Reverse file order on a flash drive?

[Jimmy9190]

I have some music MP3 files on a flash drive, they are sorted by the name of each band, with the band names in alphabetical order. When I play the flash drive on my stereo, it always plays in reverse alphabetical order. Instead of starting with the bands that begin with the letter A as in Aerosmith, when I start the flash drive it begins playing at Z, or in this case ZZ Top. I have tried to re-copy the files to the flash drive in reverse order on my computer and the stereo still starts playing the list from Z instead of A.

Does anyone know how to correct this? I am at my wit's end here, starting to get frustrated. Thanks.

 

[PandaBear]

File name display has nothing to do with how they are ordered in the file or how they are played in your MP3 player. If the option of using a playlist or reverse alphabetic order is not available in your MP3 player, you will have to rename the file yourself. Recopying with the same name wouldn't work.

 

[chevrofreak]

My dads DVD player sorts the files by their file date on the drive, rather than alphabetically. It is quite annoying.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks. I did some Google searching and came up with this:

http://mp3.about.com/od/tutorials/ht/MP3-sorting-Tutorial.htm

It is a very simple and 100% free tool to restore the alphabetical order to files or folders on a flash drive. I had to re-copy my MP3 music files to the flash drive and as my computer was copying, I saw that the files were being copied from Z to A, which is why they play in reverse order on my car radio. Not much I can do about that, I guess. The tool I found restores correct alpabetical order quickly and easily. I checked my flash drive in the stereo and it is in the correct order now.

Thanks for the help here. Maybe that tool I found could help someone else with a similar problem.

 

[Colt45ws]

That does not make any sense. Sorting is not part of the filesystem in any way, shape, or form.
The only thing I can think of is the stereo must be reading down the file table in literal order as if it were a CD.
That is the most retarded thing Ive ever heard of!
I know that on my stereo, it shows folders/songs on the thumbdrive in alphabetical order regardless of the order they were written. I just copied a new folder to it yesterday that was alphabetically first. When I put it in, it was new #1.

 

[PandaBear]

Interesting.

I think the term sorting is the internal layout of the directory table rather than the way it is displayed in windows or the time stamp of the files. Someone writing the file system driver in the mp3 player is being lazy when they just loop through the directory content as is without sorting in a particular order first.

Seems like the "tool" in the link is reordering the low level layout of the directory content to get around this.

 

[CivicFan]

When playing operas and other classic music, the order is important. So in such cases, I have ended up merging all these MP3 files together into one large file. Trying to figure out the file sorting can be a major pain depending on how the particular software or device sorts the files.

 

[Jimmy9190]

This is on my new car stereo that I bought from Crutchfield and installed last weekend. I have no idea how the stereo interprets the order in which the files are played back. I do not know much about computers. Or flash drives, either. All I do know is I am using these small 2 GB flash drives and I put music on them from my Itunes library off of my hard drive. I had to split up the music folders and use 4 flash drives to copy all of the songs I selected from my library. One flash drive has folders of bands beginning with the letter A to F, another from F to P, and so on down to the letter Z. I copied the songs from each band or artist in my library to the flash drives in alphabetical order according to the name of each band or artist and set up folders and albums to organize the songs the way I wanted them. When I played the flash drive in the radio, it sounded great but it would play the folders in reverse alphabetical order, starting from the last band on the flash drive. For example, the flash drive for letters T through Z would begin playing ZZ Top instead of The Police. It also made the radio control buttons that I use to select folders work backwards too.

Maybe the flash drive I am using has something to do with it. Maybe it's my computer. Maybe it is my OS has a problem. I set up folders on my desk top and moved songs from my music library to each folder, set them all up in alphabetical order and then just inserted the corresponding flash drive into the USB port on my computer and dragged the music folder to the flash drive. When the computer copied the songs from the folder to the flash drive, it did it in reverse order. The T through Z folder started copying ZZ Top first, then it was all copied backwards to the flash drive.

I am using a brand new Pioneer car radio that has a USB port on the front of it:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1304300UB/Pioneer-DEH-4300UB.html?search=deh_4300ub&skipvs=T

Maybe it is just my ignorance about computer gear but I can't see how a major quality brand like Pioneer would design a radio that reads files in reverse order on purpose. I am using these little flash drives that I got from Walmart:

http://www.scosche.com/consumer-tech/product/2173

I use this type of flash drive because it is small, has a low profile, does not get in the way of any of the radio buttons and does not stick out like a sore thumb on my dashboard. I know I could buy other flash drives with more storage space but I use the little Scosche drive mostly for aesthetic reasons. I have 1,750 songs stored between the 4 flash drives, they work fine and sound great. I played a song from my flash drive, then I played the same song from my Ipod and I honestly could not tell any difference in sound quality. I also like not having to fiddle around with my Ipod in my truck.

That little tool I found online put all my flash drives in the correct alphabetical order. It was quick and easy and it did not cause any problems with the flash drive or my computer. My stereo plays the files back in the correct alphabetical order too. Maybe I am wrong but IMHO this problem has to be due to some error in the way my computer copied the files.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Jimmy9190
I am using a brand new Pioneer car radio that has a USB port on the front of it:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1304300UB/Pioneer-DEH-4300UB.html?search=deh_4300ub&skipvs=T

I would contact Pioneer and ask them about the logic that it uses to determine the order of play, whether there is any user control over it (in the settings), and about the issue you're having to see if they can replicate it on their end and suggest a fix.

I know you've already found a workaround, but it sounds like someone designing this player overlooked something. If the firmware on this player is user-upgradeable (doubt it), then maybe Pioneer can release a patch that you can install to correct the issue.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I just looked at your owner's manual. First they say that you can control the sequence by just renaming the files, but then they say that "depending on the system environment, you may not be able to specify the playback sequence." Sounds like they're trying to cover up shortcomings of their software.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks, That is interesting. Maybe it would have played in the correct order if I had assigned numbers to my band/music folders instead of going by the band name. Or if maybe I had listed the folders like this:

1. Aerosmith
2. BTO
3. Cheap Trick
4. Dire Straits

And so on, all the way through ZZ Top. Maybe the Pioneer software is looking for numbered files instead of alphabetically-ordered name titles on the files. I read a lot of reviews on the 4300UB before I bought it and did not find anyone having any problems with reversed playback order. I also tested a flash drive in a similar radio at Walmart and it didn't have any reverse playback problems either.

I may take your advice and contact Pioneer to see what they say. Thanks for the help.