USB Audio Controls

[LesFromVT]

I have 4Gb USB thumb drive with hundreds of songs arranged into 5 folders. When the Maverick audio scans the drive, it gives me a random arrangement of all of the music. I would like to be able to tell it to use only one of the 5 folders. I've looked all over the manual and I can't find any way to do it. Is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

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[blueboy]

I'm having the exact same issue. No folder option view or selection.

 

[LesFromVT]

I actually like the randomness but my wife doesn't want to hear Pavarotti followed by The Sex Pistols.

 

[retrojet]

Do you have another thumb-drive to install the preferred folder to, just to see what happens?

 

[LesFromVT]

I haven't tried it but I assume from my experience and other's written in response that with a USB drive with a single folder, I just get a randomized playlist of the contents of that one folder.
Sure, I could put one folder on each drive and use the selected one but it seems that Ford missed the mark on this. Actually, my wife's old Ford Escape had the capability to play playlists. You could (I'm a computer programmer so I worked out how - it was a form of XML) make various playlists and the system allowed you to choose one to play.

 

[retrojet]

I don't get a look-in... my wife's phone is loaded up before I get anywhere near the truck...

 

[bcooke]

I have 4Gb USB thumb drive with hundreds of songs arranged into 5 folders. When the Maverick audio scans the drive, it gives me a random arrangement of all of the music. I would like to be able to tell it to use only one of the 5 folders. I've looked all over the manual and I can't find any way to do it. Is there something I'm missing? Thanks.

I've had simular problems with audio books on CD's.
I had to copy the disc or disc's to my computer, then rename the files.
Most files I've seen are always numbered as 1, 2, 3, 4...etc. You need to rename them as two, three, four, ... digit numbers.
Say there are 19 files on a single disc, rename them as 01, 02, 03,... etc.
On some audio books with say 131 chapters, then name them as 001, 002, 003, and so on to the end of 131.
On my Alpine aftermarket radio in my Volvo, it scrolls through about 10 files on the screen.
This way it will hopefully right justify the files. This is especially important so when you are organising your songs or audio books, you break them down into the drive, folder, album, then song.
Otherwise you end up with files labels as 1, 2, 3, .... etc , alot of 1's, 2's, 3's etc.

I hope this helps.

 

[Surly Old Bill]

I discovered this USB problem on a trip last week. I usually listen to audio books when it's a 5+ hour drive.
I had about 5 music albums and 2 audio books on the thumbdrive. When I could get the radio to recognize the thumbdrive*, the audiobook chapters would play sequentially, so I'd have to skip to the "next" chapter 02 to stay on the same book. Good tip on renaming the files, thanks.
I was considering the ez solution would be to just have ONE book on a thumbdrive so I wouldn't have to mess with things every chapter. I'm used to a better system, like the one in my $75 aftermarket 10" Android radio in my Transit. And as far as I can tell, you can't load VLC or some other file player onto the Maverick XL radio (which would solve the problem instantly).
I'm a little miffed that the factory radio would be this bad in 2025. Surprised it doesn't have a CD, or even cassette player the way Ford is so slow to keep up with technology. (actually, I WAS surprised it had a USB port, knowing Ford).

*the radio was having a hard time connecting to the thumbdrive. Most of the time it would show it as an audio option, but then not be able to play or even scroll, and some "safety" message would appear when trying. Sometimes it would not even show as connected. Other times it worked. I suspect it may have been a hardware thing; I was using a microSD card in a USB adapter, and maybe connections weren't being made because of a loose fit somewhere. BUT, if I was in PARK and reloaded the USB, it would work more often than not, and continue to work while driving. For a while, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes over an hour. Totally random. After a point of many tries I took the microSD and put it in my tablet and connected that via USB cable and played directly from the tablet (including selecting and changing tracks). That worked perfectly.

If there is not a "fix" for the factory radio, these are the work-arounds I will try:

1. A different thumbdrive than I took on this trip

2. One book per thumbdrive

3. Just use an extra tablet or old phone as a source, using software on the device instead of on the factory radio (this is my current preferred "fix" as it requires the least amount of work or modification, and I can also stream OBD2 data via bluetooth to the tablet to use Torque Pro app. It just means there will be two screens happening; the factory radio and the tablet)

4. Replace factory radio with a capable one

Option 4 is almost out of the question right now, as there are some vehicle-specific features and controls integrated into the factory radio (thanks, Ford). I am contemplating whether I want or need these "features", or if they can be used with an aftermarket radio.

 

[phoneguyinpgh]

If these are all separate audio files, just make a playlist. Add them to the playlist in the sequence you want them played and make sure the shuffle feature is turned off.

I am using a 32GB thumb drive and made several playlists using good old WinAmp and the B&O radio reads them up and plays them perfectly.

 

[LesFromVT]

If these are all separate audio files, just make a playlist. Add them to the playlist in the sequence you want them played and make sure the shuffle feature is turned off.

I am using a 32GB thumb drive and made several playlists using good old WinAmp and the B&O radio reads them up and plays them perfectly.

Thanks but my regular 2024 Maverick does not have that capability.
Les

 

[PeteBerner]

I ran into this problem with USB thumb drives so I just have a separate drive for each genre/style of music I listen to. The only solution I can think of, is to put the separate folders on your phone, and use CarPlay or Android Auto to play them using an app. I use the Musicolet app on Android and it lets you play folders.

 

[LesFromVT]

Thanks but I'm an old-school geezer. My flip phone doesn't do anything except make and receive calls.

 

[HeyBales]

From what I recall - their system is reading the files in the order they were created.

They are not sorted by anything you would normally be viewing, like on the computer you made them.
So each folder you view on the computer, could have them in Alpha order, including 1, 2, 3 so you think they are in an order you want.

But you do mass grab and copy of the whole list over to the USB - that is NOT the order they are laid down on the USB, and then nor in the directory listing.
Which is what the truck system looks at.

Bring up good old Command Prompt on that USB drive you have now.
Use the raw Dir command to see what order your folders are actually in, and then within a folder what order your files are actually in.
Probably not what you were actually wanting.
You can mass grab files still, just click on 1st one, shift-click on last one - that usually lays them down in the order actually viewed.

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