barge00S

(This is not exactly 996 specific, but most of the PCCM/PCCM+ threads seem to be in this Forum...)

I have a PCCM+ installed and I'd like to have a set of "backup" music files always available, in case I don't have my phone with me, so I thought I'd put a bunch of MP3s on the microSD card.
Once I have the microSD selected as the source Media for the unit there is a Browse button on the touchscreen, which makes sense. However, the browse feature only presents a list of the MP3s in the directory of the currently playing MP3. In other words, I can't browse outside the current subdirectory. Now, skipping to another song, if Random Play is selected, jumps me into another directory but, again, pressing Browse only shows that new directory's files.

So I've tried a number of directory structures and always get the same result:

1. Artist 1-> Album 1 -> MP3s
   -> Album 2 -> MP3s
   Artist 2 -> Album 1 -> MP3s
2. Artist 1 -> MP3s for all Albums
   Artist 2 -> MP3s for all Albums
3. "files"-> Artist -> Album

So my question is: Has anyone used the microSD card for media files and can you successfully browse around between artists and albums?

ratranch

Despite the published specs, my PCCM+ unit only appears to support the following file formats: FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, and WMA. I tested using a set of reference files located here: https://docs.espressif.com/projects/...o-samples.html

AAC files (.m4a or .mp4 extension) are not recognized.

Most of my music library is purchased or matched from iTunes, in unprotected AAC format. Is there any solution other than converting the library to one of the apparently supported file formats?

Cheers,
-Jim

Mikael Jerzy

I'm still wrestling with this. Have you cracked it?

Armitage

I can browse the folders on my SD card without any problems. No m4a/aac support though, had to transcode the files to mp3, which is annoying, but hardly noticeable on this car's audio anyway.

Mikael Jerzy

Try the free version of AVC. You can convert most audio files to FLAC amongst others even though it's called Any Video Converter. https://www.any-video-converter.com/en8/for_video_free/
What file system/structure did you use?
Did you use any third party media player?

Armitage

This isn't an app I would trust to install on my pc... Anyway - I use fre:ac for my transcoding needs and it supports plethora of audio formats - I just don't feel the need for any lossless ones. I know m4a to mp3 transcode generates some degradation, while m4a to flac would basically stay on the m4a quality level, but honestly - good luck actually hearing the difference on 996's speakers and noisy interior

If I remember correctly, my SD card is FAT formatted and I just have album folders on the root of the card - I can freely move between those folders, also there's this "cover flow" view where all the files are visible (and funnily they are playing/displaying in the order of being transferred to the SD.
This player is really so basic - eg. it can display covers from id3v2 tags, but not any other tag data like artist/album/title etc. But I don't care much really, I'm not staring into it all the time and it's really easy to navigate while driving.
I just wish some of the well known bugs were fixed in a readily available firmware update...

Mikael Jerzy

I've been using AVC for some years on video and audio on several PCs without issue. Quick and reliable.
Anyway I have just cracked synching my Android Nokia with Media Monkey and now have all music files accessible through Android Auto which makes the MicroSD option all but redundant. I will still have another go with a reformatted install to clean the card. Did you simply copy the music folders across from your iTunes library? That did not seem to work for me when I tried it from Media Monkey and I concluded that there was an issue buried somewhere in the tagging system.

Armitage

That's my structure:
SDCARD\Album1\TrackX.mp3
SDCARD\Album2\TrackY.mp3
etc. But I don't believe it matters really.

I checked yesterday - I use Media player --> SD option, and then I have "Playback" and "Browse" views selectable on the bottom of the screen. On Playback view all the files from SD card are displayed in a row, and clicking on the Browse view takes you to the folder of the currently played file - and when on that screen, pushing the "Back" button (physical!) takes you one level up, in my case to the root of the card where I can select another folder to get into and start playback.

Mikael Jerzy

That's really clear, thank you! Using Rufus 4.3 I have reformatted to FAT32 a 128GB SD (which I already know can be read by PCCM+). Having transferred most of my library to it I will experiment with the file structure and, hopefully, yours will also work for me. I suspect the problem is that Media Monkey, iTunes, etc group album folders in a hierarchy based on your own setup preferences and PCCM+ only reads the top level.
Although my 996 is garaged, it is around 5 degrees C below freezing here in Sweden so sitting in the cockpit messing around with tiny microSD cards is not much fun!

Mikael Jerzy

Try the free version of AVC. You can convert most audio files to FLAC amongst others even though it's called Any Video Converter. https://www.any-video-converter.com/en8/for_video_free/. I've been using it for years on several PCs with no issues.