USB Music : Limitations ?

[smokingblack]

Hello all,
I have created a USB (64GB) USB disk in which I have multiple folder in which there are sub folders and then the folders containing the albums (MP3s). I have found that only four of the seven folders will display and hence able to be selected. I tried reducing the number of folders to four by again creating additional sub folders. Imagine my surprise when now only two of the four folders are being displayed !
So, I am thinking that there must be some limitation that I am not aware of.
If anyone who has cracked this, could share, I would appreciate it !!
Thanks !
John

buy a 320 gig portable drive they are about £20 that will work lovely

 

[Coulomb]

what I want to know is if ANYONE has managed to have multiple top line folders.

I have about 58 top level folders, about 176 folders total, more than 4000 files (not all music, quite a few are images for album art, though they are individual to a music file, so really it's "song art".

It's probably formatted with FAT32. It works fine, although I have to play all songs in alphabetical order of track name. I'm used to playing an album at a time, but this isn't too bad. The only hassle is that I have a few tracks that are the same song except one version is studio and the other is live, or I have two versions of the same song, so one song may play up to 3 times this way.

My figures are approximate because it's pouring rain at present, so I'm basing the above from backups.

Edit: It's something over 1300 tracks according to the car's scan. I think it's a 16 or 32 GB USB stick. I suspect that I never changed the formatting, just started copying files with whatever format it came with from the factory.

Edit: It seems to report files, or perhaps files and folders, while counting. Even though it calls these "tracks". When the counting finishes, I have 1111 tracks consistently at present. So either it's hopeless at counting, or many of the "tracks" it is scanning don't count towards the final count, if that makes any sense

 

[dsr]

I ensure my tracks, within a folder, play in the correct order by starting the track number with 01, 02, etc. I do the same with folders, so that they appear in chronological order for a given artist. Something of a labour of love with hundreds of folders, but worth it IMO.

 

[smokingblack]

I have about 58 top level folders, about 176 folders total, more than 4000 files (not all music, quite a few are images for album art, though they are individual to a music file, so really it's "song art".

It's probably formatted with FAT32. It works fine, although I have to play all songs in alphabetical order of track name. I'm used to playing an album at a time, but this isn't too bad. The only hassle is that I have a few tracks that are the same song except one version is studio and the other is live, or I have two versions of the same song, so one song may play up to 3 times this way.

My figures are approximate because it's pouring rain at present, so I'm basing the above from backups.

Edit: It's something over 1300 tracks according to the car's scan. I think it's a 16 or 32 GB USB stick. I suspect that I never changed the formatting, just started copying files with whatever format it came with from the factory.

Can you not click shuffle or am I not correct on what your saying

 

[inca]

Hello all,
I have created a USB (64GB) USB disk in which I have multiple folder in which there are sub folders and then the folders containing the albums (MP3s). I have found that only four of the seven folders will display and hence able to be selected. I tried reducing the number of folders to four by again creating additional sub folders. Imagine my surprise when now only two of the four folders are being displayed !
So, I am thinking that there must be some limitation that I am not aware of.
If anyone who has cracked this, could share, I would appreciate it !!
Thanks !
John

I have a 256 GB USB stub in mine, which will hold a lot of albums and playlists, and I have had no problems so far other than everytime I turn the car off when I get back in it automatically goes on to random play and I have to choose the file I want once again.

 

[Deleted member 2148]

I am so confused by this. I have recreated the USB stick and reduced the folders to three only. However, upon insertion, only one of the three folders is displayed and hence available. Upon returning the USB to my iMac, I see a stranger folder created by the MG's system called LOST.DIR ! it is an empty folder. But again, only a single one of my three (originally 8) folders will display and hence play.
If anyone has actually cracked this and can provide a format that works, I would so like to know ! BTW I have formatted the USB as MS DOS (FAT). Again, if you know different, please say !!

Have you tried a folder called music as the root with all other music folders inside that folder.

 

[Coulomb]

I ensure my tracks, within a folder, play in the correct order by starting the track number with 01, 02, etc. I do the same with folders, so that they appear in chronological order for a given artist.

I'd be prepared to do that, but on mine when the album/folder is finished, it starts again at the start of the current album/folder. It never goes automatically to the next folder.

Unless I tell it to play all, in which case it plays every track on the whole disk in alphabetical order. If I renumbered as you have, I'd get all the tracks starting with 01 first, then all the second tracks, etc. This mode seems to ignore folder names altogether.

It's starting to sound like the Australian USB music software is worse than that of other countries. I can't fathom any reason for that. Our version numbers seem to be very different too; from poor memory, R11 is the latest infotainment software version here.

It does remember the track that was last played, although it usually starts at the beginning of the track. Though sometimes it does continue where it got to when last paused. I suspect that happens when I start the car soon after it last shut off, even though that makes no sense to me.

