PanchoB

I've searched this forum and other sites and can't find anyone addressing my issue...the playback order of the music I put on my USB stick. I loaded 30 Artist folders on the USB. Each Artist folder contains 1-7+ Album folders, which each obviously contain the Songs, Album Art, etc. Very typical file/folder structure. No matter what I do, I can't figure out how to get the songs to play in the correct order (the order they would play on the CD/LP/Tape). They only play in alphabetical order. This makes zero sense to me. What's even more confusing is this happens despite each Song's filename having a track number prefix. So I assume the car is using the Title metadata from the MP3 ID Tag and then sorting alphabetically for playback. Which is beyond stupid IMO. Why would anyone want this as an option, much less the default, MUCH LESS the ONLY way to playback??? Please tell me I'm missing a setting somewhere. This is super annoying in general, but it would completely ruin any live album. Thanks in advance!

RunUR262

I had the same issue last night. Formatted a 256gb thumb drive loaded it with 5,000+ FLAC files (I’m a music fanatic.). All files tagged appropriately as I’m OCD with my music. Stuck the USB in the port excited to listen to some lossless music. File structure was there - artist, album, etc. - but the songs in the folders were in a jacked up order - no real logic whatsoever. Mine weren’t even alphabetized. Ever tried to listen to Pink Floyd’s The Wall out of order? Nope - can’t happen!! Anyway, called a Lexus Technology rep this morning who advised it was a system limitation. I have to believe that as I placed the same USB drive into my primary home audio player and the files were in the right album order and played appropriately. I’m taking the thumb drive back tomorrow and sticking to BT or ACP, while not lossless, the songs play in the artist’s desired order.

If anyone has found a solution - I’m all ears.

PanchoB

If this is a System Limitation:
A - that's flat out stupid.
B - it can be fixed with a software update.
There's no sensible reason a fancy Lexus shouldn't be able to read MP3 ID Tags and play the tracks on an album in their correct order. Seriously? Is it 2002?? Ugh.

RunUR262

A - agreed
B - I would think so too

I tried the thumb drive (mine was filled with FLAC files, not MP3s) in my wife’s 2019 MERC GLC and it wouldn’t recognize the file type - at a minimum at least Lexus recognizes the FLAC files. Regardless, I know it doesn’t help our issue.

DavidZ

I agree with all of the above. In fact, I raised this topic about a month ago.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-in-order.html

PanchoB

Thanks for linking to your thread, I didn't find it when I was searching the forums. I find this whole issue ridiculous and the more I think about it, the madder I get. There's a reason audio files contain metadata. Lots of reasons actually. And this is not even remotely new technology. So the fact that a 'luxury' vehicle with a 'premium' audio system (ML in my case) can't play songs in the correct order from a USB drive is INFURIATING!! WTF Lexus?? No software engineer can convince me this can't be fixed.

NCGator25

All, I was struggling with this issue on my ES and my Jeep that has a Pioneer NEX head unit. In my searching, I found the solution below on one of the pioneer forums. I've completed the process and it works.


Here's the solution:
The problem is, as previously stated, the head unit sorts the files according to the order in which they were copied to the card. What seems to be the simplest solution is to put the track number at the beginning of the filename so when you copy the files to the SD card, they get copied in order. The problem is that Windows (and I assume other operating systems as well) treats the filename as an alphabetic listing and not as a numerical one. This is why this occurs: When the files are copied to the SD, Windows copies them in the default sort order. So to fix this, you ultimately have to manipulate the way Windows sorts the files then copy them fresh so that they get copied onto the SD in the desired order. Here is how I did it, using Windows. This seems like a really long process, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy to do. We are going to use a freeware utility called MP3Tag that makes the job MUCH easier than doing it by hand.

Part 1: Copy your SD Card to your computer so you can work with it.

1. Pull your SD Card out of the head unit and insert it into your computer.

2. Create a folder on your desktop.

3. Copy the entire contents of your SD Card to that folder.

4. Open the new folder and look for a subfolder called 'data.' Delete it if it exists. This folder contains the database your head unit created, and since we want the database to be re-built by the head unit after the card is reinstalled in the vehicle, you want to delete it now.

5. Make any changes to the folder structure you like. I set up mine as ARTIST \ ALBUM \ MP3FILE. This worked for me, I have not experimented with other layouts.

Part 2: Set up MP3Tag and make sure you have tracks set right.

1. Download a utility called mp3tag. It's an indispensable utility when you work with lots of MP3 files. It works with FLAC files too.

2. Open MP3Tag and drag the entire folder from your desktop into MP3Tag so all of your songs appear on the list.

3. Go through the TRACK column and make sure all of your files have tracks set up. If not, set them up. This track number will dictate what order the music plays in when all is said and done. So if you have a "variety" folder that has different songs from different albums or artists, then you'll want to set the track order according to what order you want the songs to play.

