Like many of us, I enjoy listening to my music collection through my car's audio system. One the selling points of my 2011 Buick LaCrosse CSX is its 10GB HDD system, and I have downloaded much of my music library by using a USB drive to transfer the MP3s to the HDD. Probably all GM HDD systems and possibly other car audio systems have a similar function. Problem is that I can't get the tracks to play in any order other than alphabetically by title. I've found a temporary workaround by adding numerical data to the first character of the song title (01 First CD Track, 02 This is Second Track, etc.). This works okay but looks funny in the car’s LCD screen that shows the track “now playing”, has created a lot of potential work to go back and rename each track in each album, and (a minor annoyance) if I choose to play my music in “all songs” mode it plays all of the 01s first, then the 02s, etc. instead of playing any album through. Some of my music makes sense only in the track order on the original CD (e.g., for musical soundtracks) and for some I have just gotten used to the track order on the original CD and would like for it to not change. I have gone through the ID3 tag information that displays by {right click / properties} and have tried adding the numerical information there but it still plays alphabetical order of the track name that appears on the display. Changing “Track Number” ID3 tag also doesn’t do it. My OS is Vista Home Premium. I’m fairly proficient with databases and spreadsheets and have found a few shareware programs that should allow me to edit the ID3 tag info without needing to go the Windows file properties for each track. But as I’ve mentioned I haven’t found which information will change the playing order sequence. I’m willing to pay a little for another software program that will allow me to order the songs in the sequence of the original CD also if anyone understands my problem and has a suggestion. Thanks for your help.
Your solution it the only one I know of. Most of those disk players sort by file name or title name only. I recommend just an old fashion mp3 player for your car stereo with an aux input jack as the best of all worlds. Since you can fit 100-200 mp3s on one disk I find them perfect for the car. That way you can keep your eyes on the road. If there is a place you might go to automate the file naming it would be Media Monkey check in development/scripts in their forum. Users can write scripts that can be run by MM. If you use dbPowerAmp to rip, you can also rip to filename = Artist+Album+track_no+title. This is only useful it your disk sorts by file names. Otherwise someone can get MM to to that for all your mp3s. There is probably already a script that since that is a common issue.
For clarification - the HDD DOES sort by filename. which is the title of the song. What I want is one that will sort by some other ID3 parameter, like track number or date last modified. I then could easily modify that field to suit my needs, since generally ripping will be timewise either by the date saved or its reverse. I do have an iPod Touch with 16GB of memory that I could use for my car music, and it does have my music arranged by track number of the original CD. that's why I was thinking that it must look at an ID3 tag or some other parameter to arrange the track order. It just seems like a waste of a good idea not to use the HDD that comes with the premium audio system that I paid for. I'll go to the MM forum and see if there may be someone else who can direct me to a solution. As you say, it probably is a common issue. Also for clarification - an advantage of the HDD for holding my MP3s does keep my eyes on the road better than flipping through MP3 CDs searching for music, which I have been known to do during a safe length of highway. Thanks for your help and comments. It has given me some ideas and resources for further looking at this issue.
I see you actually select each track or at least each album you listen to. I have my CDs created by mood. At most I may skip a track. I gave you the order I think you need. However you need an application that will rename the file name with selected tags. You may also wish to only use the first 10 characters of the artist and album. itune on you ipod uses the tag info to sort while the disk uses file names. Do not confuse the 2. Again on MM, go to the forums then pick scripts or development. I can't remember what it was called. That forum is for users that program. It would be a very simple matter to rename the file name with tag info. I am sure I could do it and VB isn't my language. You can post a query asking if anyone knows of a script to rename file names with selected tag data. Probably what you would want to do is select your target tunes to convert in MM select execute script in the MM menu, select the script you want to run, select the tags and length to use in the order which you want to use them. Doing that will make the script more flexible for other uses.
Yeah. We all have our personal listening habits. For some reason my brain anticipates the track order, and when it doesn't play as anticipated, it's upsetting for some reason. I even try finding the next anticipated track rather than listening to the next alphabetical one. It's just easier to try to reform the track sequence than to reform my brain. I haven't been to MM yet but you present some good options. There may be a script already there or I may play around with VB myself. I haven't worked in it for years, but I do recall VB to be somewhat intuitive. Thanks again for your help. I'll try some stuff but it may take a few days.
Then you probably can make your self a custom app. You don't need any of the fancy stuff to make it flexible. Just down load some of the scripts that do something close to what you are doing. If you have programmed, you can do it your self. You will love MM. It is a powerful jukebox. A warning, do not try syncing with MM unless you uninstall itunes. iTunes may mess with your ipod after you do. Uninstall but keep all the settings incase you change your mind.
