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2015 CR-V MP3 Playback via Flash Drive

17K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  larryr 
#1 ·
I've read numerous threads here about MP3 playback, but still can't see exactly what Honda is doing. The car is the 2015 CR-V EX-L w/o Nav, soon to be delivered, but not yet in my driveway.

I have many MP3 files (around 30 GB) arranged on my computer HDD set up in my own folder and subfolder arrangement. The physical folder structure on the HDD almost never matters when playing using computer software since the programs usually read the ID3 tag info within each file and uses that to identify each item. If Honda did the same, I could use a 32GB flash drive and have my tunes at my fingertips in the car -- hopefully available by artist name, album name, song title, etc. -- whatever I want. Since the car has not yet been delivered, I have no idea about how the Honda screen displays MP3 information. And from reading here, I get the impression that the car's operating system might read the file names, not the ID3 tag information. Can anyone go back to square one and explain exactly what I should expect? For instance, does the folder structure on the flash drive matter? Are there limits to the number of tracks the car can cope with? Etc., etc.

John (New CR-V Owner)
 
#2 ·
Welcome to the forum! I have a 32g flash drive in both of the USB ports in the center console. I used a separate file folder for each artist and the system works well. You will have to learn the touch screen details to take advantage of its benefits. Of course there is a learning curve. After you set it up to your liking you can take advantage of the audio control buttons on the steering wheel. Using those while driving is good. For now I suggest that you go to http://owners.honda.com/ and find the available vehicle owners manual and study the touch screen audio information. You will love your new CR-V! Cheers!
 
#3 ·
I have read over the manual as well as a separate PDF document on the entertainment system -- they leave out a lot (or maybe I just missed some things). For instance, they say the flash drive must be 256MB or larger (bet you can't one that small if you tried), but no mention was given of the max size. I had in mind using single 64GB flash, but I don't know if the car will have grief with one that large. So when you use your two 32GB devices, does the info from both become simultaneous available to the sound system? Or do you have to choose which of the USB ports you wish as your "source"? Last, you mentioned a single level folder structure -- mine is more complex (often a couple of levels deep -- artist name /album name / tracks, etc.). Any idea what the car will do with that? I hope it won't care and will just drill down into the subdirectories, seek out all the tracks, and then present them all logically on the screen......

John
 
#4 ·
One thing to be aware of with USB drives.... from page 270 of my 2015 user manual:

"Files on the USB flash drive are played in their stored order. This order may be different from the order displayed on your PC or device."

Using an iPod Nano would probably give you better results, especially with your more complex folder system.
 
#5 ·
JDH: You must select from the touch screen which USB port to use. Try using your files first and see if that works ok.

sc1957: You can select Random Play when in the USB menu. That is the way I like to play the tunes. Otherwise, it will play each folder completely in alphabetical order. Of course you can manually select which folder to play.

On the steering wheel controls you can hold down the forward or back button and it will scroll until you release the button.
Just play with it some until you find the way you want to use it.
 
#6 ·
I'm not sure what you meant by "try to use files first" if I am using a flash drive loaded with MP3 files, but I suppose this will become clear once I can sit behind the wheel and experiment. Another thing which be interesting to see is whether the car will recognize playlists. BTW, I just bought several large flash drives to play with once the car arrives.....

Topic drift... but still on the entertainment system.... The car comes with an HDMI port. I find this very interesting, but don't know what kind of hardware would serve as a handy video/audio source. Some smart phones have HDMI output ports (my cell does NOT have this), but other than that, I wonder what other sources might be useful in this regard. I have looked for some kind of screen-less (or almost screen-less -- small LCD) DVD playback device with HDMI out, but so far, I've had no luck.

John
 
#8 ·
While the thumb drive works, the file system seems a bit primitive. Also has anyone had any success using a self powered hard disc? The one I am trying has essentially the same file structure as the thumb drive (only quite a bit larger), the drive powers up but is not recognized. It would be nice to take the whole collection instead of just some on those long road trips.
 
#9 ·
I'm curious about the file system, too.

On black friday, we ordered two 64gb flash drives for our 2015 tourings. I copied the mp3 section of my music folder from the PC to the flash drive, which is sorted in folders by artist and album name. There are about 5500 songs, taking 12.5 of the 64gb.

