kwurman

dump the IPod classic and use a USB flash drive. I did, and it is great! (investment= $15 for a 64 gb flash drive at Staples).

I spoke to soon. I am having a problem with the Cover Art. All my mp3 files are tagged with cover art. Apparently I am unable to turn off the Gracenote management (which replaces my cover art with generic cover art). In the media player settings I have Cover Art Priority set to "Media Player" and Gracenote management set to off (to the left). Still Gracenote is replacing my Art, and in some cases with No art at all. Any thoughts?

I spoke to soon. I am having a problem with the Cover Art. All my mp3 files are tagged with cover art. Apparently I am unable to turn off the Gracenote management (which replaces my cover art with generic cover art). In the media player settings I have Cover Art Priority set to "Media Player" and Gracenote management set to off (to the left). Still Gracenote is replacing my Art, and in some cases with No art at all. Any thoughts?

Okay - As promised, my IPod classic is now gathering dust. I purchased a 64gb Lexar USB flash drive from Staples for $14.99 (on sale this week). I followed the excellent instructions of Asteele and set up the 2 folders on the flash drive (Music and Playlists). Under the music folder I have my sub-folders with the artist names (and one named "Sountracks"), and in these Sub-folders I copied the folders with my Albums. I have 8 folders (Albums) under The Kinks alone. I use MP3Tag to properly tag all files with artwork, etc AND to re-name the mp3 files with track numbers in their names. I rarely use playlists, but if I need a playlist (to play songs across different albums), no sweat - - just use the free program "Playlist Creator" ver. 3.6.2. It allowed me to create a playlist with songs on my flash drive from multiple album folders, and it saved an M3U file in my "Playlist" folder. I tested it, and everything works fine with my Sync 3! So, for $15 and an hour or so - say goodbye to the IPod. No need to use ITunes. Just use Windows Explorer to transfer the files to the flash drive, and the other free programs mentioned above to properly Tag files and create playlists (not so important - at least to me).

I am abandoning my old IPod Classic (It keeps freezing in SYNC 3) and I will be going with a USB flash drive. I will be following the instructions and setting up the 2 main directories and sub directories for the Artists. What do you do with Soundtrack Albums with multiple or various artists???? Also, when I was using the IPod classic, when it worked, not all album art was displayed even when I turned off the Grace data base. Do you have the same artwork problems with the USB drive? Thanks for all help in this regard.

NewUser: I have lost track. (pun intended) Please describe (step by step) what you did (re-tagging).. you say you followed prior posts (not sure which ones you followed) Did you use 3 digit track numbers? This would be helpful for newer users (than to re-read all posts).. Thanks Ken

I am wondering if the latest (and greatest!) update has addressed this situation. The update has cured all my problems with the sync system, but I have not had a chance to try out a USB drive yet (I uplugged mine months ago). I will report back...

Thank you for the explanation.. I will try this.. for now - i re-tagged all of the files on my computer and transferred them to the USB .. It did not take very long. Using Mp3tag, I did one folder (each folder is an album) at a time,,, it tags automatically ..

if the playlist is in the root drive, where do you put the music files? in separate folders? all in the root drive?

Please tell me how you were able to pair the Rogue to Sync.. I have tried, the phone sees the sync, but never asks for the access code. What is the trick?? Thanks for your help.

Did you ever resolve this? My phone finds the sync in bluetooth mode, but never asks for the access code, so I cannot pair...

Are these MP3 files? If so,, you need to "retag" the song name field to include the track number before the song name. That is the "song name" field, NOT the file name...

It is not as difficult as you think. In the time that it took you to write your last message, I could have changes the metatags on 12 albums, added art work, etc. and it all would play in the correct order. For my wife's edge, I had created am 8 GB usb flash with tons of albums. After I realized that the album tracks were not playing according to track numbers, I took the USB drive out of the car, plugged it into the computer, and renamed the song titles with leading numbers. That's all there was to it...

Sorry to doubt you, but it is impossible to "upload" mp3s to the Juke box. You can of course burn mp3 CDs and (better) mp3 DVDs I like the DVDs because 4.6 G of music = alot of music. Also use the USB drive for MP3 files.

I recommend using MP3Tag - very easy to use and it does the trick.. Plus you can add photos or album covers! Ken (waiting for the programming change too)

How did you figure this out? by trial and error? I would never have thought of using 3 digits in the track field (my software does do that automatically, I may have to manually do it, or use MediaMonkey (which I thought was a media player like Windows Media) or another tagging software program...

Not sure if my software (MP3Tag) will allow me to use 3 digits in the track number field... what if I use 1/10, 2/10, etc..??

If I understand you right - it will play in track order if you use 3 digits, but not if you use 1 or 2 digits in the TRACK field.. If this is correct, I applaud you for the information. I will re-tag my files and change the track numbers to 3 digits, and I will remove the track number for the TITLE field and see if it works... Hopefully I will be able to say: play ALBUM and play SONG without a problem

I am not sure what you are suggesting. How do YOU renumber the tracks? When you change the tags, you can change the track numbers. However, the problem is that SYNC is not playing the songs according to the TRACK NUMBER field, it is playing the songs alphabetically by sorting the TITLE field. Please explain your tagging technique...

where is the "Sync control to re-index the device" ?

The file name has nothing to do with the issue at hand... Sync is sorting the songs by TITLE, alphabetically (ignoring the file name, the track field, etc).. I too had named my files with the track number first - that simply will not work..

Yes, you would.. (I never ask for a single song so this is not an issue for me..)

PROBLEM SOLVED I re-tagged and changed the TITLE FIELD to "# - Song Name" This works ! (No need to change the FILE name)

SOLUTION TO PROBLEM - PLAYING TRACKS IN CORRECT ORDER Using Tagging software, change the SONG TITLE field (NOT "FILE NAME") to track# - Song Name Even though Sync will alphabetize the songs by TITLE field, they will play in the correct order - Numbers are "alphabetized" before letters Try it, it works Ken

Follow - up - Ford Sync customer service (800-392-3673) seems to think the best way to get albums to play in order is to re-tag each files and make the SONG TITLE = # - name of song I had done this only for the FILE NAME I will use MP3Tag and convert the TITLE fields...