2011 wrx - usb port / thumb drive, re: 255 song max issue

[Entaille]

hey guys - a while back, I posted in another thread about an issue with my usb drive / usb port combo only going up to 255 songs, then goes back to song 1 etc. there is a TSB for this problem .. or so I thought.

the dealership also thought the TSB was for this specific issue. hell, they contacted SOA who also told them that was the fix. they went to run a software update and discovered that I already had the newest on my car. they flashed it a couple of times anyways, and the problem persists.

if you hook up an ipod to it - it works fine, goes beyond 255 (had to borrow one to learn that). they are equally confused and more or less telling me sorry, I guess that's just how it works.

at this point, I just want to know if others can use a usb stick and play beyond 255 songs. I am a bit annoyed with the functionality and would prefer it be fixed if there is an issue that can be fixed. your input is appreciated

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[paliknight]

interesting. do you have the navi or not? i have the navi and will try it on my flash drive and will let you know.

[Entaille]

i appreciate it. i don't have navi, so it won't be apples to apples.

[jlogic]

I have 16GB stick and I have noticed that it doesn't play many songs when set to random. I kept seeing the same songs over again. It seems to be able to access them when playing in direct mode, but I havent done any thorough testing to confirm.

[SamXp]

Interesting, I've also noticed that I have a few albums on my USB drive that never seem to get played. How would you test this to prove it?

[NITROS]

Who the hell still uses 8 bit intergers these days? Programmer fail.

[Entaille]

to confirm the issue I removed all of my folders (not really necessary) and took it off of random, and skipped to 255 and let the song play all the way through. I thought it was odd that I wasn't hearing some of my music, it took a while to notice that it never played a song beyond #255.

[phenryiv1]

This is the same issue that many Clarion aftermarket HUs have as well. No shock that the Clarion-made OEM unit also has the 255-song limit.

Clarion customer service says no fix on the aftermarket units. Same deal on the iPod being fully compatible. That was their "solution" when I called customer care. Crutchfield (where I bought my HU) gave the same weak answer about the USB file limit.

[AcquaCow]

Weird...

I would have thought having stuff in folders would have eliminated that kind of problem...

[Entaille]

nope - I originally had all of my albums in folders. I thought that the folders may be posing a limitation, so I removed them and saw the same results.

I don't want to raise a big stink about it but that was one of the most attractive features of the audio system, being able to pop in a usb stick. I doubt subaru is going to buy me an ipod for the inconvenience since there is apparently no fix. :[

[paliknight]

mine doesnt even detect my USB drive

[phenryiv1]

This is just one more example of how most audio enthusiasts (even casual ones) overpaid for their WRX. Had Subaru made the HU just slightly better, many of us could have lived with the bleh design in trade for the long list of favorable features- BTA, BT phone, integrated SWCs, hideaway USB integration, aux-in...

Instead, we all had to rush out and yank the stock HU because between the native EQ curve in the radio, poor amplifier section, file limit on USB, etc., the OEM HU was a weak spot in the audio chain.

I STILL don't understand why car manufacturers don't just add RCA outputs. Even 1 set of 2V RCA outs would satisfy most people ("I just want to add a subwoofer.") and woudl make expandability in stages much easier.

With all of the other useless crap that the masses pay for in a car, the extra couple of bucks would be a joke. People pay for lots of user interface technology that they don't want/need...how about some output upgrades?!?

[Kanchou]

When engineering these head units, they use the dumbest and cheapest file handling engines available.

Most only use an 8 bit address space for the files, thus 255 limit.

There is generally never a fix for this because it usually is a hardware implementation of the cheapest level.

Instead, they trust that their market mostly owns IPODs which take over the job of indexing, controlling, and playing datastreams.

Its alot easier as a manufacturer to just have their hardware "play stream from X source" indefinitely using Apple's publsihed API than it is to implement a playback control scheme from scratch, a stream manager, file handler/parser etc etc etc.


The earliest manufacturer i know that didn't have this problem is Kenwood. And since JVC now have Kenwood guts, they too don't have this problem. (both known from personal xperience.)

[DRTiraPiedra]

Originally Posted by phenryiv1

This is just one more example of how most audio enthusiasts (even casual ones) overpaid for their WRX. Had Subaru made the HU just slightly better, many of us could have lived with the bleh design in trade for the long list of favorable features- BTA, BT phone, integrated SWCs, hideaway USB integration, aux-in...

Instead, we all had to rush out and yank the stock HU because between the native EQ curve in the radio, poor amplifier section, file limit on USB, etc., the OEM HU was a weak spot in the audio chain.

I STILL don't understand why car manufacturers don't just add RCA outputs. Even 1 set of 2V RCA outs would satisfy most people ("I just want to add a subwoofer.") and woudl make expandability in stages much easier.

With all of the other useless crap that the masses pay for in a car, the extra couple of bucks would be a joke. People pay for lots of user interface technology that they don't want/need...how about some output upgrades?!?

Completely agree. Car enthusiasts are a very low percentage of the overall buyers market in todays market. Subaru is just trying to give buyers what they want. Musically the radio is crap, however for those who listen to talk radio station it is more then enough to keep them happy.