Problem with Mac formatted iPod Touch - alternative?

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

hi there,

i bought a Fiat 500, which should be arriving next week or the week after.
i've looked some stuff up about compatibility with ipods and it seems blue&me does not support Mac formatted iPods ... all my music is on a mac, so yeah, that's a no-go.
to make things worse, i have an ipod touch, which blue&me doesn't seem to support at all.

so basically, i'm looking for an alternative to having a large chunk of my music collection with me in the car.

will a plain old USB stick cut it?
if i just get a USB stick, load my songs on there (from the mac computer) and stick it in the blue&me, it should work, right?

another thing, do you see song titles/artist names then?
can the audio be .m4a or do they HAVE to be .mp3 ?
how can you navigate through the songs?
(insert another obvious question here)

thanks in advance.
hoping to get an answer from someone soon!

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

Cant a MAC reformat the Ipod in fat32 then resynch it? Im not that familiar with the MAC system other than windows is unfortunately the standard.

The file format is fine (m4a) as long as its not a copy protected file. I personally only use mp3 though. I use a 4Gb memory stick using 4 palylists to sort myself out and it all works fine

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

re post doh !

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

i don't know about that, maybe someone else can clear that up?

and another question, how do you create playlists on a plain USB stick? just create separate folders?

another thing, can you navigate through folders using the blue&me system?

if so, it would be possible to make a structure like this, right?

USB drive\Music\Artist\Album\ Track.mp3

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

u can create a .wpl file but it must specify the location of the files to the memory stick. I needed edit mine in notepad to get it to work replacing the hard disk location with the folder location on the stick.

"USB drive\Music\Artist\Album\ Track.mp3" is correct just miss out the "USB drive" reference as the B&M doesnt need it eg

<?wpl version="1.0"?>
<smil>
<head>
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Windows Media Player -- 11.0.5721.5230"/>
<meta name="AverageRating" content="35"/>
<meta name="TotalDuration" content="47816"/>
<meta name="ItemCount" content="199"/>
<meta name="ContentPartnerListID"/>
<meta name="ContentPartnerNameType"/>
<meta name="ContentPartnerName"/>
<meta name="Subtitle"/>
<author/>
<title>carlist_01</title>
</head>
<body>
<seq>
<media src="music\Beth Orton\Daybreaker\01-Beth Orton - Paris Train.mp3" cid="{373C23F4-C341-45FE-BEF1-FB12AC1A8C9B}" tid="{6874DA48-462F-43C5-8827-E37EDBF19F25}"/>

</seq>
</body>
</smil>

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

ok, i have no idea what that piece of source code is doing.
are there some sort of generators that create that code or do you have to type it manually?
and how would i have to adjust it, if it has to be done manually etc?

on a sidenote:
will any plug 'n' play usb drive work?

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

the code is an example of a playlist.wpl file. When uve created a playlist in Windows media player edit it with notepad to take out references to the hard disk location.

There is a list of usb drives tried and tested by fiat on thier web site and in the car manual. I have used four from my desk 256Mb up to 4Gb and all work fine.

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

aaah, now i see.

but i don't have windows media player, since i'm on a mac, remember?
do you know if itunes can generate such .wpl 's ?

and if not, will itunes playlist files work as well?

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

i beleive the Itune/ipod play lists dont have this sort of a problem as the media is on the device, its just a work around required to get memory stick to work which u asked about in your first post- it may not be an issue with itunes but check using its equivalent of notepad that the playlist (m3u file possibly?) specifies the the song location on the memory stick and not hard drive.

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

ok thanks man.

if i put some folders on the USB stick, though, like
Music > Artist > Album > Track
that kind of structure
could i just scroll through these folders in the car?
if so, how?
i don't really need playlists then, if i listen to an entire album at a time or if i'm willing to select each track after another?

also, when you're playing an album and track n°1 is done, will track n°2 automatically start or do you have to select it?

thanks man!

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

press the windows button on the wheel and say "folders" then u can scroll using the up/down arrows on the rh side buttons then hit ok when u find the folder u want. Its nice and easy, just make sure that its not set to shuffle and it should play then in the order on the stick. mine plays then in the order they are on in the album after i fugured out to turn shuffle off !!
I have mine stored
album>track. If u use artist maybe saying artist instead of folders might work ?

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

ok man, safe!
you've been a great help.

one last thing, though.

http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI...MEWA:IT&ih=015
i found that usb pen drive on ebay.
32 gb for 50 euro, stupidly cheap.

will it probably work? (it's windows + mac, plug 'n' play, hot swappable)

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

never tried one that big. Someone else on here is testing a 32Gb but ive not heard if it works yet.
I have several smaller ones from work with different moods of music and talking books that I keep in the underseat storage and a USB extension cable that im using to protect the USB slot from knocks etc

fstfrwrd · 08-06-2008

ok, just ordered the 32gb device, i'll let you know how that turns out.

btw, are USB extension cables a must-have? doesn't that result in your usb stick 'hanging' around hehe
or do regular usb sticks fit in just fine?

Jake_in_notts · 08-06-2008

I just have the cable because it came free with a bluetooth dongle so I used it. I threaded it through to the underseat storage, i dont think it looks too obvious to a thief ! Its not essential, some USB sticks are long and can stick up a bit and might get knocked

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fstfrwrd (08-06-2008)

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