tonyabionda

You only need to use a media player if you have protected music. Unprotected can be played right off a USB drive. I thought it was a waste to leave my iPod touch in my car all of the time so that's the route I chose. Sync needs the USB drive to be formatted FAT32 so there are no protection/permission issues. Windows can only format up to 32 GB selecting FAT32. I downloaded a utility program to format my drive. Because of the Windows restriction, there are tons of them out there. According to the info I've gathered from the syncmyride user to user forum, there is a recommended max drive size of 100 gb, but larger can be used. There is no max to the number of files on a drive, instead there is a max of 15,000 "grammar objects" but exact duplicates only count as one. (1000 songs by Frank Sinatra is one "grammar object" for artist, each unique track title & album name count as one each) Since it re-indexes EVERY time you start the car, larger music collections can cause a delay in the availability of your USB music. After the first initial full index, it seems to go faster after that. I sped up the process by changing devices. I used a120 gb portable hard drive at first, but since switched to a high speed, 64gb thumb drive. same files and it indexes much faster. Speed is important.

You only need to use a media player if you have protected music. Unprotected can be played right off a USB drive. I thought it was a waste to leave my iPod touch in my car all of the time so that's the route I chose. Sync needs the USB drive to be formatted FAT32 so there are no protection/permission issues. Windows can only format up to 32 GB selecting FAT32. I downloaded a utility program to format my drive. Because of the Windows restriction, there are tons of them out there. According to the info I've gathered from the syncmyride user to user forum, there is a recommended max drive size of 100 gb, but larger can be used. There is no max to the number of files on a drive, instead there is a max of 15,000 "grammar objects" but exact duplicates only count as one. (1000 songs by Frank Sinatra is one "grammar object" for artist, each unique track title album name) count as one each and each album name also one each) Since it re-indexes EVERY time you start the car, larger music collections can cause a delay in the availability of your USB music. After the first initial full index, it seems to go faster after that. I sped up the process by changing devices. I used a120 gb portable hard drive at first, but since switched to a high speed, 64gb thumb drive. same files and it indexes much faster. Speed is important.

Hi, I sent you reply to your private message, but I also wanted to post it here in case someone else was interested. I also found the programs you mentioned finding, but they aren't for all of the music, only songs that are in playlists and I wanted my complete music collection available in my car. If you only want certain songs, you'll have to tweak these instructions or find another way entirely. The good news is that this way you don't need any new software. iTunes and a text editor (like Notepad in Windows) is all you need. There are two programs I use, but they aren't necessary. My comps are all Windows and at least on is Windows specific. But there is sure to be something similar for Macs. The first is a text editor called NoteTab. It just speeds it up a bit because you can have all the playlists open at once inside that program. It creates a tab for each one that you can toggle through when you are tweaking the playlist manually. I have the pro version but it's also free and can be found at download.com. (a safe place to download programs) The second is called SyncToy. I use it to copy my music and keep it synced on my usb drive, but it's also not necessary. I downloaded it directly from Microsoft. Just google SyncToy and you'll find the link. It keeps track of what files I've modified and keeps everything up to date without copying everything, every time. I use both of these programs for other things and already had them before this. I actually typed up directions for my sister because she just purchased an MKX, my brother has a 2012 Focus ordered and my other sister is planning on another Explorer within the next year. I'll paste them below. I honestly don't remember if they play in any certain order. I don't usually pay attention to that when making a playlist. I just have them shuffle. (Something that needs serious improvement in my Edge. It doesn't truly shuffle properly.) These directions seem pretty complicated, but once you do it a few times you won't think they are that bad. I just tried to spell everything out in detail because you never know the experience level of the person reading them. Good Luck! Tonya ********** These are the instructions to copy your complete iTunes music library and your playlists to a usb drive. You will then be able to take that drive and play the playlists through MyFord/Lincoln Touch or any computer where you plug in the usb drive. Copy entire 'Music' Directory to your usb drive If you don't know where it's located, open iTunes then select Edit-->Preferences and select the Advanced tab. It's listed in the iTunes Media folder location. The default location has changed with upgrades to iTunes. The default in Windows is now C:\Users\*YourUserName*\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\Music The larger your music library, the longer it will take. Open iTunes and right click on playlist name. Select Export. Select m3u as 'Save as Type' and save the file to the root of your usb drive. This playlist references the music on your C: drive, so we will need to change it to reference a location relative to the playlist location so it will point to the music on the usb drive no matter what drive letter is assigned. Don't understand? That's fine, just follow these steps. 1. Open Notepad and then select File-->Open 2. In order for Notepad to display the m3u file as something to open, you will need to change the dropdown box that says 'Text Documents (*.txt)' to 'All Files (*.*)' 3. Locate the m3u file on your usb drive and open it. 4. Look for the first song listing. Copy everything on that line before 'Music' including the backslash. example: C:\Users\*User Name*\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media\ 5. Select Edit-->Replace 6. Paste the info you copied into the 'Find' field. Leave the 'Replace with' field blank. 7. Click on Replace All. 8. Save the file. You are finished. You will need to repeat steps 1-8 for each playlist you want to use from your usb drive.

