ZenicaPA

I've been doing my due diligence by reading through posts found while searching this subject but none has yet to address my question.

I put music in folders on a USB stick then plugged that into the car but the entertainment system sorts the music in a way that won't show folder names. I can't seem to find how to make the car sort by folder or to even show a folder view so I can select any given folder.

I'd much rather view by folder, then go into any given folder to view songs inside. Can this be done?

deilenberger

It can on my 2011 CTT. You might make mention of what year Cayenne you're asking about. There have been different versions of the PCM and they have different capabilities.

ZenicaPA

Good point....it's a 2016 SE-Hybrid.

For your 2011 what menu option enables a folder name view?

deilenberger

I'm not at the car at the moment so I can't say exactly. I do recall that it will also sort by album, which is part of the metadata on an MP3 made by something like "FreeRIP" on a PC. I'll go look in the garage, hang on..

OK, took some pics. Once you have the USB device selected, press the disk button. If something is playing (mine starts playing the first track as soon as the USB selection is made), you'll see something like:




Inside an album - Skywriters by Nicole Atkins is playing currently.



If you scrolled up in the last screen to the FOLDER icon with the up arrow next to it, and selected that - you'll end up in the Folder layout.



You can scroll up and down through the folders - and each one will indicate how many tracks are in each folder.

Hopefully that's how yours works also.

Oh - also - it can take some time for the PCM to build a database of the tracks/folders on a USB thumb drive. It does this when you plug it in, and stores it away somewhere on the PCM. Even if you plug the same thumbdrive in again, it rebuilds the database in case you've changed the structure while it was removed from the vehicle.

wkearney99

And if you're wading through a lot of media files it helps to use decent software. I've found that J.River's Media Center is hands-down the most versatile at 'fixing' everything. From in-file metadata and cover art to the file and folder names. It's a foot-wide swiss army knife of complexity, but it really does work. I've been a paid customer of it through a decade's worth of upgrades. It's worth the purchase price.

http://jriver.com/download.html

I've been using it to nail down what my '17 GTS PCM can do. Which is different than '16 and previous.

It has a specific feature for treating USB drives like audio players. You can set one up to have a specific set of playlists and files sync'd to it. It does all the dirty work for you. Converts the bit rate and format (if needed) along with potentially using entirely different file and folder naming (and structure). That and it can set up playlists that are set up for the devices (relative path names for those that understand that sort of thing).

I've been discussing the '17 PCM stuff over on a Macan forum, as that has had the same PCM since '16.