 

For me, it takes about 30 seconds to index. If the current song is almost over when I start the car, it either replays that song or goes back to the very first track.

The head unit does not support m3u playlists. The maximum number of files on a USB device is 8000, the maximum number of folders on the USB is 512 folders, and the maximum number of files per folder is 255. Folders up to 8 levels deep can be used, however it can cause a lag, so Subaru recommends folders no more than 2 levels deep.

 

The head unit does recognize playlists from an iPod. If you don't have an iPod, then there are special export applications online that allows you to build a playlist within a folder and have the mp3 files renamed so that they play in order based on an m3u file.

Thanks for the replies, guys! It's a shame that folders are limited to 255 files, since I have some playlists that are over 400 songs.

 

I did notice that if I use voice controls to play a certain song, it just restarts from the very 1st song indexed, rather than continue on with that album or artist. Kind of lame. I also noticed (and got very frustrated at) that if you have USB music plugged in, the voice controls automatically assume you're wanting to play music from that Source, rather than even the current source (Bluetooth Audio for me). Good thing the '16 has Siri integration, so I can just tell Siri to do it instead, but it's still annoying. Siri is also not always reliable, in places where you don't have signal.

 

It seems that playing music on USB is not worth the frustration, but I may still do it just so I can have my entire music library available if I'm wanting to listen to something, or someone specific.

The head unit does not support m3u playlists

 

...have the mp3 files renamed so that they play in order based on an m3u file.

 

When you export a playlist from a music library app, such as iTunes, it exports it to an .m3u file. The head unit plays the songs in alphabetical order, so the app that reads the m3u file will rename the files by adding a number before the filename, so they are listed in the order in the playlist. I've been doing this for a long time, ever since there was a single DIN headunit that could read MP3's on a CD. Had a unit in my 1996 Outback, then my 2004. No need for my (whenver it arrives) '16 since it already supports USB drives. I have a SanDisk Cruzer ready to use in my '16.

Citadel - are your playlists just folders with all of the songs in there?

 

I noticed with my overnight test drives that it did have to be FAT32, and videos have to be a certain resolution/format as well -- that's another story for another day. Mostly focused on music for now.

 

ammcinnis - most of my music should be "tagged" properly, but I will have to double check. Luckily iTunes makes this fairly simple to change tags for all music within an album, for example. It will still be a painstaking process, but worth it if I can have ALL my music available on one source.

 

Any word on whether/how the voice controls work with USB?

 

Thanks guys!

 

Finally looked how I did it. Sorry for the delay. I created a folder and copied the playlist to that folder.

Finally looked how I did it. Sorry for the delay. I created a folder and copied the playlist to that folder.

 

And by copied the playlist into that folder, do you mean each of the songs of that playlist, or like an m3u file from iTunes? Doesn't bother me either way, it will just take more time if I have to copy essentially two copies of any song I want in a playlist (1 copy in the Genre > Artist > Album folder, and 1 in the playlist folder).

 

Thanks again!

Does the directory structure and files need to be indexed every time you start up the HU? If so, how long does that take?

 

I had a similar set up with a previous car and it took forever every boot....

I just select the songs in a playlist and drag them to a named folder on the drive. I am able to select from song, album, artist, composer, genre ect. Doesn't really take that long to boot up.With the USB drive already selected from a previous start I timed the period it took for all the files to show up so that I can select any song from the 1496 I have on this file and it took 1:38 (98 seconds) timed from my iPhone. I think that is pretty fast!

My playlist is just under 1000 songs, so I've created 4 directories on the USB (playlist1, playlist2, ...). I use my desktop music app to randomize the playlist, then copy chunks of 250 songs into each directory (keeping the random order). It does take a good 30 seconds for the unit to index, on each and every startup. As I add enough songs, I'll add another directory and randomize the next group of songs before copying into that new directory.

 

Biggest thing I've noted, is never to turn off the car when a song is close to ending (or remember to rewind just after starting-up) - the system will then start with the first song in the first directory. Can't tell you how many times I've made that mistake!

So once it's done with "playlist1" the head unit automatically goes on to "playlist2", rather than going on to an artist, album or song?

 

Rather than randomizing the songs before copying them over, couldn't you use "shuffle" on the head unit? Or does it not work very well for you, or repeat certain songs, as others have noted?

 

I'd love to have my entire music library available in my car, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the hassle. :/ At least for every-day use..

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

^^^this

 

All these caveats and "tricks" make this feature more tedious than it's "worth"

So once it's done with "playlist1" the head unit automatically goes on to "playlist2", rather than going on to an artist, album or song?