- Keyless entry and push putton start. If I parked in a garage, I'd never touch my keys again. Now I want the same system on my front door. - The spot on the outside door handle you touch to lock the doors. It's pretty much the only way I lock the doors anymore. - The way the power lift gate enables my horrible "one trip" mentality for unloading after errands/grocery shopping. - Adaptive Cruise Control! The driver fatigue regular cruise control relieves is multiplied by 4 with adaptive. - Adaptive Windshield Wipers. I used to fiddle with my wipers in stop and go traffic because they bugged me when I slowed down or stopped. Now I never have to touch them. - That Sirius has Replay and Alerts. Built in units don't normally have these. - That I don't have to keep the map up on the big screen when using Nav. Especially on longer trips with long stretches on one road. I switch the big screen to Music and use the little right hand screen for Nav. - Remote start. Family dinners at my parents house in the mountains mean leaving when it's pretty chilly at night. Now I can hit a few buttons and let it get warm while we gather everything and get bundled up. I don't have to brave the cold alone.

That's what I was talking about. The Navigation system gets it's information from Sirius Traffic. I've had it pop up when I'm in Los Angeles a few times. I've found the accident information to be great.

Love it. I've taken four 250+ mile trips since getting my Edge. It takes so much of the work out of driving in moderate to heavy traffic. As long as traffic is moving, it takes care of it for you. I have a 300+ mile trip coming up. Leaving on Thursday afternoon and I'll be hitting LA freeways just as it gets REALLY busy. I'm hoping that we'll move fast enough to not have the ACC disengage. Sirius Traffic will definitely come in handy on this one. It's my Edge's first Disneyland trip. I think I'll get it a 'first trip' button.

When I am using my Adaptive Cruise Control, does it set off people's radar detectors? Not that I have a problem with that. I was just wondering... -tonya

I had mine go off and the car in front of me was about three car lengths ahead of me on the freeway and they were not braking. It didn't occur to me until my passenger pointed out that it was probably the plastic grocery bag that flew up behind that car and was floating towards me that set it off. I've had it go off when a car is turning in front of me because I brake and then let off the brakes once I'm going slow enough to not hit the car in front of me. It thinks that because I'm not hitting the brakes, I'm going to hit the car when in reality it will turn before I reach it. I've kind of altered how I drive and leave my foot lightly on the brake and it doesn't send up the panic lights. It's actually probably better that I do this so that the car in back of me sees the brake lights the whole time.

Is that in the Owner's Manual? I must have missed it because the beer made some of the pages stick together.

I've had mine go off once and I seem to remember an audible alert. Similar to the collision alert sound with the red bar on the windshield if not the exact same sound. **realizing now that this makes me sound like a very unsafe driver**

I'm pretty sure it's FAT32 only. I had to download a utility because of the Windows 32GB FAT32 limitation. Update on "Play Album" I'm not sure what order it plays in, but it's not by track number. Didn't seem to be alpha either. My wishlist: True Shuffle and Play in Track Number Order when playing album with shuffle off.

Two and a half weeks and almost 800 miles. No problems. Took me a while to learn what Sync needed me to say to get what I wanted. She hasn't yelled at me since the first week. Now that I know what to say, I always get what I want. I've never even set off the hazards. My passengers have a couple of times, but I haven't. I think it's because I don't rest my hand anywhere. I poke the screen and pull my hand back. I think it also helps with responsiveness. It doesn't get overwhelmed with multiple screen presses because I'm going too fast. Not that it's horribly slow, but it's not Speedy Gonzales either. I'm actually very impatient with slow computers and I haven't been bugged. I've streamed from an iPhone over bluetooth, used a USB hard drive, used the RCA jacks, used Sirius Replay and Alerts. No problems. (Replay and Alerts were something I was thrilled to get in an in car unit) Both Sirius Travel Link & Traffic work fine for me. I can't get movie times, but that's because it doesn't have them for my city, not that it's not connecting. The Sync Services that I've used worked fine. I've sent addresses and it receives them and sends the address to my Nav just as it should. I don't care about horoscopes or sports scores so I haven't tried them. Vehicle Health Report worked fine. Used touch screen and voice commands to use Nav without problem My definition of 'Nearby' isn't the same as my Nav's, but I'll work around that. I've read posts saying that the people who haven't had problems just aren't trying to access everything. I've accessed every menu option both on the center touch screen and the left hand MyFord screen and picked every option to be just how I want it. I've tested everything I wanted to use regularly and played with things I won't use regularly. I'm a gadget lover which is why I waited to get the 2011. I'm not saying they aren't having problems, but fully using it isn't the problem. In the next week, I'll be putting another 500 to 600 miles on my new baby over three separate trips. Going to Burbank to the Walt Disney Studios for an early screening of Tangled, then to relative's house for Thanksgiving, and a trip to the LA Auto Show. I keep looking for places to go so I can be out on the road. There's no better recommendation than that.

