How Can I Make An SD Card Behave Like An iPod In-Car?

[SkippyThorson]

I did some thinking on this, but haven't really played around too much, so I was wondering if anyone here had words of wisdom.

In our Ford Fusion, Microsoft Sync is a really great product that allows me to easily control my iPod plugged in via USB. Everything is just where it should be. I can ask it to play an album, an artist, etc...

However, if I just plop all of my media on an SD card or flash drive, wouldn't I have to specify each file I want to play when I want it to play, since there are no playlists by album / artist / etc?

I was wondering if it's possible to create a hierarchy of album folders, under the respective artist folders, all under one Music folder. Would that work?

I also considered using Carbon Copy Cloner to directly copy the iPod Nano's architecture onto the SD card; while I obviously couldn't control the card, perhaps the Microsoft Sync would be able to read it and treat it as an iPod?

Any ideas? I'm looking to just leave an inexpensive SD card in the car at all times, and hopefully get it to work as easily as the iPod does.

 

[lewis82]

If your iTunes Library is set correctly then all files are sorted just like you want.

Not sure if Sync will be able to do something with that but at least it's a step forward

EDIT: obviously, you would just have to copy your iTunes Music folder and paste it on an SD card.

 

[Tomorrow]

I think Sync uses metadata to sort artist/title/genre, etc. I don't think folder hierarchy makes a difference.

Playlists could be trickier. It works just fine with an iDevice, I haven't tried any other types of devices with mine.