It only seems to read/see the very first folder on the drive, and any loose files in the root folder. I'm not sure how I should be organizing the songs, or if maybe they all need to be in one folder? I believe there is a limitation on how many files can go in the root folder, so a subdirectory may have a larger capacity.

Has anyone else run into this?

I was able to burn a bunch of them to a DVD drive, and the audio system plays them very well from the dvd. (but I'd rather not beat it up, where the USB drives dont have any moving parts to wear out)

Rhody
 
#10 ·
The limitations seem to be - no more than 99 folders total - really long folder names seem to mess up the logic as do some special characters like the e with accent mark on it . I renamed all my folders to 02 03 04 05 to 89 ( I had 88 folders ). It will only see 254 files in any directory. It ignores more than that. It only randomly plays the first 254 songs it see and repeats them (on my CR-V).

It acts as if the USB was an afterthought and not well planed - it would be nice if it would play songs by title or group like many other makes can do on their car entertainment centers.
 
#15 ·
captainerie



Flashdrive can be no bigger than 16gb . Cars system cannot recognize any flash drive bigger than 16gb . I use 8gb ones . System will not recognize playlist where you can select what you want played .. I have made groups of songs in the order I want the music played . I try and put several songs of the same genre so I can play songs on random play and find different songs in the genre I want to listen to and take random play off . Then it will play songs in the order they are put on flashdrive . You can go backwards and frontwards to find selections also in the order they are on flashdrive by using backward and forward buttons . When I downloaded songs on flashdrive I had made playlist so I could print what songs I loaded in the order they are on flashdrive . For instance I named my playlist with the alphabet like A-B-C-D etc . .... Will not recognize playlist but , by printing out the songs on each playlist loaded it gives me an idea what songs are going to play in order so I have a little control of what I want to hear . Mp3's must be fat32 format .....
 
#13 · (Edited)
FAT32 (the drive operating system) allows a maximum of 512 entries in the root directory. Folders and filenames longer than 8 characters may use a couple entries each.

This isnt a Honda thing but a limitation of the technology. If you put them in folders, you should be able to access many more.

I could be wrong, but I think if you moved it all to a subdirectory the FAT32 limit then becomes slightly over 65,000 files. (again, long names may eat 2 or more of those slots)

example: e:\music\*.mp3 instead of e:\*.mp3
 
#14 ·
2017 Honda CRV . Have tried a lot of different ways to play music on new Honda . Use to put all my music in playlist and put the playlist on CDS . No more CD players in most new cars . Want to play music other that off of Android phone . Google does not allow one to see all their playlist on Google music when using phone on Android Auto . One cannot Bluetooth other sources to play music because the only source that can be used with Bluetooth is your android phone . Can't use Sony MP3 player no way to connect it . Tried Bluetooth transmitter - reciever to hook into system with mP3 player and will not recognize it , only your phone is allowed with Bluetooth hookup . Plugged into USB port with adapter with Sony MP3 player and it worked but will not play playlist . If you use Flash Drive on 2017 CRV cars system can only read upto 16GB . First one I used was 32GB and it would not play all the songs . Make list of songs in the order you want them played on Flash Drive with big playlist is the best way I have found to play music on Honda . Sounds great and you can play shuffle if you don't want to play in order you loaded the songs . I was wondering if anybody has tried an ipad touch in the USB port on their car . I have been told by several people that I would be able to play my playlist through the car using the ipad touch . The only way to have complete control of your music if it works other than having to use your phone . If someone has tried the ipad touch and it works please let us know .. THX .
 
#16 ·
(2015 CR-V LX)
OK I have to jump in here with an update and some overdue corrections to misinformation here.
The drive should be formatted as FAT32
The system recognizes MP3 and non-DRM protected WMA files. No Ogg, no FLAC, etc. Plenty of freeware there to convert formats.
I am able to use a 128Gb (yes, Gb) SanDisk without issue. You may not want to do this, however because...
The system "flattens" any directory structure you may have in a very annoying and confusing way, all the more so when folder names are not parsed out. Not much you can do there.
Each directory maxes out at 255 entries.
Additions and deletions to directories may not be reflected in playback. The only way to fix this is to scrub the directory structure with something like DriveSort (google it)

I work in computers by trade and the amount of nonsense one has to go through to make all this work close to properly should be an embarrassment to Honda.
 
#17 ·
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