Bomb Jack Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Hi all. I upgraded from my old 55 plate (2005) Focus to a 66 plate (2016) Focus last year. Obviously with having USB ports in my new car, I wanted to play my vast collection of mp3's in the car. At first, I used a 64gb USB stick. I then found out over time that it won't play FLAC rips, and also, the embedded artwork must be no larger than 500 x 500 pixels. Now, even though some all of the artwork is 500 x 500 or less, there are certain artworks that still do not display. Any idea why? I also decided to get a larger 128gb USB, so I could hold more music. I spent a couple of weeks converting my FLAC and 320k mp3's down to 128k, so I could fit more music on. To be honest, there's no noticeable difference in sound quality. But my major problem is that all of my files are not available to play. I had 30,988 mp3's but is only says I have 8 thousand and odd. I checked my handbook, and it says it won't read over 30,000 files. I deleted some earlier, taking it under 30,000, but still it only shows 25-30% of my music. Can anyone help please? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAIDER32 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 I too upgraded to SYNC 2 last year, I've also had issues with album covers not showing, Messed around adding new covers with this software https://www.mp3tag.de/en/ but it didn't always work, I think moving files to a new folder might have helped find new images, because it had indexed files already and ignored new images (just guessing). I'm pretty sure SYNC needs a USB formatted to FAT32, this only gives you a Max of 32GB so there will be dead space left on the drive if any bigger. PS That's a lot of songs!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Exfat.I use mp3tag and edit everything to play in track order and display correct covers.In the menu you can search for album info via discogs.I have 80Gb of Ultra HD quality music on a 128Gb drive and all plays just fine.Also make sure you turn off Gracenote in the settings on your Sync as it messes with the files.Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Thanks for the replies. I have just checked, and my USB is already formatted to exFAT. So why won't it read ALL files on there? Gracenote has been turned off since I got the car. As I manually added all correct artwork on my PC before putting it onto my USB, I didn't want Gracenote changing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 I've just checked my Owner's Manual, and it says my USB must be FAT16/32. So I guess I'm going to have to delete everything on there, format to FAT32, then put it all back on there! Edit - I've just tried, and can only format to either exFAT or NTFS. Not sure how to format to FAT32 now...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Maybe you have the files buried in too many folders or the format of some files are not compatible.I got fed up of files being out of order on some albums, especially ones that really need to play on order (Pink Floyd - The Wall for example) and found that the system ignores track numbers and plays by track names in alphabeticsl order.I now use mp3tag to remove all track names so the systen looks to the file name instead which I prefix with the track number so everything runs correctly.To get album art correct I make sure I select all tracks for a specific album and batch allocate album art either from discogs through the mp3tag menu or look up album details online and manually download the album art & select that to be attached to the ID3 data on each track.I recently redownloaded all my favourite music from amazon in HD or Ultra HD format, it took a bit of time & effort to rewrite the tags on all my music before transferring to my thumb drive but at least I know that everything is in order, plays properly and shows the correct art rather than some generic image that Sync allocates. (I'm a bit fussy on such things and it bugs me until it's all set up right).Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 I've just checked my Owner's Manual, and it says my USB must be FAT16/32. So I guess I'm going to have to delete everything on there, format to FAT32, then put it all back on there! Edit - I've just tried, and can only format to either exFAT or NTFS. Not sure how to format to FAT32 now...... https://www.howtogeek.com/316977/how-to-format-usb-drives-larger-than-32gb-with-fat32-on-windows/Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 For Sync3 but still relevant-https://www.briandorey.com/post/ford-sync-3-usb-drive-music-playlistsSent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 https://www.markbrilman.nl/2013/10/getting-ford-microsoft-sync-to-recognize-your-id3-tags/Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 I've already formatted my USB to FAT32, using a program called AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard, (which is a free program). I am currently transferring all of my music files back on there. It will take a few hours, but if it reads all files on there it will be worth it. Thanks for the links anyway Stoney871. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 Well, it seems formatting a 128gb stick fron exFAT to FAT32 still isn't enough! I have over 29,000 tracks on my USB stick, but my car recognises less than 10, 000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzle Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 On 2/20/2020 at 10:18 AM, Stoney871 said: I recently redownloaded all my favourite music from Amazon in HD or Ultra HD format, it took a bit of time & effort to rewrite the tags on all my music before transferring to my thumb drive but at least I know that everything is in order, plays properly and shows the correct art rather than some generic image that Sync allocates. (I'm a bit fussy on such things and it bugs me until it's all set up right). How do you get to chose the quality of amazon mp3 downloads? