For some time I have been successfully using an 80gb iPod classic through the USB centre console cubby hole but now with Apple ditching the iPod I cannot afford to loose it all if it fails and I cannot replace it.
I've successfully used a 64gb USB 2 flash drive but with less storage than the iPod I bought a 128gb USB 3 flash drive, the 64gb used ex-fat system and the 128 gb the FAT system. Unfortunately not everything is now playing and the Meridian system is not recognising the MP3's. Some songs are fine and play fine on the 64 but not on the 128 although all were converted via the same software (Xilisoft) and the source file is the same.
USB 3 should be backwards compatible but there is nothing in the handbook to help.
Is there a tech wizard out there who could suggest a fix?
Dynamic MY2013

From my experience the usb and mp3 playback seems to be very picky.

When i first got mine I was just using a 4gb stick - swapped for a 16gb and it stopped working - was playng files very intermittently.

So - i reduced the number of files on the 16gb to below 4gb and it started working again - meaning it had an issue with 4gb+ or one of the files. Since then I've been re-encoding all files using a program called foobar2000 which uses Lame to encode the mp3's. I'm using a constant bit rate (I know it doesn't like variable) of 320kbps. Since then I haven't had an issue and I'm using round 10gb of the 16gb stick.

I would probably suggest - reformat the usb stick in fat32 - re-encode all files - copy half across first for a few days then copy the rest just to check if it has an issue with a filename. When i was re-encoding mine I found 1 file was corrupted so could have been that causing all my issues!

I also find the playback from a flashdrive to be inconsistent but by breaking the files up into several folders (ie by genre or artist) I get better results.

I have a 128GB drive - MY14 will only play ~1/3 of the songs - really makes me mad. I tried to find out what the limitations are from Land Rover but got nowhere. My 2013 VW can play all 96GB of music (~12k songs). Just stupid...

Hi

I had some trouble with mine but after messing about with it I had to convert all the files to AAC which does loose sound quality I think....in relation to the USB 3 I know you can get these

http://www.mymemory.co.uk/USB-Flash-Drives...lash-Drive

I dont know if it will work, I'm running a 64GB USB on mine but it is USB 2.0

Craig MY 2012 HSE LUX
MY 2010 XS

I'm wondering if the problem may lie with files downloaded from Amazon Music, they play fine via iTunes and Windows Mediaplayer but refuse to get recognised by the car.

I tried Foobar but it crashed so it's back to the 80gb iPod classic.

Re-formatted the flash drive using HP software to FAT32 which helped the car audio system recognise the flash drive BUT now discovered that Amazon Music use variable bit rate which is what Vince suggested.

This must be something that Amazon have done recently as older files work fine in the car.

Lesson learned.

GTK wrote:

For some time I have been successfully using an 80gb iPod classic through the USB centre console cubby hole but now with Apple ditching the iPod I cannot afford to loose it all if it fails and I cannot replace it.
I've successfully used a 64gb USB 2 flash drive but with less storage than the iPod I bought a 128gb USB 3 flash drive, the 64gb used ex-fat system and the 128 gb the FAT system. Unfortunately not everything is now playing and the Meridian system is not recognising the MP3's. Some songs are fine and play fine on the 64 but not on the 128 although all were converted via the same software (Xilisoft) and the source file is the same.
USB 3 should be backwards compatible but there is nothing in the handbook to help.
Is there a tech wizard out there who could suggest a fix?
Dynamic MY2013

Plenty of iPods on the auction website we all love, get a spare.

I'll treat the comment about buying a second Freelander in case the first fails with contempt.

I thought about buying a spare from fleabay but as a flash drive is about the fifth the cost of a reasonable iPod Classic, it makes sense to try to get the flash drive route to work from the outset. I've only has 1 iPod fail and that was battery related, not cheap to replace.

The iPod is back in the car because it doesn't seem to care what bit rate it plays.

Interestingly since Apple announced they were pulling the Classic, Amazon have nearly doubled the price of new ones.

I didn't know the classic was on its way out, I assume the Touch will remain?

I thought about the USB route for storing all music but as you have found it is frought with problems. I ended up buying 64GB touch from ebay, it only cost £30 as it had a cracked screen but works fine anyway, besides it's only got to act as USB storage. Perfect for something that I will leave in the car to only see daylight when I need to add music.

Problem sorted - at a cost.

Deleted all the bought Amazon Music MP3s that had downloaded at various bit rates and all is well on the 128gb flash drive. Meridian recognises it (before it just kept trying to connect) and now it will play everything else.

I considered the iPod Touch but with only 64gb I would have ended up swapping stuff around, there is supposed to be a 128gb on the way but I'm a bit wary of leaving nearly £400 worth of removable asset in the car, if some thieving scrote takes the flash drive I'm only £25 down.

Just noticed that Apple predictive text changed scrote to scooter first time around!

Vince wrote:

From my experience the usb and mp3 playback seems to be very picky.

When i first got mine I was just using a 4gb stick - swapped for a 16gb and it stopped working - was playng files very intermittently.

So - i reduced the number of files on the 16gb to below 4gb and it started working again - meaning it had an issue with 4gb+ or one of the files. Since then I've been re-encoding all files using a program called foobar2000 which uses Lame to encode the mp3's. I'm using a constant bit rate (I know it doesn't like variable) of 320kbps. Since then I haven't had an issue and I'm using round 10gb of the 16gb stick.

I would probably suggest - reformat the usb stick in fat32 - re-encode all files - copy half across first for a few days then copy the rest just to check if it has an issue with a filename. When i was re-encoding mine I found 1 file was corrupted so could have been that causing all my issues!

This hasn't been touched for a while, so I thought i'd resurrect it as i'm having similar issues.

I dumped all of my itunes music onto a 128gb USB3 drive. When I used it in my previous car (bmw 3 series) everything played, It was wasy to sort and it even displayed the album artwork.

I put the same stick in my MY13 Freelander and it will only play a portion of the songs, I get a 'no playable files' error message for a lot of the folders. The stick is organised by Artist>Album>Track.

I've moved three new albums across which were purchased from itunes on the same day. Two will play, one will not....bloody frustrating.

I can seem to see what the problem is? the files are a mix of AAC, Apple MP4 and MP3, it'll play some of each, but not others of the same format. Any ideas?

Oh and the A-Z search is as it only allows you to search on the first letter, and the the results it brings back aren't even for the letter you search on

I also have an Ipod Classic with about 5k songs. It's been a bit iffy at times and won't play music on shuffle through the FL2 system although shuffle works on anything else.

I would love to use a USB stick or some other MP3 player but it seems the Apple products are the only ones that shuffle songs.