Topic today is...
How to play large mp3 collection in a car.?
I have, like plenty of you, a huge MP3 collection.....25,000+ songs....160gb and counting....
Google Play Music can load up, for free using the Song Manager, my huge collection but to actually play it in car with my Smartphone via Bluetooth.... the broadband charges are too high. I live in Canada and no companies here have an unlimited data plan (yet).
I have purchased a 256 gb USB stick drive, and loaded my songs into it...I filled up 160gb so far...
Then, I purchased a USB dongle to plug into my Smartphone and after installing a file reader app into my Smartphone, it worked....but ...the problem is, while listening, when a outside call comes in on my Bluetooth, the call is answered but the call disconnects the dongle, and I have to reset the play mode manually after each call, and that is not easy or safe while driving...
I do have two old 120gb Zunes..which is OK, but I have to split up my collection.
But I am looking for a better way..?.
So...
Many car head units now have a USB port.
I presently have a Clarion CZ 302 head unit...but...when I insert the flash drive, the head unit recognizes only 3 folders, with 999 songs each....which is a lot, but I want more.
And for course, the head unit should have a 'random' button too.
My question is ...do any of you know of an after market model of in-dash car head unit that it's USB port will recognize that many songs on a USB flash drive?..Of course, I can put them into as many folders as necessary. I have them in alphabetical order now. There is very little info from car stereo manufactures on this topic.
Your personal experiences and ideas would be helpful.
Thanks in advance...

Depending on the smart phone you have, if you can acquire root access on it, you can download a stick mount app. Do that and it will act as a secondary sd card, of sorts, and from there, get on your mp3 player on your phone and rescan your folders, or if you have Poweramp, go to Folders and Library and change the directories to the usb stick. Once it rescans all your music will be on your phone and then you can connect your audio jack from your phone to your car and play all your music.

I had to do this for my friend's Kindle. I rooted it like I mentioned above and then downloaded stick mount pro (kat it) and once it detected it I used the media player on her Kindle (just the default one) and it loaded everything. Now everytime she goes out anywhere she just carries the usb stick with her and when she wants music she just plugs it in and the audio jack and she has her music. If you need help rooting your device either pm me or look it up yourself on XDA Forums.

That's a good idea...thx
But I was just asking if anybody has a car stereo with a UBS port that can play a 256gb stick/pen drive with 20,000+ songs.
There is just no info on this topic from the manufacturers of car stereos.

(06-28-2015, 05:05 PM)neggy Писал(а): That's a good idea...thx
But I was just asking if anybody has a car stereo with a UBS port that can play a 256gb stick/pen drive with 20,000+ songs.
There is just no info on this topic from the manufacturers of car stereos.

You won't find anything about that because that isn't really a feature on cars. The best you could do is get a Windows tablet (because of the size of your music android wouldn't support it except for above mentioned plan) and mount it in the car where the screen would have been (or custom order a mount), plug it in to the charger and audio cord in your car and go from there.

I know it blows (frankly that would be an awesome feature) but you would need a computer system smart enough to read an NTFS drive (or exfat, fat64, fat32, fat16...) and have a file manager as well as multiple file type recognition. In theory it should be a piece of cake but there isn't a demand for that when all you have to do is use your own device.

(06-28-2015, 09:47 PM)gloves Писал(а):

(06-28-2015, 05:05 PM)neggy Писал(а): That's a good idea...thx
But I was just asking if anybody has a car stereo with a UBS port that can play a 256gb stick/pen drive with 20,000+ songs.
There is just no info on this topic from the manufacturers of car stereos.

You won't find anything about that because that isn't really a feature on cars. The best you could do is get a Windows tablet (because of the size of your music android wouldn't support it except for above mentioned plan) and mount it in the car where the screen would have been (or custom order a mount), plug it in to the charger and audio cord in your car and go from there.

I know it blows (frankly that would be an awesome feature) but you would need a computer system smart enough to read an NTFS drive (or exfat, fat64, fat32, fat16...) and have a file manager as well as multiple file type recognition. In theory it should be a piece of cake but there isn't a demand for that when all you have to do is use your own device.

Well I found I did it.
I got a 256 USB drive...
I downloaded Total Commander into my smartphone...and added their USB plug in....When I plug in my USB on-the-go...with my 256gb stick drive full of songs ..the TC USB plug in immediately finds the drive....I have all my songs in one folder....press and hold the folder file.....wait about 10 secs. while TC scans the folder.....the TC media player starts playing 'song one'....but I couldnt find TC media player?...then I pushed my finger from top to bottom of main smartphone screen and there it is!....hold the song that is playing...and a menu appears and I choose 'Random'..and hold for a sec....then hit the forward button and all songs are now random....I have seek control on my steering wheel...and I can flip through my collection.....
Only thing missing is the album art...when I emailed TC...he said it isn't written into the program but I'm happen to have my entire collection on a stick drive and can play it through my smartphone and car Bluetooth or AUX port....

excuse me my friend, but I don't understand all this trouble...... I simply have an autoradio that is also a mp3 player...... I put inside a CD or a USB key-drive and I have all my mp3 collection in my car...... fast and easy

You could make your own Music player device setup if you want Just buy a mini linux computer like a Raspberry Pi or an Odroid computer. You can then have full linux OS of your choice and use as a server as well so you can even use your phone to feed from the linux computer.

You can buy a mini touch screen display to control the mini computer, or use a remote viewing tool like TeamViewer or VNC that is cross-compatible with most OS's(windows, linux, mac, etc) and connect your smartphone to the mini computer.

The mini computers are low powered and can run off USB power or a small lithium battery. You can even make the computer a dedicated torrent server/downloader.

Have fun. There are too many ways to do anything you want for common entertainment needs of today, and for very low prices
There are free tutorials to find everything you need.