Dsr, do you pause the music before exiting the car? I always do, so I don't treat nearby people with my odd taste in music when I get out of the car. Maybe doing so saves the current play position? I don't bother shutting down via the menu, too much faffing about.

 

[ReintjeWA]

I'd be prepared to do that, but on mine when the album/folder is finished, it starts again at the start of the current album/folder. It never goes automatically to the next folder.

Unless I tell it to play all, in which case it plays every track on the whole disk in alphabetical order. If I renumbered as you have, I'd get all the tracks starting with 01 first, then all the second tracks, etc. This mode seems to ignore folder names altogether.

It's starting to sound like the Australian USB music software is worse than that of other countries. I can't fathom any reason for that. Our version numbers seem to be very different too; from poor memory, R11 is the latest infotainment software version here.

It does remember the track that was last played, although it usually starts at the beginning of the track. Though sometimes it does continue where it got to when last paused. I suspect that happens when I start the car soon after it last shut off, even though that makes no sense to me.

Dsr, do you pause the music before exiting the car? I always do, so I don't treat nearby people with my odd taste in music when I get out of the car. Maybe doing so saves the current play position? I don't bother shutting down via the menu, too much faffing about.

yes R11 is what came with my Jan 24 build when I got delivered in Oct 24. So at least the second latest Australian software version I would say. My usb music does the same as yours, stays within the folder as long as you don’t turn off the car, then reverts to play all but remembers which song you were listening to last.

 

[gravity]

I managed over 7000 Flac tracks. File format: EXFAT. As result, I had to stick with the max 4 folders on the root directory and multiple subfolders after that. However, a randomized test appears to suggest no issues playing any of the 7000 tracks without any noticeable delay. I am on R38.

 

[Sparky2]

Having read the whole thread several times, I am none the wiser. The Site Guru does not seem to have an answer either. Either there is a gremlin in the car's system which prevents it from reading more than a few files on a USB stick or MG have set a limit on the number of files it can read. Either way, it needs fixing. I think we should be told how

 

[Evgen K]

Can I use a USB Type-C 128 Gb flash drive in my MG4 to play music from?

 

[Dodger]

Can i use USB Type-C 128 Gb flash in MG4 to play music from it?

Yes

 

[Sparky2]

I'm sorry but the software in these cars is fundamentally flawed in so many ways. Even after recalls and software updates, many of the systems do not work properly and the controls are not intuitive. That includes the sound system. I have a USB stick with 36 albums on it which used to play all the tracks perfectly (albeit alphabetically) in my Audi A4, my BMW 335d and my BMW i3. Only the albums in MP3 format will play in the MG4 and all the albums in the M4A format (most of them) do not appear at all. This now means that I will have to re-rip 30-odd CDs in the MP3 format. It appears that somebody at MG fell out with Apple and refused to design their software to play music taken from iTunes (M4A).
This is a great car spoiled by badly-designed software and very fiddly controls. After several months I still haven't managed to bind my car to the MG iSmart app which is as dumb as anything. The local dealer reckons the problem is with the previous owner who still has the car bound to his phone app. It is this kind of nonsense that spoils an otherwise superb car. Time for another MG recall I think

 

[siteguru]

From the Navi manual ...

 

[Ian Key]

@Sparky2 I take it you have tried unbinding the iSmart app from the previous owner through the app. It takes about 72 hours but you must not keep requesting the unbind as it will reset the 72 hour timer.

If that fails email MG customer service.

 

[Sparky2]

Thanks Ian. All attempts to unbind through the app failed. Ditto requests to the clueless Peugeot Dealer that sold us the car to contact the previous owner. I then contacted MG Customer Services who claim to have remotely unbound the car from the previous owner's app within 24 hours. In spite of this, I cannot get the touchscreen in the car to show anything other than a whirly wheel with no sign of the QR code the app claims will appear. In common with many EVs, the MG4 software systems are fundamentally defective and have not been properly developed and tested prior to installation in cars sent to market, hence the need for recalls and software upgrades. I am sure that an owner who is 50 years younger than me would take all this digital defectiveness in their stride but I am of a generation who expects things to work properly out of the box. I am an Analogue Man in a Digital World and I increasingly find that all digital equipment eventually falls over.
Back to my original post on this thread, why has MG decided that the M4A music files on my USB stick will not play when they used to play perfectly well in my previous cars, including a BMW i3? We are going backwards instead of forwards in terms of customer service and convenience

 

[Martinonline]

@Sparky2, I have no knowledge of BMWs and Audis, coming from a 20 year old fiesta and rear-engined Skoda Estelle except that they are a lot more expensive than the MG.I can tell you that my Trophy works as it was designed to its specific cost. I would assume that paying more money for the German cars would give you extra features not available on cheaper cars.

In respect of binding I suggest you visit an MG dealer to sort it out.

Note I am not a young man having held a full driving licence 58 years.