I'm probably the weird one, but I don't understand the love of the carousel display. I hate it on my iPhone and wish I could turn it off. One of the first things I did was make sure Gracenote was turned off so it would use the album art attached to my music files. So...basically, no I haven't tried it.

Mine is gone too. I had taken the print out with me today when I stopped by my dealership on another issue. (I bought my Edge on Thursday and then in Monday's mail I got the $750 off mailer. Good news is that I'll get my $750. I just have to wait for Ford to pay the dealer, then I'll get a check.) They didn't have a clue that an update was available. I showed them the printout. The service department checked into it and they said that it had to do with 911 assist. I was told that they could make an appointment, but they would have to charge a service fee. If I waited for a mailed notification from Ford, they would install if for free. If it was something I could install myself, but just didn't want to mess with or wasn't technically inclined enough to feel comfortable doing myself, then I could see charging me a convenience fee for them to do it for me. This is not something they allow us to do ourselves so they shouldn't charge, especially when it's obviously bug fixes. It also shouldn't matter if I'm notified on syncmyride or through a mailer. It's listed as an update applicable to my VIN, so they should just do it. Then there's the fact that my car is less than a week old... Oh, well. Since it's gone, I guess it doesn't matter right now.

California reporting in.

110 degrees outside is very hot inside, especially if it's been sitting in the sun. It should be fine, but I've always been a bit paranoid about computers and heat.

I haven't tried that yet. I'll find an album that I'm sure has track numbers associated with it and let you know. One thing I don't like is that shuffle plays songs in the exact same random order every time. It seems that once the randomness is assigned, it stays that way. To my way of thinking, that's not how shuffle should work. I wouldn't be using shuffle if I wanted them to play that way.

When you download the routes via Sync Services from Google Maps and you set it as a destination, they go into your address history. From there, I saved the address as a Favorite. Not sure it's the best way yet since I've had my Edge less than a week, but it worked fine. Sync Services will only download the last address sent. My parents live on property that they developed from cattle land. When I put in their address, the Nav said it couldn't find the exact house number, but that it would use something like the mid-street address. I'm not sure of the exact wording. They had to change two street names a couple of years ago and it showed both with the new names. Most state parks and other touristy vacation places will have an address you can use on their website. At least the ones I've visited. Places are very aware that people use GPS devices these days. BTW, when I got to my parents house, my dad was very impressed with the navigation in my Edge. He's been using GPS devices for years. In boats, cars, and off road. For car navigation he's used everything from a laptop with a GPS dongle to portable automotive units. Out of the three things he was most impressed with, two of them were things he said I didn't need; Navigation (said I should get a portable one) and adaptive cruise control (said regular was good enough). The other was the backup camera. Better than the one on his VERY expensive motorhome.

Now that I actually have my new Edge, I can report that using the USB Hard Drive is working great. No lags at all. I'm very happy with it. My last worry will have to wait until the really hot weather returns. High temps over 100 might be the only thing that kills this arrangement.

Welcome Greg! Love the license plate! Is it yours? I'm a huge BBT fan.

Welcome! I just picked my 2011 Limited on Thursday. I'm loving it. Photos in the contacts are a phone dependent feature and most phone's bluetooth protocols don't support sending the photos to sync yet. There isn't a 2.5 mm headphone aux jack in the 2011 Edge. You can get a cord with a 2.5 mm on one end and stereo audio (white & red) on the other to go in the RCA jacks that are on the Edge. I bought an adapter (2.5 mm female & stereo audio male) on Amazon for $3 to convert the cable I already had. Enoy!

Welcome! They seem to be moving quickly. I just got the call this evening that my new Edge arrived on the lot today. Needs to go through the inspection process and then I can pick it up. Two weeks earlier than expected! Hopefully I'll be driving it tomorrow! (please excuse excessive use of exclamation marks and smilies)

The Owner Guide, MyFord/MyLincoln Touch Suppliment, as well as videos can be found here: 2011 Edge FLM Owner Page That should kill some of your wait time.

This sounds weird to me... I don't have mine yet, but I didn't think the '11 model had a "Jukebox" feature. Isn't that where it has an internal hard drive where you can copy cds? I've read both the owner's and the MyFord Touch manuals and didn't see it mentioned.

It should with no problem. It's a small 2.5" size that has one USB for data and power. Now that's what I'm not sure about. I've read posts by people in other forums who say they've done it. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but performance is the big question. There is a recommended max drive size of 100 gb. Also, Sync can't handle more than 15,000 "grammar objects" but exact duplicates only count as 1. (1000 songs by Frank Sinatra is one "grammar object" for artist) I don't have anywhere near the numbers these people were talking. If it doesn't perform well, I'll still have a useful portable hard drive that I can use for other things. -Tonya