usb mp3 playlists?

S

stromdriver

:
Mazda CX-5 Touring w/bose-tech
hi all, the 5 is on my very short list for purchase.
i have a question about how to setup a usb drive for playlists
i can't find any info on if it supports m3u or anything else?

thank in advance for any help
 
The CX-5 user manual states basically that the MP3, WMA, AAC (*.aac/*.mpa). You can switch between categories which include playlists: Playlist, Artist, Album, Song, Podcast, Genre, Composer, and Audio book.
 
inodes said:
The CX-5 user manual states basically that the MP3, WMA, AAC (*.aac/*.mpa). You can switch between categories which include playlists: Playlist, Artist, Album, Song, Podcast, Genre, Composer, and Audio book.
Click to expand...

ok, but do you have to make the playlists on the head unit or can they be pre made with something like winamp and the m3u's put on the flash drive?
 
stromdriver said:
ok, but do you have to make the playlists on the head unit or can they be pre made with something like winamp and the m3u's put on the flash drive?
Click to expand...
I'm going to give this a good go when I get my car on Friday (Thursday US time).
 
When I plugged in my iPhone using the USB port, all my playlists, artists and songs came up on the screen. It is extremely easy to use.
 
well i got my micro usb drive, put my music on it and used winamp to create m3u playlists on the drive, opened the playlist in notepad to make sure it didn't specify drive location, just file structure from playlist on the root directory

plug drive in, car sees it, but only sees folders, doesn't see playlists, how do you change the modes inodes? i'm not home now so can't check the manual
 
stromdriver said:
well i got my micro usb drive, put my music on it and used winamp to create m3u playlists on the drive, opened the playlist in notepad to make sure it didn't specify drive location, just file structure from playlist on the root directory

plug drive in, car sees it, but only sees folders, doesn't see playlists, how do you change the modes inodes? i'm not home now so can't check the manual
Click to expand...

From what it seems, the audio system in the CX-5 only sees playlists on iPhones and iPods. When using USB keys, you will only see the files and folders listed.
 
Connecting the iPhone to the USB and selecting "Dock Connector" as the output speaker (instead of the Bluetooth Mazda if it appears), allows full control of the iPhone (or iPod) and its playlists.

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yeah, thats s***, serious dropping of the ball on mazda's part, if they can read playlists off icrap then they should have it read simple standardized m3u's on a usb drive as well....
 
stromdriver said:
yeah, thats s***, serious dropping of the ball on mazda's part, if they can read playlists off icrap then they should have it read simple standardized m3u's on a usb drive as well....
Click to expand...

Possibly. But you'd be surprised at how many cars out their do exactly the same thing.
 
inodes..this IS a MAJOR flaw...Every other car that has a usb port that i have been in DOES recognize playlists from Winamp. This was extremely disappointing that my week old mazda cx-5 does NOT recognize my playlists. I am with the originator of this thread on it being a serious dropping of the ball. Is there any chance that the "firmware" will ever be updated? (Can it be?) A usb port is an awesome addition to any car stereo, but the lack of the ability to read standard playlists SERIOUSLY reduces its usefulness...
 
Is this a proprietary thing with Bose, and therefore it is a pipe dream to ever get this feature? I recall Bose and IPOD had a pretty good thing going back when IPOD's first came out, until people realized you could just buy a cheap cable and hook up ANY mp3 player to ANY stereo with an auxiliary input.
 
stromdriver said:
yeah, thats s***, serious dropping of the ball on mazda's part, if they can read playlists off icrap then they should have it read simple standardized m3u's on a usb drive as well....
Click to expand...

You realize very very few people will go through the trouble of using winamp to make text based playlists and sort their music by hand inot folders on a thumb drive... If you aren't going to hop on the iPhone/ipod train then you lose out on some of the features and functions that other manufactures that have boarded the train build into their products to work with iphones/ipods. You know that. Mazda supported the method used by the largest number of people and they executed it flawlessly for them. You could always buy a used HDD based 120GB iPod for probably about the same price as a medium capacity thumb drive if you want that extra functionality.
 
$11 for a 32gb thumb drive vs $200 for an ipod. And lets not even go into how painful itunes is to use.
 
nizzy1115 said:
$11 for a 32gb thumb drive vs $200 for an ipod. And lets not even go into how painful itunes is to use.
Click to expand...

There are 6th generation iPods (120GB) on ebay for $50-$60. And iTunes is extremely easy to use compared to winamp and sorting your own files and 1000s of folders for artists and albums etc.

Even if you don't like it or have some beef with it, you can't knock the iPod and iTunes for being the best at what they do.
 
nation845 said:
There are 6th generation iPods (120GB) on ebay for $50-$60. And iTunes is extremely easy to use compared to winamp and sorting your own files and 1000s of folders for artists and albums etc.

Even if you don't like it or have some beef with it, you can't knock the iPod and iTunes for being the best at what they do.
Click to expand...

wat...
I get it, some people LOVE apple, but Itunes better than winamp, come on that's just silly talk.
If there's one software out there that's pure crap it's Itunes, unintuitive and complex for something as simple as dragging music from your computer to your device and you can't really bypass it "legally".

Screw that really.
 
Vorret said:
and complex for something as simple as dragging music from your computer to your device
Click to expand...

exactly, you can't beat a USB drive for just dragging and dropping the music. Sony's music players let you do that if you want to. They don't assume you are too stupid to be trusted doing something so complex :)
 
How come I just downloaded itunes, and now when i download MS Word documents, iTunes tries to open them??? It's crap like that that drives me nuts about iTunes..

And...I dont want it to download album art, dont want it to change my tags..I also dont want to be told about the latest blah blah blah everytime I open it...Winamp is much simpler. and I am sure much less functional than iTunes....but i dont have time to go into preferences and figure out how to disable all that stuff..I remember awhile back when i tried to get used to iTunes, every time I opened it, it would try to do something to every song I had without asking. Spent hours trying to stop it..but anyways........this is not about iTunes vs. the world....What this IS about is the USB port on ANY car...

********************
I can say with certainty that a MAJORITY of people are plugging thumb drives into their USB ports on their cars, not iPods. When I plugged my thumb drive into a friend's car, it read my winamp playlists..So naturally I assumed that when I purchased my brand new CX-5, it would do the same. I should not be forced into purchasing an apple product to enjoy the USB port. (Ok, so it is back to iTunes vs. the world LOL)
**********************

I am sure that I am just going to get a 16 gb thumb drive and make folders..Lots of songs be on there several times, but oh well...just seems like a waste.

Its also too bad that there is no "hierarchy" for the folders as well, so you can just "play all" from the top folder. That's just as bad as not being able to read playlists...Unless I am mistaken about this?
 
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