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External Hard Drive for Music


meyersnole
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Edit: I think I have solved my issue, it took about 2 hours to sync again and seems to be working much better now. The system still seems to struggle with a large library, but seems stable for now. I have about 8,400 songs in my library.
 

Apparently the software does not like any errors or missing information in the tags, so there is some software for iTunes that can resolve this called sync my iTunes (found here: http://www.syncmyride.com/Own/Modules/UpdateCenter/UpdateCenterLanding.aspx) So I added the drive to my iTunes library then ran the tool against it and it found 437 things it did not like. My index is going MUCH faster then last time -- still going so not out of the woods yet, but very hopeful.

 

 

OK, I have been playing with my new hard drive that I spoke about in my other post Stuff for the car... and I think this drive has made the system unstable.

 

The thought was to have my whole music collection in the car (just over 8400 songs -- and growing), and I was originally hopeful that the system would support FLAC (it does not) as that is how I listen to music in the house.  (as an aside, for those who like to listen to music and are still popping CDs into a player because they don't like the sound of compressed music -- check this out!).

 

So I should put this together sooner that 3 hours to index 8400 items was more then just a slow processor, I just was not sure what was going on. Now I suspect they just didn't put much RAM in the system. I also see now that the system is Windows, as I got a Segmentation Violation and boom brought the whole system down.

 

I have also noticed that the whole system has been running sluggishly the past week -- I will confirm after I pull the drive that things are back to normal. My next plan is to keep 3 or 4 16G USB jump drives and just swap them out depending on what I want to hear. Disappointed.

 

Just wanted to post this before someone else made the same mistake.

Edited by meyersnole
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Just went to the SYNC forum and this seems to be a very common issue. Looks like they have an architectural issue with the way they build their index. Guess the programmers there don't have a lot of songs on their iPods. Hopefully a fix will come in time.

 

Yeah, I recall reading something in the owners manual that had a very specific way you should have your folder structure for your music collection on any drive you use.

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Yeah, I recall reading something in the owners manual that had a very specific way you should have your folder structure for your music collection on any drive you use.

If you find that again can you point out where? I just read that whole section again (starting page 336) and could not find what you were referring.

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I bought a 32GB flash drive and filled it with around 25GB of music.  It is working great!  The only issue I am having is the first time I plugged it in, it indexed everything and I could voice control artists, songs, genres, and albums.  But after that first time I can't voice control artist (which is my preferred method) anymore.  All other ways work still, just artist doesn't.  If I say something like "Play artist The Beatles" it will pull up the choice list and each one will say The Beatles but will be tied to another group.  Example 1. The Beatles Simon and Garfunkel 2. The Beatles Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.  If I pick any of those it plays the other band not the one I requested...weird.  But so far from my experience 1 32GB flash drive works great otherwise.

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I bought a 32GB flash drive and filled it with around 25GB of music.  It is working great!  The only issue I am having is the first time I plugged it in, it indexed everything and I could voice control artists, songs, genres, and albums.  But after that first time I can't voice control artist (which is my preferred method) anymore.  All other ways work still, just artist doesn't.  If I say something like "Play artist The Beatles" it will pull up the choice list and each one will say The Beatles but will be tied to another group.  Example 1. The Beatles Simon and Garfunkel 2. The Beatles Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.  If I pick any of those it plays the other band not the one I requested...weird.  But so far from my experience 1 32GB flash drive works great otherwise.

 

Can you tell me how many songs? I am pretty sure its the number of songs and not size of the drive or files that is the issue.

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If you find that again can you point out where? I just read that whole section again (starting page 336) and could not find what you were referring.

 

Page 112 pertains to mp3s on CDs and discusses folder structure and track limits. Not sure if some of that would also apply to songs played from a USB drive but it may.

 

MP3 Track and Folder Structure

Audio systems capable of recognizing and playing MP3 individual tracks and folder structures work as follows:

• There are two different modes for MP3 disc playback: MP3 track mode (system default) and MP3 folder mode.

• MP3 track mode ignores any folder structure on the MP3 disc. The player numbers each MP3 track on the disc (noted by the .mp3 file extension) from T001 to a maximum of T255. The maximum number of playable MP3 files may be less depending on the structure of the CD and exact model of radio present.

...

..

.

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I think I have solved my issue, in the process of reindexing my music right now! happy%20feet.gif :rockon:
 

Apparently the software does not like any errors or missing information in the tags, so there is some software for iTunes that can resolve this called sync my iTunes (found here: http://www.syncmyrid...terLanding.aspx) So I added the drive to my iTunes library then ran the tool against it and it found 437 things it did not like. My index is going MUCH faster then last time -- still going so not out of the woods yet, but very hopeful.

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I think I have solved my issue, it took about 2 hours to sync again and seems to be working much better now. The system still seems to struggle with a large library, but seems stable for now. I have about 8,400 songs in my library.

