Observations on the Entune system with a flash drive

Current Toyota Entune systems can access users' flash drives to play MP3 (and some other) files. However, there are some observations that might affect your enjoyment.

Before we get into those observations, remember the truck's flash drive MP3 player has certain constraints:

• Maximum directory hierarchy: 8 levels
• Maximum number of folders in a device: 3000 (including the root)
• Maximum number of files in a device: 9999
• Maximum number of files per folder: 255

Plays MP3, WMA and AAC files only (?)

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Basically, if you want the maximum number of MP3s to be visible on your Entune system, you MUST use folders on your flash drive.

Now, lets assume you set up your folders so each top-level folder represented an artist's name or a genre, or just about anything else. Assume you have second-level folders representing the album names. Each "album folder" then has a series of MP3 files.

So far, so good.

But ... Entune does not recognize Folders.
When you view the MP3s on your Entune screen, you have the choice of viewing by Artist, Title, Album, etc ... but not "Folder". Those views use the MP3 files' ID3 tags, rather than the names of the Folder into which you placed the files.

Suggestion #1:
Make sure your MP3s have appropriate ID3 tags! If your MP3 file does not have an Album tag, consider naming the Album the same as the Folder into which you placed the file, so you know where you stored the files, for later editing. There are several freeware/shareware ID3 editors available. If you do not have one, use your favorite search engine. (I like Tagscan and MP3tag).


An additional problem arises if one listens to audiobooks or old-time radio shows. How does one listen to each MP3 file in sequence, since the Entune does not recognize playlists? (Assume Random is OFF).

One workaround is to assure each MP3 file & title in a Folder or Album is numbered sequentially. If names or file titles differ, place the zero-filled number before the Title. Then, when you access an Album, the MP3 files will play in order (assuming each of the Album names in a folder remain the same).

But, that causes another problem!
If one selects "Title View", the screen will show the titles, sorted by those numbers! So, if you have several folders (Albums) with MP3 titles prefixed with a number, you will see all numbers "001 filename" followed by "002 filename", etc. even though the files are in different folders (or use different Album names)

Possible workaround:
Do not view by title name.


Now, for a puzzling one.
The Toyota Entune system seems to have a memory. It seems to remember the last file played, as well as the contents of (at least some of) the flash drive(s) that were inserted. The last one is a nice feature, since it reduces the time required to read the contents of the flash drive, if you removed/reinserted it.

The problem: If you changed the ID3 tags in the removed/reinserted drive, the Entune system may NOT recognize all the changes, and may classify some of the files under the previous Title / Album name.

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Those are my personal observations, suggestions and workarounds. What about yours? How do YOU use your flash drive to get the maximum enjoyment for music, audiobooks, or whatever? In other words, how do you arrange your ID3 tags to avoid confusion?

 

Have to question the 9999 files limit per device, although I have not reached that limit yet.

 

Hmmm... Very interesting reading. Gonna have to play with this.

 

a nice tip, create itunes library on the usb drive. you can manage it with itunes and entune recognizes and plays everything just fine. I wish entune would include say a 50gb worth of memory built in, transfer the music and be done.

 

iTunes huh? I may have to migrate back to Apple.....

 

This is an interesting concept, how do you create an itunes library on the flash drive?

 

Good question..

 

I was able to drag and drop my iTunes list to the flash drive, but it came up as song listing only, no artist or album. I'm going to fool around a little more when I get the truck. I'll probably just use my windows files.

 

I have a large MP3 library, almost 20,000 tracks. I recently bought a 256gb thimb drive, but Entune would still only list and play 9,999 tracks. I then bought a USB splitter from Amazon here -

Cute USB Mini 2-Port USB 2.0 Hub Splitter (Black)

http://www.amazon.com/Cute-USB-2-Po...8&qid=1459217349&sr=8-8&keywords=usb+splitter

I had two spare USB drives with 8,000k+ mp3s on each and plugged in it. BOOM, Entune then saw TWO usb inputs!! Ideally I would like one large drive to hold all my music like the image posted earler, but there must be a limitation on the 2016 Tacoma Entune systems. For now, this works and I can quickly switch USB inputs as needed to access all my music. Enjoy!

 

Nice.

 

unless your going to sit in your vehicle for 41 days straight, trim your list down to a single drive and keep it under 10k songs. that's still about 20 days of continuous music at 10k songs.

unless is an ego thing that you need to have 20k songs instantly.

 

I don't "need" access to 20k or even 10k songs. It's about convenience and not having to pick and choose what to leave behind. And with a $10 USB splitter, I don't have to. Between me, my wife and my daughter, its pretty easy to have over 9,999 songs.

 

Good thread!

 

if you have a mac its option + launch itunes, then move your library over....or just copy and paste it to the thumbdrive then point itunes to the library. Not sure about windows.

 

New to Tacoma World, and have a question on the USB volume size, and format.

Fat32, and 4GB is how my USB stick is formatted. Is there a known limit?

Got an error when trying to load some music and background images.

 

Ok, I know this is off topic and a small gripe but has anybody had the 2 slick knobs off their radio? I'd like to pop mine off and look for some knobs that are serrated to more match the other heater/fan knobs. Basically just knobs that are easier to grip.

 

What error did you get?

 

@tomwil I need to try again. Ran out of time.

It was something to the affect of not recognizing the stick.

 

Usually that means the FAT32 formatting did not go well.

Also, be sure that there is nothing in the root (top) directory other than MP3 or other music files.