2018 SCREW, 802a, Sync3 claims another...killed a SanDisc 32gb flash drive

[lawdog]

What are y'all using to play music files locally through?

I realize I am a luddite to some degree now, but I still like my music on my iPod, yet Sync3 gags on mine for anything other than playlists due to indexing issues. Even then, it's off by one letter, so I have to think of where the playlist is in the alphabet and adjust accordingly or plug the iPod in on the one I want.

I then put a (very) truncated collection on a dedicated SanDisk 32gb USB flash drive, which worked OK for 6 months or so, until a week ago when Sync cooked it/it failed. I don't even use it that often, so my suspicion is that Sync was accessing/running it the entire time it was plugged in.

I really would have been quite fine with a simple AUX jack, but Ford forces you to use their tech, which frankly sucks. Is any of this worth it, or is a conversion to spotify in my future? TIA.

 

[smurfslayer]

iPhone over bluetooth.

 

[Droid]

The "FAT" filesystem most commonly used for USB flash drives (and probably the only thing Sync3 supports) is actually incredibly unsuited for the purpose it's used.

FAT is very easy to corrupt, and if it's corrupted, it might fail later than you'd expect. This is because Sync might actually be *writing* stuff to it occasionally (e.g. last-time-file-accessed info). So Sync updates the last-read timestamp on a file one day in a corrupt section and it knocks out the entire filesystem. I know that sounds batshit crazy ridiculous but have actually seen this happen in software development.

I've only owned a Gen2 since November, so maybe I just need to wait a few more months for it to happen to me. Don't think the Gen1 ever lunched my USB drive in 9 years.

My only suggestion would be to reformat the disk in a computer, copy the music to it, and make absolutely certain it's correctly unmounted/ejected before removing it. Then put it in the truck and never remove it unless truck is completely off. Removing it "incorrectly" can cause it to be corrupted, and it might seem 100% fine until you play a specific song months later.

 

[goblues38]

my last 3 cars with sync 2 (13 SHO, 14 ex sport, 15 Mustang GT) had no problem with local files on my iphones 5,6,& 8. i preferred to use blue tooth over the usb cable. Had no issues with any of the on screen or steering wheel controls.

now that we have 2 sync 3 cars 18 raptor and 18 ex sport, we just use apple car play with apple iphone 10s

 

[lawdog]

Thanks for the replies. Like I said, a simple aux jack would have been fine for me. I'm due for an iPhone upgrade, and will make sure I get a higher capacity than my last so that I can keep most/all of my music on there and either use BT or Carplay.

 

[RotorHead695]

I play all of my music through my iPhone. This includes: streaming from Pandora, streaming from my iTunes collection stored online, or playing files directly stored on my phone. I always use the USB cable as audio is not compressed like it is over Bluetooth and sounds better when it's not a streamed file.

 

[rabidranger]

You can always get a headphone jack Bluetooth transmitter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TCDS2JB/?tag=fordraptorforum-20

 

[Steve55340]

I have a 2019 and have had a USB drive in it for over a year. Working perfect. The only thing I do not like is the truck does not recognize the drive for a minute or so upon startup. This causes the audio to change back to FM. Then I have to manually start it again. I have about 1200 songs on it and it always starts from where it left off. Took me a year to listen thru the playlist, and then it started over. Just what I wanted - perfect.

Wife has iPod in her 2015 Edge and that seems to work perfectly, too. Only bad thing about USB drive was it took like 8-10 hours to download my iTunes playlist to it.

I have added more songs to my iTunes. Anybody know if I can just add them to the USB drive? Or do I need to start over?

 

[lawdog]

You can always get a headphone jack Bluetooth transmitter.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TCDS2JB/?tag=fordraptorforum-20

That's a bluetooth receiver...I have one for an older PA system I have.