USB drive organization

[tps]

It seems the simple act of modifying that field, and nothing else, from the Windows 7 file explorer, makes the tags readable by the Leaf. It doesn't seem to matter what you put in there, even putting nothing seems to work. I wonder if there is some slight unseen difference in how Windows 7 saves the tags vs. other applications within Windows or earlier versions of Windows like Windows XP.

In any case, I think I know how to get them all to read correctly now although the process may be quite time consuming.

Possibly the verison of the MP3 tag format the tag is saved with. I'm assuming that Windows rewrites it with the latest version if you touch anything... I think the MP3tag program lets you make a column in its listing which shows the tag version. Let me know what you find.

[relytgerg]

Possibly the verison of the MP3 tag format the tag is saved with. I'm assuming that Windows rewrites it with the latest version if you touch anything... I think the MP3tag program lets you make a column in its listing which shows the tag version. Let me know what you find.

Thanks tps! You're right - Sort of. It's not how current the tag version is, but it is the tag version. All the songs that the Leaf won't properly display are listed by the MP3tag program as "!BAD ID3v2". Curiously, the Windows 7 Explorer view shows valid info in all fields even before modifying info, but the MP3tag program shows nothing in the tag fields. I'm 99% sure these are all songs that were directly ripped from CD to MP3 by iTunes. Unfortunately, it still looks like the fastest way to fix them all is to do it from Windows 7 Explorer and touch the tag properties for each song. I can do this an album at a time pretty quickly. I'd sure love to find a way to do it for all the songs at once.

[relytgerg]

I've confirmed iTunes as the source of the problem. I ripped a brand new CD to files last night, and copied the files to my USB drive. As expected, the Leaf doesn't show them correctly. I'm sure once I go in and "touch" the MP3 tags from Windows, things will be fine. Although Apple makes wonderful and easy to use products, many of which I've owned and enjoyed, I have run into issues with them not following accepted industry standards before. This looks like another case.

At least I know what to do from now on.

[madbrain]

What software do you all use to organize your folders on the USB drive ?
My music collection was all in iTunes in Apple Lossless format. About 230 GB in all, all from legally purchased CDs, roughly 700 of them.
I let iTunes convert all them to 15651 MP3 192 kbps, which took about a day on the Bulldozer.
I then did an XCOPY x:\itunes\*.mp3 /S to my USB drive, copying the iTunes folder and preserving its structure.

The files still didn't fit on the 64 GB stick. I could fit them all by re-encoding at 128 kbps, or by getting a 128 GB stick.
But I ran into big problems with the directory limit and file limit on the Leaf.
Supposedly there are 512 folders and 8000 files supported as long as folders don't exceed 255 files. I know that none do.
But it turns out only 198 folders are shown in the list. It appears that all the intermediate empty folders are being counted against the 512 folder limit.

I should be able to write a script to remove the directory structure and make all the folders top-level so that more folders are displayed.
Even if I do that, I will still run out of folders.

There may be a few things I can do in iTunes like consolidate CDs that are part of a set into one album, which would reduce the number of folders. But I still don't think that will get me to under 512 folders.
Even if it could, I will hit the 8000 file limit next.

Are there programs that can consolidate individual songs in a folder to reduce the number of files in order to work within the Leaf limitations ?

[henrysunset]

Is a USB (spinning) Hard Drive supported?

[davewill]

... There may be a few things I can do in iTunes like consolidate CDs that are part of a set into one album, which would reduce the number of folders. But I still don't think that will get me to under 512 folders.
Even if it could, I will hit the 8000 file limit next. ...

I'd suggest splitting your collection onto TWO USB drives. They're cheap, after all. How much music can you listen to in one trip considering the LEAF's range limits, anyway? If you absolutely MUST have your whole collection at your fingertips, a more expensive, but better solution would be to get a 160GB iPod classic. Your whole collection will fit, maybe even in lossless format, and it doesn't suffer from the same limitations. It's also directly supported by iTunes for syncing. You would not want to leave it in the car exposed to high heat when parking, so you will need to remember to unplug and take it away when parked in the sun.

I will warn you that the LEAF's interface is slow and clunky when navigation a large collection, no matter which storage medium. So much so that I mostly don't use my iPod, and use my phone and Bluetooth for music, instead.

[Rat]

Is a USB (spinning) Hard Drive supported?

I don't know the answer to this, but it's an interesting question. I have some USB drives (RAM, not spinning hard drives) on my desktops. I store most of my music there due to limited space on my C drive. The problem with using one of those, I would guess, is organizing the folders correctly. The Leaf imposes a limit of 255 file per folder/directory, as I recall. I have mine in three separate folders by genre, but those are all close to max now. I may have to create a fourth folder on the USB drive. If it works with your hard drive, i would expect you'd have to make sure your music does not exceed the folder limits or some files will not be read/played.

[madbrain]

davewill,

... There may be a few things I can do in iTunes like consolidate CDs that are part of a set into one album, which would reduce the number of folders. But I still don't think that will get me to under 512 folders.
Even if it could, I will hit the 8000 file limit next. ...

I'd suggest splitting your collection onto TWO USB drives. They're cheap, after all. How much music can you listen to in one trip considering the LEAF's range limits, anyway? If you absolutely MUST have your whole collection at your fingertips, a more expensive, but better solution would be to get a 160GB iPod classic. Your whole collection will fit, maybe even in lossless format, and it doesn't suffer from the same limitations. It's also directly supported by iTunes for syncing. You would not want to leave it in the car exposed to high heat when parking, so you will need to remember to unplug and take it away when parked in the sun.

I will warn you that the LEAF's interface is slow and clunky when navigation a large collection, no matter which storage medium. So much so that I mostly don't use my iPod, and use my phone and Bluetooth for music, instead.

I know I can only do so much driving with the Leaf, but the point is to be able to choose which disc from collection I want to play. In lossless format, the collection takes about 300GB, so even a 160GB iPod classic would not work.

Is it actually possible to play lossless files on the Leaf using the iPod ? Or via Bluetooth ?
Of course, my phone isn't going to fit 300GB either, at least not my current phone which won't take micro SDXC cards. I haven't seen any micro SDXC cards beyond 64GB size, also.

I would rather not buy an iPod. I find the phone interface to be unsafe for use in the car. I really want to use the big screen in the car. The interface is somewhat limited indeed. But if it showed all the folders and all the files, it would be a lot more manageable.

[brettcgb]

I got tired of the entertainment system becoming confused as it read files crossing the 2GB mark (I have 3.5GB of MP3s on an 8GB drive). Sometimes, the system becomes so confused that it also corrupts the drive - only a format and rewriting the drive corrects this.

I got so tired of this, I finally contacted Nissan via chat to see if there was an update to the system. My symptom was this "When reading a USB flash drive larger than 2GB, the system becomes confused, often corrupting the flash drive."

The response was
"I see an open campaign for your [2012] LEAF. The Campaign number is RC-3387909. The TSB number is: NTB13-061. It's for reprogramming, just as you thought!"

[Ingineer]

The Campaign number is RC-3387909. The TSB number is: NTB13-061.

This is the LBC (Battery Controller) reprogram. It does not affect the head unit. Apparently the only way to update the software on the head unit is via SD card from Clarion, and as far as I know there is no updates (yet) for all the bugs.

I've found not only does the shuffle function on USB not randomize well, and the skip track goes to next song rather than random, but it also randomly "forgets" it's in shuffle mode and goes back to sequential sometimes.

-Phil