USB Music Question

[jamesday24]

I'm trying to figure out how to organize my mp3 files to be properly accessed in my car.  The manual implies that you should only have your files one folder deep.  Is that right?  Apparently I should be able to browse my songs using VR by artist, title, and genre?  

[ciddyguy]

jamesday24 wrote

I'm trying to figure out how to organize my mp3 files to be properly accessed in my car.  The manual implies that you should only have your files one folder deep.  Is that right?  Apparently I should be able to browse my songs using VR by artist, title, and genre?  

Can't say for sure but I read you should nest your folders and here is my thoughts on what they mean.

If you go with album as the main folder, in that, other folds should nest inside that.

So here is how I'd do it, assuming it's correct as I've not had a chance to try this out in the Fiat yet.

Album -> name of album -> track listing in order you want them.

So for me, I like to make mix CD's and like to preserve them in the order I built them so here is how I'd have them nested.

Album -> Freeformed (parent folder for all 6 CD's in this series) -> Freformed 1 (first vol. CD) -> track listing, and it's here that I may need to use the actual playlist but don't know yet. but in the Freeformed parent folder, would be individual folders with each vol inside and they'd each have the playlist or files for that CD.

Otherwise, use playlists (either wpl or m3u) and simply nest each playlist in each folder, with the folder being the directory folder for each playlist as described above.

What this means if I read this right is that you nest your folders to a single level, not quite sure what they mean by that so instead of album -> random playlists, put them in folders instead and nest them together.

Hope this makes sense.

Get your USB device and experiment until you can get it to do what you want and then report here how to go about setting the files so the rest of us can do that too.

[jamesday24]

Just played with this in my car.  Previously I was looking at the RADIO display which wasn't showing anything as I pressed RADIO Menu button.  Today I finally realized you look at the center of the speedometer display and use the steering wheel Phone/Menu button.  Sheesh!  

I set up my folders for just one level: Artist > song.mp3

That worked OK, but now I will try going back to my normal two-level system and try it again:
Artist > Album > song.mp3

This is the one time I wish the 500 had a real LCD screen.  

[jamesday24]

The folder structure Artist > Album > song.mp3 worked as well.  I guess since it is using the track metadata for artist, album, and genre, you could just dump all the mp3 files at the top-level and ignore the FOLDER navigation.

Thanks for the help.  

[ciddyguy]

jamesday24 wrote

The folder structure Artist > Album > song.mp3 worked as well.  I guess since it is using the track metadata for artist, album, and genre, you could just dump all the mp3 files at the top-level and ignore the FOLDER navigation.

Thanks for the help.  

Good to know but the reason I use the folder structure is to maintain the playlist order of my original CD's and not all systems playing music off of the USB drive will maintain this file order as I found out with some aftermarket head units with USB ports, those that didn't use a 24 bit processor had trouble keeping the file folders in order and what's in them in order as well.

I realized when I was setting up the folders initially on my thumb drive that to make that work I had to begin the file name with a sequential number within that folder to keep things in order as Windows tends to sort alpha/numerically. With the B&M able to support playlists (and not all USB enabled factory audio systems do as I found out with the 2010 Hyundai Elantra my Mom recently rented since that system didn't support playlist formats at all).

[FiatGal]

Ok... This is confusing me. I have an iPhone and currently can play my tunes using that blubridge recover device, but I have to use the phone if I want to skip to another track.  The advantage is that if a phone call comes in, the iPod section automatically volumes down

It sounds like you are both using little USB sticks? So is the idea here to have a dedicated USB stick drive that contains songs and the ecodrive folder/app? Would the volume decrease if a phone call comes in?

[ciddyguy]

FiatGal wrote

Ok... This is confusing me. I have an iPhone and currently can play my tunes using that blubridge recover device, but I have to use the phone if I want to skip to another track.  The advantage is that if a phone call comes in, the iPod section automatically volumes down

It sounds like you are both using little USB sticks? So is the idea here to have a dedicated USB stick drive that contains songs and the ecodrive folder/app? Would the volume decrease if a phone call comes in?

