Hello

I’ve just bought a 2019 Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium. I’ve discovered it doesn’t have a CD player 😀. On my previous Focus (2012) I used mp3 discs. My mate says I could use a USB stick but I’m unsure how to go about it (I’m 64). 

Can you tell me do I just put the albums on piecemeal or put them in a folder with album titles on? How does the audio system read the USB?
I’ve had my iPhone playing on the audio system but am concerned about battery usage.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Jeter

On a PC format the usb stick to FAT32. When plugged into the PC open your explorer and find USB drive and right click it and select format drive and select the full option. Once done you can either copy all the music as it is or arrange it into folders if you want them separated as the drive will be in readable format.

It reads the tags (info built in to the mp3 file) to organise them for you to browse through.

You can in theory arrange them how you like, it will scan and oragnise them allowing you to browse by Artist, Album, etc.

Thanks for the replies. I actually use an iMac but I assume the procedures will be the same. 👍

10 minutes ago, Jeter said:

Thanks for the replies. I actually use an iMac but I assume the procedures will be the same. 👍

Yeh I'm sure it will have a way to format a usb.

Yes, it’ll be in Disk Utility thanks

get a modern phone that takes a memory card and shove it on there and use bluetooth.... £50 quid i'll do it

my experience with USB sticks is the car struggles to cope, whereas an ipod or phone structures the files in some random gobbledegook the car likes and it responds faster and more happily - (not based on Ford.... but the idea why it will probably struggle is the same)….

I have flac on my usb stick and sync 3 plays and indexes them no trouble. 
 

OP wants to avoid battery drain. Plus you avoid the Bluetooth compression. 

8 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I have flac on my usb stick and sync 3 plays and indexes them no trouble. 
 

OP wants to avoid battery drain. Plus you avoid the Bluetooth compression. 

Yep flac is great slightly bigger in size but zero issues 

Flac, MP3, DSD, Aiff, it will read and index them all.

It's one of the most impressive feature of sync3, it's ability to read virtually all music file formats.

I personally use 320k mp3, it's music in a car, so don't think you get the audio benefits of the lossless file systems in that environment, and being small you get plenty on a USB, I use a 128gb stick with around 25000 tracks on 😁

8 hours ago, Jeter said:

Hello

I’ve just bought a 2019 Ford Focus 1.0 EcoBoost Titanium. I’ve discovered it doesn’t have a CD player 😀. On my previous Focus (2012) I used mp3 discs. My mate says I could use a USB stick but I’m unsure how to go about it (I’m 64). 

Can you tell me do I just put the albums on piecemeal or put them in a folder with album titles on? How does the audio system read the USB?
I’ve had my iPhone playing on the audio system but am concerned about battery usage.

Any help/advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Jeter

Forget all that and get Apple Music. Should be able to get 3 months free trial. Battery isn’t a problem you can plug in if needed. 

I used to bang everything on usb but nowadays mostly use Amazon Music Unlimited and control my music via the Alexa app.

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Thanks for the contributions. I’d not thought about a music subscription (Apple/Amazon) but I’ll check it out. I’ve only just got an iPhone XR so I won’t be changing that for at least 18 months so I’m loading that up with music as well.

Thanks again.

8 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

I used to bang everything on usb but nowadays mostly use Amazon Music Unlimited and control my music via the Alexa app.

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Is that Alexa via your phone or the Ford+Alexa app ?

I use Alexa on my phone as Ford+Alexa is only available as the American version and won't play music from a non US Amazon account.

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2 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Is that Alexa via your phone or the Ford+Alexa app ?

I use Siri (Apple ) . Used to use apple CarPlay but it’s crap. Also tried Android Auto when I had a Samsung, also no good. Now turned Apple CarPlay off. Connect thru Bluetooth, press hold steering wheel button for 3 seconds to ask Siri anything..play song.. get and send text messages, calls etc but at same time have full use of Sync. Ford Navigation etc. I didn’t know there was a Ford - Alexa app. I think I’ve got the best possible set up after months of trial and error. 