Yes, it just keeps moving through the files - plays all in one folder, then to the next folder, then...

 

Rather than randomizing the songs before copying them over, couldn't you use "shuffle" on the head unit? Or does it not work very well for you, or repeat certain songs, as others have noted?

I've tried that, but "shuffle" is relative to that particular drive - next drive sequence, it might shuffle back through something just played. If you always drive for long periods, that wouldn't be a problem, but a few 10 minute errands, and I found myself listening to some of the same songs over and over.

 

I'd love to have my entire music library available in my car, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the hassle. :/ At least for every-day use..

I agree - I even copied a few thousand songs over to a portable hard drive, and tried that. The read/index time was so long I just gave up. I tend to purchase full albums, and there's some songs I just skip over. That's why I opted for only those I like. Even figuring 3 minutes per song, 1000 songs is at least 50 hours of music, so it's quite some time before I cycle all the way through them.

Biggest thing I've noted, is never to turn off the car when a song is close to ending (or remember to rewind just after starting-up) - the system will then start with the first song in the first directory. Can't tell you how many times I've made that mistake!

 

Really? Whenever I've done that, when starting the car up again, it just resumes playing the song at the exact spot that it was playing when I last turned off the engine. Unless you mean it'll play the first song in that directory after that song finishes...

 

Which I can't remember, because the gawd damn thing just keeps playing the same 10 songs in a directory of about 300 songs on shuffle!!!!

Really? Whenever I've done that, when starting the car up again, it just resumes playing the song at the exact spot that it was playing when I last turned off the engine. Unless you mean it'll play the first song in that directory after that song finishes...

 

Which I can't remember, because the gawd damn thing just keeps playing the same 10 songs in a directory of about 300 songs on shuffle!!!!

 

Yeah, he meant that if the car restarts a song that's almost done playing, and finishes that song before it's done indexing, it will start playing the 1st song in the 1st directory. Others have noted that as well, which would be super freaking frustrating....

 

All this really doesn't seem worth the headache! Looks like I'll just stream music from my phone on Google Play Music if I want to listen to something while I'm out and about. It's the company's data I'm using anyway, so who cares! (jk.. I do care, but I barely ever use data anyway, so the little I do use with Google Play Music won't even be noticed)

Unless you mean it'll play the first song in that directory after that song finishes...

Yes, that's exactly what I mean

 

Which I can't remember, because the gawd damn thing just keeps playing the same 10 songs in a directory of about 300 songs on shuffle!!!!

As mentioned in another reply, that's why I randomize BEFORE I copy to the USB drive - also, so I can move a few files around if by chance, a few from the same artist end up next to each other.

As mentioned in another reply, that's why I randomize BEFORE I copy to the USB drive - also, so I can move a few files around if by chance, a few from the same artist end up next to each other.

 

This isn't 1993 though... How bad can the HU coderz be to not have a decent rand functionality... That ish is simple

 

You shouldn't have to pre-shuffle your music, that's ridiculous

I have had no end of trouble creating a USB drive with music and it seems like if you keep the directories and files count to under 254 then it seems to work without any troubles. I also may have tried putting a song or songs on the drive the head unit could not handle. I had a old 2 gig stick that I got from a NAB vendor which I used and had to reformat it several times since the head unit seemed to corrupt files if I went over the 254 total file count and the head unit would say indexing forever IE over 15 minutes. Yes I formatted the drive first.

Shuffle seems to work fine for me and I like how it starts to play the same song when you turn off the car and restart it. From my experiance so far it seems the head unit may write to the USB drive but I have not looked at the drive on my computer yet.

This isn't 1993 though...

 

Couldn't agree more - car manufacturers seem to be more focused on how many cup holders, than realizing that customers want connectivity and functionality. Don't want this thread to turn into a rant, but it's pretty easy to see why Apple, Google, and Microsoft are getting in the game.

Found out my problems with my music disk was trying to use that old USB 1 thumb drive. Looks like USB 1 drives will work for a few files but the read times for a large number of files makes them unuseable. I decided to try a 32 gig thumb drive and found I can put all our music ( about 500 songs ) on it and the head unit had it all indexed in two to three minutes. I found the head unit did not like music files encoded with 320 Kbits, at least that was the case with the USB 1 drive.

Has anyone tried to use a SSD hard drive to organize and store music in my car and my computer I'm tired of all the files cluttering up my computers hard drive and this would kill two birds with one stone.

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