Easier way?
I have over 7000 songs / 33 GB (just the music files alone, not including album artwork) to transfer. If we're restricted to 8 GB drives, I could probably keep each genre on a separate drive, but how would I get the music loaded onto the drive in such a way that it will be recognized by the Mazda Connect system? I can't download the Library from iTunes by genre, can I? Alternatively, has anyone tried with a 32 GB or larger Flash Drive to see if it works? Just a guess, but I wonder if the limitation is the time it takes the system to read and recognize the library. If I leave it always plugged in to the USB1 port, would that make a difference? Or does it need to read and load the whole library every time you turn on the car?
I'm pretty tech savvy about some things, but pretty ignorant about iTunes I'll admit.
It seems this method would take me months of my spare time to finally get ready to play. Is there a quick way to use a USB flash drive for music? I can deal with some frustration about album covers, exact song names, and so on, I suppose. I'd just like to be able to get the music onto the drive(s) in such a way that Mazda Connect recognizes it. FYI, I can plug in my old iPod Mini and it seems to recognize the m4a files without conversion to mp3. But I'm not ready to spend $300+ for a dedicated iPod big enough to hold the bulk of my music in one place. Must they all be converted to mp3 format to work from a Flash Drive?