I can not seem to figure out HOW to get the darn 'PLIST' button to work (make selectable) on my unit when playing a USB full or MP3's.
I've fiddled with it and every once in a while I can get it to be selectable, but by that time I've completely forgot the key strokes I did to get it to work. I may be foolin myself, in that my keystrokes mean nothing and the button co-incidentally works.????
I hope I'm describing the button corectly, the one that allows me to select artist, album etc... to search for songs.
The manual lists it, but offeres no explanation as to it's fuction or use.
I contacted Kenwood the response is below. (In a nutshell, you can't use playlists on USB drives and it can take a little while for the PLIST button to light up)
"The PLIST is just a different way to search for music on a USB drive. Depending on how much data is on the drive, it can take a while (5-10 min) before the PLIST button lights up. When it does and you hit that button, you can then select Artist, Albums, Genres, or Songs and search for music that way instead of searching by files and folders, like it does if you had selected the FLIST button that’s next to the PLIST button.
In essence, FLIST is a search by file and folder, and PLIST is a search by Artist, Album, Genre, or Song. At this time, the software in our video headunits doesn’t have the ability to show playlists on USB drives."
Shawn
I looked thru the owners manual and on page 35 it shows a button on the lower left corner of the touchscreen display that looks like a 'play' button. It appears to me that you press this button twice to bring up the PLIST function, depending on what the current display screen is.
Hope this is helpful
If you are refereing to the small triangle (looks like play button) that just changes the buttons from the different functions, PLIST being one of the choices available on a row of buttons.
I'm thinking it has to do with teh amount of files on a USB drive. I found that a 1GB USB with two albums on it will let the button become selectable almost instantly. 16GB or more, and I have yet to see the burron become selectable.
I don't know what the limit is, but it doesn't seem to work with my USB HDD.
Perhaps it has to read and index the files on the drive before the button is selectable, but I'm just guessing.
Kenwood's are usually faster, but on my Sony that is about 7 seconds/GB (assuming only MP3 and image files on the drive) which would be 2 minutes for your 16GB flash drive.
Hope This Helps!!!
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
TigerHeli: Perhaps it has to read and index the files on the drive before the button is selectable, but I'm just guessing. Kenwood's are usually faster, but on my Sony that is about 7 seconds/GB (assuming only MP3 and image files on the drive) which would be 2 minutes for your 16GB flash drive. Hope This Helps!!!
I ditched the 16GB flash drive and am using a 80GB toshiba HDD. It has 18GB worth of music on it. It reads the drive and begins playback with 60 seconds.
I'm not to excited about that 60 seconds though because about 1/2 my files are not accessable!
My test USB was an older 1GB, with two albums of 192K MP3. PLIST popped up almost instantly.
Except the Broderp said it worked fine with a 1Gb USB drive .....
Perhaps the problem is the HDD needs more power than a flash drive. On my xbox i have to plug my HDD into the back, bcuz the front inputs don't support it.
From what I read of the posts, Kenwood is saying it doesn't work with any USB drive - HDD or flash.
Broderp said it worked with a 1GB flash drive, so either Kenwood's statement is inaccurate, or he was mistaken.
Broderp said it did not work with a HDD nor with a 16GB flash drive, but that is somewhat unknown at this point.
(My main point was that Kenwood's official reply does not jive with Broderp's observations.)
TigerHeli: From what I read of the posts, Kenwood is saying it doesn't work with any USB drive - HDD or flash. Broderp said it worked with a 1GB flash drive, so either Kenwood's statement is inaccurate, or he was mistaken. Broderp said it did not work with a HDD nor with a 16GB flash drive, but that is somewhat unknown at this point. (My main point was that Kenwood's official reply does not jive with Broderp's observations.)
UPDATE:
If I could post pics I would to show you!
OK, my previous statments were accurate. I had the list working on a generic 1GB flash drive, a 8GB PNY flash drive and on my 80GB HDD, just I never used it regularly and had no idea how it became active. SInce wanting to go to a larger drive to hold more, I have really been needing this function. Unfortunately, acceccing my music is also a problem.
I'm believing it has a LOT to do with the structure of the files on the drive.
I placed ALL my mp3's (3,072 files to be exact.) in the ROOT, In NO folder. The drive took about 2 minutes to 'index' and about another 3 minutes and THEN the PLIST list option lit up. Unfortunately what I found was that ALL my artistes and albums were listed BUT (there's always a but with this stupid thing) under albums there was only ONE (1) song on mP3. Once I selected the song, it would play, but it would lock the player making it difficult to stop playback and select a different song, but eventually it would allow me to.
Today I wiped the drive and clean and placed all my music in folder based on ARTIST. Within each of those folders are the albums. It took over 6 minutes to index, the PLIST button NEVER lit up and I can only select artist thru the letter 'P".
Can anyone who has over 3000 songs working tell me how they have their drive structured? PLEASE!!!!!
Shawn: I contacted Kenwood the response is below. (In a nutshell, you can't use playlists on USB drives and it can take a little while for the PLIST button to light up) "The PLIST is just a different way to search for music on a USB drive. Depending on how much data is on the drive, it can take a while (5-10 min) before the PLIST button lights up. When it does and you hit that button, you can then select Artist, Albums, Genres, or Songs and search for music that way instead of searching by files and folders, like it does if you had selected the FLIST button that’s next to the PLIST button. In essence, FLIST is a search by file and folder, and PLIST is a search by Artist, Album, Genre, or Song. At this time, the software in our video headunits doesn’t have the ability to show playlists on USB drives."
The manual under USB does indeed mention this button, yet does not include any details for it's use. I have used it many times, yet not consistenly. I do not use iPOD (I hate "i-anything") so haven't even read the section in the manual for that. Ibelieve ipod and usb are two different inputs, so if it doesn't work (I've seen it work) why would they mention the button in the manual?
I think we are getting confused about it's function. I dont want a playlist or a favorite song list, Never used them. I want to select songs or albums by artist, album or song....exactly what this fuction does. Unfortunatly, I can leave it sit for 30-40 minutes after I start hearing USB mp3 and the button never becomes selectable. Other times, when I play with the structure of my files on the drive because only 1/2 my files seem to be selectable, the PLIST function works like a champ.
This software is definately not ready for primetime.
As with everything else it seems lately, it's probably going to require a software update. How long it takes will probably be related to how many people are having trouble with (wanting to use) this particular feature.