5 hours ago, Jeter said:

Thanks for the contributions. I’d not thought about a music subscription (Apple/Amazon) but I’ll check it out. I’ve only just got an iPhone XR so I won’t be changing that for at least 18 months so I’m loading that up with music as well.

Thanks again.

As you have an iPhone I’d recommend Apple Music . I’ve downloaded 1000s of songs on WiFi already , save data I guess but works just as good streaming music that you haven’t previously downloaded. It’s like having the biggest cd collection in the world at your fingertips. I’ve a iPhone 7 256gb , so much music on it yet only used 10gb of memory. Can use your Ford Navigation at same time and got your Siri assistant waiting for the press on the steering wheel. 

21 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Flac, MP3, DSD, Aiff, it will read and index them all.

It's one of the most impressive feature of sync3, it's ability to read virtually all music file formats.

I personally use 320k mp3, it's music in a car, so don't think you get the audio benefits of the lossless file systems in that environment, and being small you get plenty on a USB, I use a 128gb stick with around 25000 tracks on 😁

I found the mp3 decoding on the Focus sounded awful - no high end, no low end and no stereo separation, so I tried a few albums ripped to FLAC and ALAC, both of which sounded much better (so much so that I've come to the conclusion that the Sync 3's decoding us just plain awful). As a result I then bought a portable 500GB SSD (which lives permanently connected inside my arm rest) so that I could have everything in ALAC and FLAC formats. I really was surprised by how much difference it made - on my previous car, MP3 sounded fine but on this one it's a huge difference.

23 hours ago, alexp999 said:

I have flac on my usb stick and sync 3 plays and indexes them no trouble. 
 

OP wants to avoid battery drain. Plus you avoid the Bluetooth compression. 

my wired in ipod runs .wav, its a feature they hide in the settings.  I use .wav as Its more compatible with things

OP already says he's running MP3 which is as nasty as you can get  - so ease of use over wasting life on a cable makes it a no brainer in my opinion.   And since when did the amp and speakers in a focus do quality anyway?

I have a B&O system in my new car and must admit streaming music sounds better than the MP3 files on my usb stick, tbh they are of variable bitrate so some sound flatter than others with weak bass.
May have to have a dabble at converting them to flac and see what the difference is.

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36 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

I have a B&O system in my new car and must admit streaming music sounds better than the MP3 files on my usb stick, tbh they are of variable bitrate so some sound flatter than others with weak bass.
May have to have a dabble at converting them to flac and see what the difference is.

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You need to have a decent source for the FLAC, MP3 are compressed because data is removed, so it won't sound any better converting from MP3 to FLAC.

I re-ripped all my CDs to FLAC. And downloaded a few singles as FLAC I wanted.

FLAC is basically the full WAV file from the CD and "zipped" (it uses a different type of compression to zip but the idea is the same).

You can also get 24-bit FLAC which are better than CD quality.

If I did any streaming it would be something like TIDAL, sound (and video for that matter, looking at you youtube), compression always really bugs me.

I have to say I don't know if it's the improved quality of the B&O, the additional sound insulation in the latest Fiesta & Focus or if it just has ***** poor MP3 handling, but it sounds so much better with FLAC (and in theory ALAC via iphone, but USB not bluetooth).

Aye, just read up on that.
Just changed my Amazon music account to the HD subscription so will see what comes of that.

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I have a 2016 ST with SYNC 2.

I can play my own music:-

- via either the armrest or dashboard USB ports. Recording is in Mp3 / 320Kbps and 86GB on a 128GB micro SD card, using a USB adapter.

- via my Android Nokia phone, using the same micro SD card, either via Bluetooth or Android Auto.

However, as I generally just have music for "background" noise, I generally listen to Radio Gold, streamed through the TuneIn Radio App via Android Auto. Usually have Waze running as well, as it gives warning of upcoming potholes ( providing a Waze user has reported them!).

So today I had one USB with 320K Mp3 and another with flac files just to see if I could really tell in the car.

Suffice to say 1tb SSD ordered and flac all the way from now on in the car.