Sync via USB thumbdrive: missing tracks

[PHJF1]

Got an 08 Focus few days ago. Loaded my MP3s (around 700 of them) onto an 8GB thumb drive. Plugged it in. It worked straight away... except a bunch of tracks just don't show up. They don't respond to voice commands and they can't be found in folder view.

Things I have tried:

id3 tagging (MP3s are tagged appropriately)
none of the MP3s are protected
Sync Master Reset
Sync Software Update
another USB stick

These are all LAME MP3 encodes, 128kbps-320kbps, 44100, stereo

The thing is I have a Zune HD and if I drop that into the USB, with the exact same track list, the damn tracks all play. But I want to be able to leave an $8 USB stick in the car rather than the $200 Zune.

[dodgeguy]

I have been having some trouble with Sync in the same way. I have noticed that even after checking or adding the id3 tags, they would not show up in Sync- then one day they did. I think, and this is just a guess.... after checking the tags multiple time through the tag editor, I then opened the thumb drive in Windows Media Player. I dont know if Media Player then does something with the tags, but they seemed to show up in Sync after that.

[PHJF1]

DUE DILIGENCE.

I tried that WMP thing and it didn't work. I tried converting some of the offending tracks and foobar tells me out of the blue the files have MULTIPLE id3v2 tags. So I dig around and find this batch program called id3test. I run all my MP3s through it and lo and behold all songs that wouldn't come through on Sync have multiple id3v2 tags. So I open up foobar, select all my tracks, copy all the metadata, then remove all tags from all mp3s. I then paste it all back in. I run id3test again and it reports no problems. I load up the retagged collection to USB and run a Master Reset in my Focus for good measure. Voila, they all Sync perfectly now.

[EggYolkBill]

I would suggest using Media Monkey to sync a USB Thumb drive. It is much faster and provides far better options and control.

To sync playlists with MM you just have to change a couple of options under Auto Sync for that particular device. You need to set the recursive option and make sure the playlists sync to the same base folder as the music. By default, it should sync music to a folder called music. Just change the playlist sync location to this location and your playlists will sync and be usable by Sync.