u/hengst0r

It was just sitting out there in the sun for a few hours while I was at work...

UPDATE: I added some instructions to README.md for installation and usage on Windows 11 (WSL2) and MacOS.
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Apparently this has been a Mazda thing for years and across multiple models:

When playing MP3s from USB, the infotainment system sorts tracks alphabetically by the ID3 title instead of using the actual track order.

Which is... an interesting design decision.

So even an album with perfectly correct metadata and filenames like:

01 - In the Air Tonight.mp3
TRACK=1/12
TITLE=In the Air Tonight

will still be played according to the alphabetical order of the title.

The track number in the ID3 metadata is ignored. The track number in the filename is ignored as well.

I recently ran into this with the Mazda 6e, googled it and found people complaining about basically the same problem for years (not only Mazda).

So I got annoyed enough by it that I used Codex to build a small Linux command line tool:

https://github.com/badmin-c/mp3trackprefix

mp3trackprefix recursively scans your music folders and prefixes the ID3 TITLE with the existing track number:

In the Air Tonight → 01 In the Air Tonight

The actual TRACK tag stays untouched. Filenames, artist, album, disc number, cover art and all other metadata are left alone.

I deliberately made it fairly paranoid before it touches anything. Each folder is treated as an album and the complete folder is validated first. If track numbers are missing, duplicated or conflicting between tags and filenames, the whole folder is skipped instead of trying to be clever and potentially messing up the files.

There's also:

mp3trackprefix --dry-run /path/to/music

which shows exactly what it would change without writing anything.

It uses ffmpeg/ffprobe and remuxes the MP3 without re-encoding the audio.

I made this specifically because of the Mazda 6e, but since this apparently affects a lot of different models and brands, maybe it's useful for someone else as well.

As always: use it at your own risk. It modifies your MP3 files, so keep a backup. I take no responsibility if it eats your music collection, kills your USB stick or somehow sets your Mazda on fire. You know the drill

... and used it on my Wrio without a second thought. He is C3R1, triple crowned, level 95 now.

No regrets. The Duke deserved it.