4. At a minimum, make sure that the ARTIST and TITLE field are set for every file in addition to the track number.

Note: One trick is that MP3Tag supports nested sorting. I suggest clicking the TRACK column header to sort by track, then the PATH header to sort by your folder structure. That makes it easier to see the song order, since the head unit will play by folder then by track.

Part 4: Set up MP3Tag to perform the Track Reformatting.

1. A special action has to be defined in MP3Tag to perform this operation. Click the Actions menu at the top of the window, then select ACTIONS.

2. Click the "New" button along the right side of the "Action Groups" window that appears. It has a little "yellow star" on it.

3. Give the action a name, such as "Format Track Numbers" and click OK.

4. Click the "New" button along the right side of the "Actions" window that appears. Select "Format Value" from the list and click OK.

5. In the "Format Value" window:

a. In the "Field" box, type TRACK.

b. In the Format String" box, cut and paste this text:

[$num(%track%,3)]

6. The track numbers MUST have 3 digits, so in the sequence above, it must have the number 3 entered. Two digits will not work!

7. Click OK, OK, Close.

Note: MP3tag saves this configuration. So if you need to do this again in the future, you will already have this part taken care of.

Part 5: Perform the Track Reformatting.

1. Highlight (select) all of your files by pressing CTRL+A in MP3Tag. All lines will highlight.

2. Click ACTIONS and select the action name you just created.

3. MP3Tag will work for a bit. When it's finished, all of your track numbers should be exactly 3 numbers long. 001, 002, 010, 015, etc.

Part 6: Place the track numbers into the filename.

1. With all lines still highlighted (Selected), click the "Convert" menu and select "Tag - Filename."

2. In the Format String field, paste this text:

%Track%-%artist%-%title%

and click "OK."

3. MP3Tag will work for a bit, when done, all of your filenames should begin with the three digit track number.

Note: The format string can be customized if you are feeling adventurous. It's beyond the scope of what we're trying to get done here so your mileage may vary if you plan to tinker with it. The key is that the track number must be 3 digits long and it must be at the beginning of the filename.

Part 7: Validate.

Go back to your folder in Windows Explorer. Look through your folders and make sure you are happy with how everything looks. If not, make any changes manually or use MP3Tag.

Part 8: Redo your SD Card.

1. Open the SD Card in Windows Explorer, and delete everything from the card. Formatting it is even better, but as long as everything is deleted, it's fine.

2. Copy the entire contents of the working folder you created on your desktop to the SD card in one shot. Windows will copy them in track order, populating the card properly.

Enjoy. Pop the SD card back into your head unit, and everything should play in perfect order.


Also, as I was learning how to use MP3Tag, I found the following two pages helpful:


Insert Track Number into File Name - https://community.mp3tag.de/t/insert...to-title/11486


How to Remove Track Number from File Name - https://community.mp3tag.de/t/how-to...e-title/9639/5

The instructions found on these two links can be used for any of the tag columns.

Hope this helps!

NCGator25

BTW, here's a screen shot of one of my albums from the MP3Tag utility. I made sure the track, title, and file names all had 3 digit numbers.

DavidZ

Seems like a lot of work to me. I think I'll just live with it and hope there's an update to the Lexus infotainment software that fixes it soon.

Also, my files are all FLAC format (lossless), not lossy MP3s. So, I would need a FLAC tag editor.

NCGator25

It's really not a lot of work at all. One you direct the MP3Tag utility to your USB drive on your computer, the editor is really quick. The hardest part is figuring out how to use the software. That's why I included the other links.

Also, I use FLAC files as well, and the MP3Tag utility works great on them. Keep in mind, you're only editing the tag, not the file itself.

DavidZ

OK, thanks. I'll check it out,

RunUR262

I tested one folder containing four albums and this worked for me. One difference I noted was I had to re-format my “Titles” to also include the three digit number in addition to your instructions. Your posting of the MP3Tag screenshot helped me recognize that was my only difference after the initial formatting. They originally just held the title of the song - no numbers. Once I did that, all worked as expected. I’m off to Best Buy to re-buy the 256gb thumb drive I returned yesterday. Thank you for your help.

DavidZ

How do you put the track numbers in the Title tags?

RunUR262

In MP3Tag:

Actions
Actions
New
Name of Action Group: Format Title Field
Select Action Type: Format value
Field: Title
Format String: “TITLE”: $num(%track%,3) - %title%

DavidZ

OK, I figured it out. You have to use the "Tag - Tag" option on the Convert menu. In fact, I think that the Title tag may be the controlling factor here rather than the filename.