Standard Stereo - USB Issue

I have had an intermittent problem with both USB stick and iPod (via USB). During playback it just freezes. Turning the audio off/on does not fix it, I have to actually turn off the car and restart in order to unfreeze it. When it freezes I can switch to other inputs such s FM/DAB radio OK. So far this has happened about 6 or 7 times over a period of about 3 weeks and I've been trying to figure out if there is a trigger of some sort before going back to the dealer, such as going over a bump which dislodges the USB connection. I've not found a trigger yet but it does seem to happen in the first 5 minutes or so after starting.

I've been using a 64GB USB stick with about 30GB of music on it and an old 160GB Classic iPod and have had problems with both.

I've not had any problems with playback order etc., however it is very slow when searching through the 140GB of music on the iPod, I quite often get a message saying "I'm working on it" displayed for 5-20 seconds when I select the "Albums" or "Artists" option and it has to compile the list, which can be quite annoying. The system in my 4 year old GT86 didn't have these problems using exactly the same devices.

Hi, I have (by trial and error) made some progress on this.
The C-HR will recognise music stored on the USB as
Folder - Music
Within the Music folder:
- folders named by Artist (eg Music/ArtistA)
- folder named Various Artists
- folder named Playlists
Within the Music/Artist (or Music/Various Artists) folder:
- folders named by Album (eg Music/ArtistA/Album1 and Music/ArtistA/Album2)
Within the Album folder:
- one or more ,mp3 files (there may be other formats too that I have not tried)
(It recognises the properties of the .mp3 files - like title, etc)

This is fairly easy to set up and matches what you get when you rip songs from the CD.

The C-HR will only recognise playlists that are .m3u files (as far as I know)

The m3u files are just a list of files in the format:
/Music/ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3
They can have other lines beginning with a # but they are treated as comments (and ignored).

The .m3u files can be placed on the USB drive directory, in the Music directory or in the Music/Playlists directory.
(If in the top driectory the format can be /Music/ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3 or just Music/ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3)
(If in the Music folder the format can be /Music/ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3 or Music/ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3 or just ArtistA/Album1.Song1.mp3)

It will accept slashes of either direction (/ or \)

The car will not recognise:
- other playlist formats (like .zpl that Groove music produces by default)
- playlsts that refer to files on your computer (eg C:/Users/MyUser/Music...)

You can create the playlist files using notepad - a bit laborious, or using a tool for creating/converting .m3u files (availabl ont eh internet)
or you can trick Windows 10 Groove music into doing most of itfor you as follows:

Use Notepad to created an empty .m3u file.(eg PL1.m3u)
Double click the .m3u file to open Groove music.
Use Groove music to add albums/songs to that playlist (eg PL1).
Close groove.
Use notepad to edit the .m3u file and use a "replace all" to change the full heirarchic file name to a name starting /Music -
eg replace all "C:/Users/Myusers/Music" with "/Music".

Playing music without playlists.
If you just put the USB stick in it will start playing songs in alhpabetical order from all albums.

If you select Browse, songs, all songs, it will show you the list of all songs in alphabetical order, and when you select one it will play it
followed by the next song in the alphabetical list. etc

If you select Browse, Albums, all albums it will show you the list of all songs in alphabetical order, and when you select one it will play it
followed by the next song on the album it comes from.(moving through from album to album in the order that you added the albums to the stick (I think)).

If you select Browse, Albums and select an album it will play just the songs in that album (repeatedly).

Outstanding issues:
1. It would be nice if Toyota documented this!
2. I cant get it to re-start from the place it left of when I switch off the car and restart it. It sometimes does, other times it starts
somewhere nearby - not always at the start of a track. (I suspect it is buffering and restarting from where it buffered to but I am just guessing).

**LATEST NEWS** - Hopefully Fixed!!!!
Car went back in yesterday (for the fourth time!!), the freeze fault had got worse and worse, so it was pretty much every time I started the car, after a minute or two.
Initially they (again) thought it was to do with my USB stick, however I have tried many different ones, different formats etc.., so I was pretty sure it wasn't that. Not to mention it had also frozen whilst on iPod AND Bluetooth playback as well!
The dealer got in touch with Compass (who do the technical mods and upgrades for Toyota), and it turns out there WAS a specific Technical Service Bulletin for this fault after all! Not just a re-flash of the firmware, but a complete software/OS replacement, over 8GB in size! Apparently it is limited to Hybrid models and has a number of symptoms, one of which being the 'Freezing of Playback through USB after a couple of minutes'. At last!
For anyone interested, the TSB number is BE-0124T-0914 and also introduces software fixes in the Touch2go Nav system (it seems it might be some sort of clash between the media system and Nav systems), hence the size of the download. The new software version is 6.8.2H
I've only driven a couple of times so far, but looking good so far, not had a problem. Will update if any further issues,