not all songs on Cruzer recognized in car

I have nothing but music on my Cruzer 32GB. When it’s plugged into my computer, I’m told that I have about 4,000 files. However, when it’s plugged into my car’s USB port, the car recognizes only about 3,500 files. Any ideas that might explain the difference?

Are they all the same format of files (.mp3 for example)? Some car stereos won’t read other formats, like .wma, .flac, .ogg, or .aac.

You probably want to consult your car’s owner manual.

I think all of my files are either mp3 or mp4, and each type works in the car. So I still don’t know why so many files aren’t being recognized.

I know the Sansa mp3 players have a database limitation; maybe your car’s stereo does too, and you’ve hit it at 3500?

Does your stereo read the files names on the drive, or does it go by the ID3 tags of the music files. Maybe it’s picky like the Sansa mp3 players in that it will only read a certain formats of tags?

The owner’s manual says “if your metadata tags are not populated, the tracks won’t be available in . . . [the] play menu. . . . However, if you place these tracks onto your playing device in ‘Mass Storage Device Mode’, they are available in voice recognition, play menu browsing and similar music.”

Is ‘Mass Storage Device Mode’ available for the Cruzer?

Is there a way to tell which files have/don’t have the metatags?

Is ‘Mass Storage Device Mode’ available for the Cruzer?”

The question is does the app you’re using to save your music have the option to save in Mass Storage Mode.

Is there a way to tell which files have/don’t have the metatags?”

Print a list of the music on the USB device, compare it to the music that your car’s play menu shows.  USB items not on the play menu probably don’t have metatags.  :wink:

I used itunes to save my music onto the Sandisk. Could I use itunes to “convert” to mass storage device mode?

Very odd development. First, I went onto  “Computer” (using Vista) and then to the flash drive letter, and I opened the flash drive using the following option: “open as portable device” (the second choice under the folders on the left side of the window). I then checked out the folder of a particular singer. “Properties” tells me that I have a certain number of files (say, 100) taking up a certain about of MB (say, 400). When I tried to see the tags, I was not given the option to do so.

Next, I went into “Computer,” opened the flash drive, got the properties of the same folder, and it says that I had more songs than before (say, 125) but the same number of MB as before (again, say, 400). I was able to bring up the tags column, but no tags actually appeared (the column appeared, but everything under it was blank). Meanwhile, when I actually counted the files, the actual number of files in both the “open as portable device” mode and the ‘regular’ mode was the lower of the two numbers (again, say, 100).

My theory is that there aren’t any files being unrecognized, but, on the contrary, extra files (extra tags perhaps?) being recognized in the ‘regular’ mode.