I recently copied 200 mp3 files to a Toshiba flash drive. They were in
alphabetic order in XP. However when I play them from the flash drive
(Coby boombox has USB port) they are in strange order. It's NOT set to
random order.

Does anyone know how the files are copied and written to a flash drive,
apparently they're not done in the order seen in XP explorer.

How can I get them to be physically written in alphabetic order on the
flash drive?

When I view the flash drive in XP, the files are in order, I guess XP
arranges them since that's my viewing option.

You hit the nail on the head, XP displays the files in the order you
designate, and it has nothing to do with the actual order they are
physically placed on the media. If your MP3 player can't sort the files
to your liking, you probably should update/replace it. If you REALLY
want them placed physically on the flash drive in a specific order, you
will need to do it one file at a time, either by hand or build a batch
file, and of course you won't be able to "sort" them after they are on
the drive.

Jim wrote:

> I recently copied 200 mp3 files to a Toshiba flash drive. They were in
> alphabetic order in XP. However when I play them from the flash drive
> (Coby boombox has USB port) they are in strange order. It's NOT set to
> random order.
>
> Does anyone know how the files are copied and written to a flash drive,
> apparently they're not done in the order seen in XP explorer.
>
> How can I get them to be physically written in alphabetic order on the
> flash drive?
>
> When I view the flash drive in XP, the files are in order, I guess XP
> arranges them since that's my viewing option.