So I bought a new car stereo system, the receiver has a USB port and supports FLAC and the other regulars.
I bought a few new high-speed flashdrives specifically for this purpose (car listening)
I use EAC for all my FLAC files and LAME for MP3's.
My question is, do I just copy (drag-n-drop) the flac files straight onto the flashdrive?
No special formatting needed?
Can I mix FLAC and MP3's on the same drive?
Thanks so much, hopefully this is a really softball question.
It depends on the player. Drag over a few folders of FLAC and MP3 and test it.
Check the stereo manual; surely it would say no?
I suspect it can handle both formats on the same drive, and probably in the same folder.
If there's a display on the stereo, then I bet it'll handle folders.
I had a car stereo that would play MP3s but no greater than 256kbps CBR. So, wouldn't play 320kbps for example: the manual said that too. You'd like to think that new hardware can handle VBR files, but worth checking as the durations might be off. If so, stick with CBR - for a car you'll likely find 160kbps is more than good enough.
Check the USB drive format. Most car players will only accept Fat32.
I've been using flash drives in the car since 2011. High speed vs 'vanilla' doesn't seem to make a difference. I have folders for each album and the folders are numbered as well as the song
names. If I say "play Beethoven" it will find the first Beethoven folder, play the files in order and move to the next folder and continue. My wife's BMW will find the the first folder and play the
first file but then moves to the next folder and plays the first file. Kind of screws up a symphony. When she had the Lexus it played in what seemed a random order but in fact was the same
order Windows Media Player would do, ignoring tags. SO I would make sure you have things tagged as well as you can and start plying with it to find how your player deals with it. I
would be very surprised if it didn't properly play FLAC and MP3 files.
The 2011 Ford was limited to a 32GB usb drive and it wanted FAT32 and ddn't like FLAC but having Microsoft SYNC was OK with Window Media Audio, 1 of which is 'lossless'. The 2017
Ford is happy with a 64GB drive formatted EXFAT. It might take a larger drive but I have not tried it. I don't know if it uses FLAC as I've settled on 192 Kbit MP3 files which are good enough
for me. I keep a copy of everything on the flash drive so if it gets damaged or lost it's very easy to make another flash drive if needed. Test it, it won't take long.
G²
Thanks all so far.
Yes, I read a comment online about making sure it (the receiver) would accept the right 'format'.
I didn't know exactly what format it was referring to so I did a little researching.
And yes, as Glenn alluded to, it specifically states it will not accept exFAT, and nothing over 32GB.
FAT only and 32GB max. I just found that out about an hour ago.
Which sucks for me, I had already bought (not knowing) two 256GB flashies.
I don't know how 'surprising' I should find that, as the receiver is a brand new model Sony.
But...ya gotta know when to pick your battles and when to just move on.
Thanks for the folder-mapping idea, I wasn't sure exactly how much like a standard .doc program it would mimic.
It won't be in the car for a few weeks probably.
I just made a new sub box for it, and am going to do a thorough sound deadening job coming up next, then complete wire and install for the entire new system.
So the entire interior, seats, trim & carpet, are all coming out first.
Question: If the File is already meta-tagged via E.A.C.'s scheme, can I re-name the Folder to modify the mapping?
Or is the scheme I used in EAC the way it will see it?
Thanks again everyone.
32GB is the size limit of the built in Windows format tool. There are other utilities that will format higher capacities.
It's odd a newer stereo, especially with FLAC support, only supports 32GB. Many companies like to feature support for iPod/Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and similar deals, and sometimes only have odd or very basic support for playing files from a plain old USB drive (and sometimes CD-Rs too). Wouldn't surprise me if this is the case. (I've been dealing with this for 20 years lol)
What's the model of the new stereo?
Sony XAV-AX5000
I found the specificity note about the allowable format and size allowed when looking up the firmware update.
As follows:
"How to download the update
Connect a USB storage device to your PC with at least 10 MB of available space and use a device with maximum 32 GB of USB memory (FAT16 / FAT32).
Note:
USB memory with exFAT format is not supported.
USB memory with over 32-GB capacity is not supported."
That is probably specific for the firmware update procedure only
https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/4732/455f40ecf39615259f1d8a12231c8e8f/47320621M.pdf
Page 12 says FAT32 and even exFAT on the USB1.
That's both great and interesting news.
There is hope!
Thanks for that.