USB flash drive for mp3's, only recognizes 61 songs per folder?

[Suparu]

I did some searching and saw posts with a lot of people running into alot of different problems while trying to get their flash drive to play music. But I didn't find any posts with anyone having the issue I'm running into.

I bought a 64GB SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33. I couldn't format it for FAT32 in Windows (kept saying the volume was too large), so I used my wife's Mac to format it FAT32 which worked no problem.

Then I created a dozen or so folders which I named different genres, I prefer to organize my MP3's by genre. Then I copied around 60GB worth of MP3's to the different folders, most of the folders contained upwards of a few hundred MP3's.

Then I stuck the flash drive into my car's USB port. I have a BRZ Limited, it's head unit recognized the drive, it showed ID3 tag information, it even showed album art. But I noticed that every folder only had 61 MP3's in them, like the head unit has some sort of limitation where it can only read up to 61 files within each folder?

I plugged the flash drive into my computer which saw all the MP3's, a few hundred MP3's per folder. I tried plugging the flash drive into the BRZ's USB port again but still, it only saw 61 MP3's per folder.

[switchlanez]

It might be due to the flash drive size. I found in a manual somewhere about the Fujitsu 10 headunit that the USB drive size limit is 8GB. That's not to say others have been able to use larger sizes. But I've been using a Verbatim 8GB with 100+ songs in some folders for 3 years no problem.

[Suparu]

I reformatted it as different file systems - exFAT and then NTFS, it didn't recognize the usb drive at all. So I went back to FAT32, this time I partitioned it as 32GB instead of 64GB but I just ended up with the same problem as my post above.

I have 80GB of MP3's and I keep alot of it in heavy rotation. I'm used to using my 80GB iPod but this summer heat killed my iPod. It's been getting over 120F in my car.

I read alot of posts on here about people successfully using 32GB flash drives and some people using larger like 64GB and one person using a 120GB usb hard drive successfully. Replacement iPods are so expensive I was really hoping I could just use a flash drive instead but 8GB of music isn't going to work for me. I listen to alot of music.

How are the people getting these 32GB low profile flash drives to work?

If worst comes to worst then I'd buy an aftermarket head unit rather than a new iPod. Because then I could pick out a head unit that supports larger flash drives and has reliable Bluetooth. I tried using Bluetooth so I could stream internet radio from my phone to my head unit but it kept cutting out, the BRZ head unit kept disconnecting the Bluetooth connection and reconnecting. I read about alot of people on here having alot of problems with the Bluetooth. So it seems like I'm better off buying a different head unit.

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to spend any more money on the car for a long time, maybe next year sometime. I just got a turbo a couple months ago, I just ordered springs and wheels, my wife would kill me if I spend any more money right now. So I'm really hoping one of the guys that's got a 32GB flash drive working can offer some assistance, it sucks not having access to your music.

[Stang70Fastback]

For what it's worth I've got a super small 16 Gb drive that I've been using forever. However I have my music split up differently, and I don't think any one folder actually has more than 61 songs in it. Works fine, tho.

[Suparu]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

For what it's worth I've got a super small 16 Gb drive that I've been using forever. However I have my music split up differently, and I don't think any one folder actually has more than 61 songs in it. Works fine, tho.

I deleted all but 3 folders and the number of songs increased to 255 songs per folder, so I'm definitely dealing with a limitation of some sort. I'll try partitioning it to 16gb and putting several folders to see if I can get it to work that way.

This sucks, music is very important especially since I commute 50 miles per day for work. But I've spent all my allowed money this year on a turbo, springs, wheels and some other things. So I don't even have the loot for a replacement iPod. They've gotten so expensive I'd rather replace the head unit altogether for that price anyway. Unfortunately my wife would kill me if I spend any additional money on the car this year, so the head unit's going to have to wait until next year. I gotta keep ****ing with this flash drive in hopes of somehow getting a decent amount of music on it in the meantime, something that'll work as a solution until next year when I'm allowed to put more money into the car again lol.

[Stang70Fastback]

I noticed you mentioned you formatted it with an Apple. I'd suggest trying to format it with a Windows machine.

[calmtigers]

Is there a reason you format to FAT32?