# SD card help!



## stumardy (Oct 25, 2009)

Hi All,

just got a 32GB SD card (SDHC) Transcend. It worked fine the first time I put some music files on it then today when I added more it would not work in the TT. I use iTunes on a iMac. Could someone let me know what format the card should be and also I guessing it's fine to pull tracks right from iTunes on to the card so m4a files or do they all need to be mp3?

As I say the first time the TT recognised the card and the music tracks and now its doesn't?

Any advice would be good folks!


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

Format it in fat32 then copy your music, m4a or MP3 are accepted.


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## F1SpaceMonkey (Nov 21, 2015)

if you bought the tracks from iTunes and are dragging them to the card they shouldn't work - they will be protected. If you're just dragging unprotected mp3 files etc you've converted or downloaded via a torrent site it should be ok.


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## stumardy (Oct 25, 2009)

Yeah I convert them with an converter software. It all seemed to work the other day but now when I put the card in slot 1 it won't see it. I will format again and try I guess. MS-DOS (Fat) or exFat do we think?


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

F1SpaceMonkey said:


> if you bought the tracks from iTunes and are dragging them to the card they shouldn't work - they will be protected. If you're just dragging unprotected mp3 files etc you've converted or downloaded via a torrent site it should be ok.


If you bought them after April 2009 they should work as they stopped having DRM protection.

At least, all mine worked fine when I just selected them in iTunes (on a PC) and dragged and dropped them onto a SD card, then copied them to the jukebox.


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## CiLA (Oct 31, 2015)

My experience. I have 64gb sd card. Format music flac. On computer I see all music (1725 files). On player MMI after put sd card I cant find all files...my opinion only to 32gb. I dont know way to see all track. Your experience?


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

CiLA said:


> My experience. I have 64gb sd card. Format music flac. On computer I see all music (1725 files). On player MMI after put sd card I cant find all files...my opinion only to 32gb. I dont know way to see all track. Your experience?


I'm poor, 2 16GB sd (I had only those at home!), copied inside any kind of format and all read.
before, with iTunes I changed any artist name, album, cover etc and on the list is easy to find a track and nice to see with all the covers


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## Jonny_C (Jul 24, 2013)

Similar 32GB Transcend card.

Don't drag them from iTunes - go to the media folder itself and copy them straight from there; as long as iTunes plays them, they'll be fine. Regularly change / copy and adjust - in and out of the car all the time - no problems. No conversion.

Format the card in the car if you're not sure.


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

Jonny_C said:


> Similar 32GB Transcend card.
> 
> Don't drag them from iTunes - go to the media folder itself and copy them straight from there; as long as iTunes plays them, they'll be fine. Regularly change / copy and adjust - in and out of the car all the time - no problems. No conversion.
> 
> Format the card in the car if you're not sure.


of course you have to find them from iTunes music folder


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## stumardy (Oct 25, 2009)

Jonny_C said:


> Similar 32GB Transcend card.
> 
> Don't drag them from iTunes - go to the media folder itself and copy them straight from there; as long as iTunes plays them, they'll be fine. Regularly change / copy and adjust - in and out of the car all the time - no problems. No conversion.
> 
> Format the card in the car if you're not sure.


How do you format the card in the TT? didn't know you could do this?


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Try a nice little free app called Notpod. It allows you to treat any external hard drive, memory card or USB stick as an iTunes approved device and sync it with your iTunes library. 
So whenever you've added some music to your library you just slip the SD card or whatever in your PC and sync to add whatever is new.
http://notpod.windows10appstore.net/win10software.html


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

It's possible the problem might be elsewhere and not the "files" themselves - have you tried putting the card into the other slot (to rule out any issue with the first) and have you tried an alternative card (again to rule out any issue with the first card either from damage or corruption).

I use an iMac to transfer music on to a 64Gb card, formatted on the Mac (exFat) via the SD slot at the back and drag the music from the Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music directory using the Finder. iTunes organizes via Artist then Albums so just dragging the Artist folder will copy every Album therein - as long as they are not protected files all should work, I haven't had any issues to date and that includes taking the card out to add more music on at least 5 occasions - when put back in the Audi it does a short search then the additional songs (nicely sorted) are available to play.


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## noname (Aug 20, 2015)

if you have a Mac, insert the sd, disk utility, format as fat32 and drag in there all files, that's it.. I don't see where the problem occurs


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

Don't think the problem lies with which "formatting" system is being used, after all the owners manual states either Fat32 or ExFat can be used for cards or sticks - only suggested ExFat because that's what I've decided to use and because it's the most modern supporting larger files (although that limit should not be exceeded for music in the car).

When using Disk Utility you are given two options with respect to Windows compatibility, the last being ExFat but the one above is MS-DOS (FAT) - that's the Mac name for FAT32 (some might not realise).

If the card could be read when first inserted but after removal/adding addition music it then fails to be recognised then some form of corruption or hardware issue might be happening - reformat with the other option, try in the other slot and try a different card should narrow it down. Lastly if the card worked when first inserted and later didn't that would suggest it's not a protected file issue.

Just trying to think through the problem for Stumardy and offer some options to try (if he hasn't already).