You apparently have a lot of patience, I am duly impressed. Too bad you live so far way or I would have you set mine up.

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not sure about patience, more bull headed stubbornness! I also do software development for a living, so I like a good puzzle.

Speaking of puzzles, this car is one in itself. It is a maze of screens and displays layered on top of one another.

 

I could not figure out why my lifetime fuel was so poor and finally discovered only fuel use was checked. Once I checked fuel and battery (or whatever the term was) my mpge's were finally displayed and are 105.5. So I feel much better now but if you asked how I got there right now I could not tell you.

 

I guess I am going to have to make a flow chart that would look something like what is in the owner's manual so I can remember where things are.

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Speaking of puzzles, this car is one in itself. It is a maze of screens and displays layered on top of one another.

 

I could not figure out why my lifetime fuel was so poor and finally discovered only fuel use was checked. Once I checked fuel and battery (or whatever the term was) my mpge's were finally displayed and are 105.5. So I feel much better now but if you asked how I got there right now I could not tell you.

 

I guess I am going to have to make a flow chart that would look something like what is in the owner's manual so I can remember where things are.

You might be able to sell that chart here if you make it!

 

So the easiest way to see lifetime is to turn the car on and off. It will always show you the lifetime as the last screen (at least this is what mine is currently doing). And you have a little catching up to do, as I am at 132.8  :victory:

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You might be able to sell that chart here if you make it!

 

So the easiest way to see lifetime is to turn the car on and off. It will always show you the lifetime as the last screen (at least this is what mine is currently doing). And you have a little catching up to do, as I am at 132.8  :victory:

132.8 is insane. I just took an 8 mile round trip and hit 116.3 and was jumping up and down with joy...I got that mileage mostly because I was not running the AC. I had three pretty good grades to negotiate though. You have set the bar very high my friend.

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132.8 is insane. I just took an 8 mile round trip and hit 116.3 and was jumping up and down with joy...I got that mileage mostly because I was not running the AC. I had three pretty good grades to negotiate though. You have set the bar very high my friend.

 

Well,  right now I am mostly just commuting back and forth from work. The temps are great 40s-50s in the am and 50s-60s in the afternoon. So I am not running the climate at all and doing almost all my driving on battery.(22 miles a day).  In a month I will turn that air on and my range will drop. I will also takes some trips in the car which will also hurt that MPGe.

 

That number was actually higher the other day but I spent about .3 gal of gas yesterday running around town vs the .01 to .03 that I normally burn.

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Well,  right now I am mostly just commuting back and forth from work. The temps are great 40s-50s in the am and 50s-60s in the afternoon. So I am not running the climate at all and doing almost all my driving on battery.(22 miles a day).  In a month I will turn that air on and my range will drop. I will also takes some trips in the car which will also hurt that MPGe.

 

That number was actually higher the other day but I spent about .3 gal of gas yesterday running around town vs the .01 to .03 that I normally burn.

We just got back from making the very same route I ran this morning but I let my wife drive and she averaged 99.8 mpge. Hmmmm....she is not going to help the old lifetime miles. Although I must add that half my trip was with the AC on and it was on round trip when she was driving.

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Once you upload your photos to your album then you click on the My Media button in this editor, then click on Gallery Images tab and select your photo.

Thank you. I clicked on My Media and Image before I uploaded to the Gallery but not after. Still, that doesn't work on the Blue Oval Forum because I do not see a Gallery there to upload pictures to. I did find a way to add attachments there but it says my picture is too large.

 

I'm trying to add a picture to my post on the Blue Oval Forum for cyberdman to see. Oh well.

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So the easiest way to see lifetime is to turn the car on and off. It will always show you the lifetime as the last screen (at least this is what mine is currently doing). And you have a little catching up to do, as I am at 132.8  :victory:

Can you tell us your driving techniques in a post. I am curious if you are timing light, inflating tires, driving a certain speed, and so on. Oh, and just so you know. I'm gonna bet ya.

Lifetime Summary 01

Edited by FusionEnergi
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Can you tell us your driving techniques in a post. I am curious if you are timing light, inflating tires, driving a certain speed, and so on. Oh, and just so you know. I'm gonna bet ya.

Basically I am just trying to maximize the lines on the coaching screen and score the best I can on the braking... I can hit 98-100% pretty frequently when I can plan the stop.

 

Just so you know, I am pretty competitive :shift:  

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  • 1 year later...

hey meyersnole, when you unplug your drive and re-sync to add new songs on your computer, then plug the drive back in to the fusion, does it take forever to index again? I'm still waiting on my FFE but am VERY concerned about large music libraries. I have 100K songs in FLAC format BUT I maintain a 2nd library of just my fave songs that I put on a portable player...the portable has about 5K songs in 320kb WMA format. PS can you voice-command playlists as well?

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