USB playlist structure and 'random' freezing

[astilla]

For about a month now I've been using an 8gb USB memory stick of music in my mini with about 1400 random songs on it (a playlist I copied from iTunes). Mostly, things have been going quite well but I have a couple of problems...

1) The files, as copied to the USB stick were in a random order to start with, and everything is in a flat structure in the root of the memory stick. Once any genre (or similar) is selected I can never seem to get it back to play the songs in the order that they are on the stick. I have to hit the 'RND' button to get it to play things at random. It's as if as soon as some filters are made (through genre or whatever) then you can't get it back to "just play the songs on the stick in the order they are*...

2) Sometimes the USB stick just freezes, at the end of a song, and I have to manually skip forward a few songs until it starts working again. I know all the files are valid, they are all in supposed formats and non of them are DRM protected.

3) If I wanted to have several playlists on this memory stick, what's the file/directory structure needed on the USB stick? Is it that each folder in the root appears as a playlist?

4) Random (RND) hardly seems random at all. There are a few songs I hear all of the time and some I never hear. Their random algorithm must suck badly... Hence why I want to just play them in the order that they are on the stick as they are in a random order to start with.


Thanks,
Andrew

[astilla]

Anyone...?

Following on from yesterday, I created a few directories in the root of the memory stick and I can now use the 'dir' option to switch between them on the audio head unit but still don't know how I get them to appear as playlists. Is there a certain naming convention that's needed?

The sticking/freezing at the end of a song (about 1 in 10 times) is the main thing that annoys me though.

[EAC]

I'm using a 4GB USB stick which currently has around 250 MP3 tracks on it. I've also found the 'random' mode to be anything but - the same tracks always come up, so I've given up with it.

I haven't had any problems with it freezing at the end of a track though, or any playback issues actually - your best bet would be to try another USB stick and see if its the same.

[Laineee]

Now that I finally have the correct cable for my ipod, it seems I also have a problem with freezing at the end of tracks, but skipping tracks doesn't help. The first few times I sorted it by unplugging the ipod, switching off for a while and starting again. Now it's just permanently frozen, and I'm trying to figure out how to get it back. My initial thought was it was a fault with my ipod, but now I'm not so sure......

Laineee

[Stiggy]

I've got an 8GB USB stick with about 6000 songs on it. I don't really have any problems; the tracks seem random enough. Please remember that 'random' means that you will occasionally get the same track/artist played again soon.

The only thing that bothers me is that the system isn't very intuitive. I have to set Random and Artist to get the result I want.

[Rocco9999]

I have the same issue - someone please help!!!

[cbpete]

Hi guys I have just put 450 songs on a new 4GB stick and it keeps freezing did 3 times on noe song then played 3 then froze. Has Mini got a update for the software does anyone know.
cheers
Pete

[PeterBel]

Posting here not to create another similiar topic...

Stuck with the problem of playing all files in folder and subfolders. Is it possible at all?

E.g. I have a USB stick with audiobooks and structure is as follows:

Book name
|--Chapter 1 (Dir)
__|----\ MP3 File 1
__|----\ MP3 File 2
__|----\ MP3 File 3
|--Chapter 2 (Dir)
__|----\ MP3 File 1
__|----\ MP3 File 2
__|----\ MP3 File 3

So, I don't want to browse between Chapter folders, I just want to play Book name with anything inside in alphabetical order.

[Rocco9999]

Quote: Originally Posted by PeterBel (original)

Posting here not to create another similiar topic...

Stuck with the problem of playing all files in folder and subfolders. Is it possible at all?

E.g. I have a USB stick with audiobooks and structure is as follows:

Book name
|--Chapter 1 (Dir)
__|----\ MP3 File 1
__|----\ MP3 File 2
__|----\ MP3 File 3
|--Chapter 2 (Dir)
__|----\ MP3 File 1
__|----\ MP3 File 2
__|----\ MP3 File 3

So, I don't want to browse between Chapter folders, I just want to play Book name with anything inside in alphabetical order.

I can't get it to do this without removing all folder structure, which you didnt have to do on the CD based MP3 player.

[bubblegoose]

only some USB's are compatible with the R56, here is a matrix to help

[PeterBel]

Does it affect (in)ability to play whole directory?

[bubblegoose]

Quote: Originally Posted by PeterBel (original)

Does it affect (in)ability to play whole directory?

in short... Yes.

If its not fully compatible, then it may have all sorts of issues, such as sound quality, track listing errors, not importing all tracks etc...

[PeterBel]

OK. I will record my folders with MP3 on CD and then ask again: how to play folder with subfolders, not just files within folder

[Rocco9999]

For anyone still struggling with this, I have got it to work in a way I think is logical.

By using minimal number of folders say for genre or specific albums (rather than one for each artist like Windows MP defaults to) I can get a decent amount of random music and by using playlists (m3u format) I can ensure I have songs grouped by artist/genre/mood or album.

This works well for me and means that you aren't constantly threading through all the fodlers just to find one song and it means that you get a reasonable amount of uninterupted/non-repeated tunes.

You could even take it to the limit and have one big bucket of tunes and rely on playlists to get to albums/artists. I think this is how mini expected it to be used rather than using folders as this seems to make it just repeat each folder - which is pants.

Let me know your thoughts....

[ChrisG547]

Hi all,

I have usb/satnav. Interesting that u can play songs randomly. Ive never found an option to do this.

Also how can i add playlists to the stick bearing in mind i only use Apple Macs.

Help appreciated.

C.