FiatGal,

Here is how it works, the USB thumbdrive goes into the USB socket, you select USB for music listening, pair your phone to Bluetooth (the iPhone G4 should work), sync your contacts list and just use the bluetooth for your phone, that's it.

What you do is when you need to make a call say, hit the VR button, say call I think (check the manual for the words to use) and it'll ask you for the number or person, you respond accordingly (assuming your phonebook is synced) and it'll look up your contacts and dials, all the while your music pauses automatically via the B&M and the head unit, once you hang up, it resumes your tunes, again automatically.

That's how I plan on doing it once I get a Fiat or other car with USB connectivity built in.

A caveat though. have your eco drive files on a dedicated thumb drive as the B&M requires your music be on a dedicated drive, the Eco stuff on a dedicated drive and I think that may be true for most USB ports for most audio systems but can't say for sure.

Also, the system supports MP3 files, WMA files, WMA voice and for playlists, WPL and m3u but not WMA lossless per the manual, but I'll be verifying that when I can though. Also, you can do straight WAV files too for full CD quality sound, but creates the largest files of them all.

Good luck!

[FiatLancia]

ciddyguy wrote

What you do is when you need to make a call say, hit the VR button, say call I think (check the manual for the words to use) and it'll ask you for the number or person, you respond accordingly (assuming your phonebook is synced) and it'll look up your contacts and dials

It's "Call" versus "Dial."

Saying "Dial" after pressing the VR button will prompt you to give a phone number.

Pressing VR and saying "Call" will prompt you for a contact's name. Blue n' Me will then ask whether you want that person's home number, work number, cell number, etc. called.

You can do commands and specifics together without waiting for the prompts as well, for example, saying "Call Shaun Folkerts Home" or "Dial 123-456-7890"

Pretty cool system. Does anyone know of an easy reference point for all the available commands and command structure/hierarchy for the US system? And is there any difference between the UK commands and the US? If it was originally programmed for the UK market and hasn't changed since coming stateside, maybe I need to speak with a Brit accent for the system to recognize my speech!

[prima 109]

You can call FIAT or Chrysler for a paper copy of the Blue & Me manual or download the pdf of it (was on this site somewhere).  Here's the #1-248-944-7046 her name is Susan with Chrysler/FIAT HQ.  She will have one sent to you via UPS.  Mine's on it's way.  Hope this helps.

[jamesday24]

FiatLancia wrote

Pretty cool system. Does anyone know of an easy reference point for all the available commands and command structure/hierarchy for the US system?

Yes, the paper BLUE&ME User's Manual has diagrams of the voice commands on pages 76-83.

I am using the same USB flash drive for my music files and eco:Drive with no problem.  Just make sure you leave enough empty space or the system will warn you about it.

[ciddyguy]

FiatLancia wrote

ciddyguy wrote

What you do is when you need to make a call say, hit the VR button, say call I think (check the manual for the words to use) and it'll ask you for the number or person, you respond accordingly (assuming your phonebook is synced) and it'll look up your contacts and dials

It's "Call" versus "Dial."

Saying "Dial" after pressing the VR button will prompt you to give a phone number.

Pressing VR and saying "Call" will prompt you for a contact's name. Blue n' Me will then ask whether you want that person's home number, work number, cell number, etc. called.

You can do commands and specifics together without waiting for the prompts as well, for example, saying "Call Shaun Folkerts Home" or "Dial 123-456-7890"

Pretty cool system. Does anyone know of an easy reference point for all the available commands and command structure/hierarchy for the US system? And is there any difference between the UK commands and the US? If it was originally programmed for the UK market and hasn't changed since coming stateside, maybe I need to speak with a Brit accent for the system to recognize my speech!

Shaun,

Scroll down in the main Fiat 500 forum page until you see the post titled, Owner's manual and scroll down until you see 2 links, one for the US owner's manual and then the US B&M manual, both as PDF downloads and I've gone through both.

HTH...