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 How do you get to chose the quality of Amazon mp3 downloads?Subscribe to amazon music HD and it then gives you the files in HD or Ultra HD if they have been reauthored in those formats.Not all music is available in HD but a fair proportion is and I'm sure that more is being converted.Sounds far better on my B&O system in the car.Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 So is there no definitive answer to my query then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 As it's been over 2 months, and I am no closer to a definitive answer, I have today e mailed Ford U.K. Let's see what they (hopefully) say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillsman Posted July 7, 2020 Share Posted July 7, 2020 Just bought a 2015 Focus with Sync 2 and having the same problem. I've only a couple of thousand MP3s, yet entire folders are not being displayed. Most annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F0CUE Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Try removing the artwork for the ones that don't show up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillsman Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 On 7/8/2020 at 1:00 PM, F0CUE said: Try removing the artwork for the ones that don't show up. Thanks. Alas, I have already tried. I have followed the direction on https://www.markbrilman.nl/2013/10/getting-ford-microsoft-sync-to-recognize-your-id3-tags/ to the letter. I literally have 2 folders for a single album - CD1 & CD2 originally ripped to FLAC. Both converted to MP3 using the same software. Both tagged in exactly the same way and both embedded with the same artwork. One folder appears. The other does not. Same thing when artwork removed. Checked for hidden files in the directories.....anything that might qualify as a discrepancy, but no dice. Honestly, the time I have wasted trying to get Sync 2 just to recognise 60% of the music that has been painstakingly prepared to align with its ridiculous requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark-UK Posted July 26, 2020 Share Posted July 26, 2020 I have sync3 so not sure how relevant,but I have 128GB formatted ExFAT with around 25000 tracks on all in 320k mp3 format and everything works fine. ( it did take a good 30 min for sync to index the USB the very first time, but that not an issue as I add new albums ) I did try a 1tb SSD and it crashed sync 3 no matter what format I did the files in flac/mps/aiff If using mp3 you only need the folder art embedded in the file which I don't down size from whatever it is originally , you don't need an artwork .jpg, and as other say, turn gracenote off is makes a right cockup of things My folder structure on the USB 28 folders A-Z , Playlists and Others, within each folder Artist and then Albums A - Abba - Arrival B - Bjork - Debut As for tags as a Mac user I tag with iTunes then export out to mp3 using an app called M3Unify. It automatically renames the track number on the second CD as 2-01title, 2-02 title and so on, negating the need for another folder. As for why yours are not showing I would suspect some error in either the mp3 file format (unlikely) or a tagging error. I would try another app to do the tagging with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillsman Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 My dad has a 2019 Focus 4th Gen. I think he has a Sync 3? I literally dropped a bunch of FLAC albums onto a USB and popped it in there. I gave him a brief demo on how to use it but, from memory, the folders showed up as expected and I do not recall any issues with track order. No meticulous preparation required!! To say the Sync 2 has me baffled would be an understatement; I have overcome all sorts of file-related issues over the years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomb Jack Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 Well, Ford U.K. were no help whatsoever via e mail. Basically, they said that they spoke to their Technical Engineer, who confirmed it should read up to 30,000 tracks. They told me to take my car in to my dealer. That must be so they can charge me for whatever they do. I've just given up now, at least it plays some music. And I also asked them why not all embedded artwork shows up, even though I've reduced them all to the maximum 500 x 500, as the manual says. They never answered that question either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoney871 Posted September 23, 2020 Share Posted September 23, 2020 Well, Ford U.K. were no help whatsoever via e mail. Basically, they said that they spoke to their Technical Engineer, who confirmed it should read up to 30,000 tracks. They told me to take my car in to my dealer. That must be so they can charge me for whatever they do. I've just given up now, at least it plays some music. And I also asked them why not all embedded artwork shows up, even though I've reduced them all to the maximum 500 x 500, as the manual says. They never answered that question either. Try retagging all your tracks, I use a program called MP3tag.You can rewrite all id tags and reapply album art, create playlists and resort albums that play out of order.Also if you have gracenote on your car turn it off as it mucks everything up badly.Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lebwel Posted December 28, 2020 Share Posted December 28, 2020 have you guys tried optimizing the USB drive for music? On PC, Right click on USB Drive>> Properties>> Customize Select music in the 'Optimize this Folder for' pull down menu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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