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

CiLA said:


> My experience. I have 64gb sd card. Format music flac. On computer I see all music (1725 files). On player MMI after put sd card I cant find all files...my opinion only to 32gb. I dont know way to see all track. Your experience?


I've experienced a similar issue and tracked it down to how the files are tagged with artist, album, genre or other info - compilations have been particularly troublesome. On the Mac tracks are kept together and appear under the compilation album (as you would expect), but in the MMI they get spread around and can look at first glance as though they have been lost, still not fully resolved but noticed on the MMI you have the option to view the tracks in various ways so that might help when trying to find the allusive tracks.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Compilation albums with various artists have always been a PITA.


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## SiHancox (Sep 12, 2011)

Agree, get that frustrated I tend to just give up and just delete them - but still trying to work it out (when I have the patience) but can't help thinking that how iTunes sees albums is somewhat different to how the MMI system sees them!


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## Jonny_C (Jul 24, 2013)

stumardy said:


> Jonny_C said:
> 
> 
> > Similar 32GB Transcend card.
> ...


Sorry that might be my mistake - thought I saw an option somewhere, but haven't checked and might have been thinking of something else [smiley=oops.gif]


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## CiLA (Oct 31, 2015)

ManuTT said:


> CiLA said:
> 
> 
> > My experience. I have 64gb sd card. Format music flac. On computer I see all music (1725 files). On player MMI after put sd card I cant find all files...my opinion only to 32gb. I dont know way to see all track. Your experience?
> ...


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## CiLA (Oct 31, 2015)

CiLA said:


> ManuTT said:
> 
> 
> > CiLA said:
> ...


The problem is not to use 4-32gb sd card. 
If I use 64gb I dont see all tracks. As I wroted I listen format "flac". I used play card on another audi cars player. Same. 
Note: On card I have artist from A to Z (1725 files) all files in Win7 I see. If put card to MMI I see track from D-P. 
I tried format cards. Nothing help. After format I see in MMI tracks from A to P. 
My opinion that only to 32gb from 64gb card. I am not happy. In instructions I read that MMI play 64gb flac files without problem. Maybe is not true. I love flac files ...


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

CiLA said:


> The problem is not to use 4-32gb sd card.
> If I use 64gb I dont see all tracks. As I wroted I listen format "flac". I used play card on another audi cars player. Same.
> Note: On card I have artist from A to Z (1725 files) all files in Win7 I see. If put card to MMI I see track from D-P.
> I tried format cards. Nothing help. After format I see in MMI tracks from A to P.
> My opinion that only to 32gb from 64gb card. I am not happy. In instructions I read that MMI play 64gb flac files without problem. Maybe is not true. I love flac files ...


I just got a new SanDisk 64Gb SDXC card from Amazon. Formatted it to NTFS on Windows 7. Copied iTunes files via drag & drop to it. Then put it into slot 1. All files visible, but then they weren't .flac, they were .m4a files.

I read somewhere:

"A .FLAC file is a file which contains audio samples compressed with the FLAC audio encoding algorithm, which is a very good, open source, lossless, audio codec. Unfortunately FLAC is not widely supported byhardware vendors, so it can happen that your MP3 player won't play FLAC files."


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## BenjaminB (Mar 24, 2016)

I've just been trying the SD slots in my MY17 car. Bought two Sandisk 64GB UltraSD cards from Amazon, copied files (ripped by itunes) onto the card, plugged in and listened. Easy.

I've also converted songs to FLAK, replaced the MP4 files and tried. Worked first time.....


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## rumblestrip (Apr 15, 2016)

BenjaminB said:


> I've just been trying the SD slots in my MY17 car. Bought two Sandisk 64GB UltraSD cards from Amazon, copied files (ripped by itunes) onto the card, plugged in and listened. Easy.
> 
> I've also converted songs to FLAK, replaced the MP4 files and tried. Worked first time.....


That's good news. I don't use the MP3 format much (and I'm not an Apple man) so I am glad to hear FLAC is playable - hopefully from a USB stick, too, as that what I tend to use. I have prepared some test files at a range of degrees of compression, sampling rate and bit depth so I can see what plays and what does not. Did I read somewhere that WAVs are OK too?


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## jryoung (Feb 8, 2015)

keithS said:


> "A .FLAC file is a file which contains audio samples compressed with the FLAC audio encoding algorithm, which is a very good, open source, lossless, audio codec. Unfortunately FLAC is not widely supported byhardware vendors, so it can happen that your MP3 player won't play FLAC files."


FLAC is definitely supported in the MMI. I am using it
It is also supported on most Andriod phones by default


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## BenjaminB (Mar 24, 2016)

rumblestrip said:


> Did I read somewhere that WAVs are OK too?


I had a WAV left on the SD card following conversion to FLAC. It didn't appear....


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

I wonder if the cause of not being able to read media files on the SD card is down to the map update software.

Reason is, files copied to a freshly formatted SD card worked fine - the MMI recognised them and played them.

Then I downloaded a map update to the SD card on a PC. And copied a few recently downloaded tracks onto it, then put the SD card back in the TT. The MMI didn't show the SD card under available media any more...


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