[FiatGal]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I guess I'm debating whether to stick with my current setup (thumb drive for ecodrive, phone paired with B&M, phone's ipod paired with the Blubridge recover device for music streaming) or put ecodrive and music files on one thumb drive (like James's set-up), and just pair phone to B&M.

For iPhone users (Shaun and others)... how have you set it up?

[Thad]

I have been using a single usb drive that contains music files in a folder and a bunch of other junk that I carry around. The drive also contains the eco:Drive folder.
I have a question about the Autoplay function. If I already have the usb in the car when I start the car, several minutes(maybe 3-5) later the usb will play music. I can select the Autoplay to off but the next time I stop and start the car, the music will play at some point on my drive. If I get in the car and immediately select autoplay off, it will not play on that particular drive.
Anybody else been through this one?

[jamesday24]

Yes.  The manual said the setting won't take until you turn off the car, but I have it turned off and it is still playing automatically after a few minutes.  

[Thad]

Yea. I think they have a glitch on their hands. It seems to play quite randomly once per drive.

[cogtooth]

Same 3-5 minute glitch.  I removed music files so that I could continue to use ecodrive.  Ecodrive seemed to also be affected by the music files and works better without them in the same usb drive.  

[FiatLancia]

Thanks, all, for directing me to the structure diagrams. I'll get an original hardcopy set to add to the literature file. I also have a copy of the Sirius stations guide that came with the car that seems to be very happy living on the d/s sunvisor (I never use the visor itself except for storage). Seems a good place for the command-structure list to live as well!

FiatGal wrote

For iPhone users (Shaun and others)... how have you set it up?

Together, the delivery dealer and I actually paired my iPhone with the car to be sure it worked and was functional before we left the dealership on day one. It's (mostly) worked since then (although I did have to completely shut down the phone and restart it in the car to "re-establish" the pairing a couple times).

As for the hardware/port setup I use, it's a thumbdrive (the Fiat-labeled one provided with the 500c brochure, actually) for EcoDrive and only EcoDrive. Most of the time, I just leave the EcoDrive thumbdrive inserted. I also have a power/data cord for the IPhone which I keep in the glovebox in case the phone's battery runs low, or I want to listen to my music from it. At that point, I just unplug the thumbdrive and plug in the iPhone. Our Garmin usually takes the cigarette lighter socket, but I could also plug the iPhone in there if necessary. I use the iPhone through Blue n' Me, but folks I've called to "test" the system with said that it sounds equally good when "bluetoothed" through the Garmin.

So here's follow-up question number one for the techies out there: can a usb hub/splitter be used with our cars to plug in the iPhone AND the EcoDrive thumbdrive simultaneously, or would that cause all sorts of problems with data/software? Is the car's computer smart enough to handle several inputs at the same time? Anyone tried it? What I'd plug into the car might look something like this:



In the photo, there's an extra thumb-drive plugged in...one that could be used to store ONLY music files to keep that function separate from the iPhone, assuming Blue n' Me could handle multiple input devices, of course.

And follow-up question number two for the tech folks: has anyone paired a Garmin (or TomTom, or other GPS device) with Blue n' Me? We've got a Garmin with Bluetooth (775t) and have used it in other vehicles as our Bluetooth telephone handsfree device (paired only with our phones, NOT with the cars). So not sure what ELSE it could do with a Bluetooth CAR, except maybe pause/mute the stereo and provide its turn-by-turn directions over the 500's speaker system?

[Johnny Miller]

Hi, I am wondering what a Blubridge recover device is? I'd love to be able to play music from my iPhone in my fiat 500. Is it possible? Please get back to me! Thanks

[Johnny Miller]

Hi, I am wondering what a Blubridge recover device is? I'd love to be able to play music from my iPhone in my fiat 500. Is it possible? Please get back to me! Thanks

[Fiat500USA]

Johnny Miller wrote

Hi, I am wondering what a Blubridge recover device is? I'd love to be able to play music from my iPhone in my fiat 500. Is it possible? Please get back to me! Thanks

Hi Johnny Miller,

I've moved the forum to a new site.  Post your question on the new Fiat 500 USA Forum - Blue and Me board.  Thanks!