Thanks for the replies so far, I will try some of the suggestions. Here is some additional info that may help.
First, I like to make custom multi-artist "mixtapes" to play in my vehicles, and I want the tracks to play in a particular order that I set when I create the playlists.
I have been using iTunes to do this, but as you know, iTunes has many limitations, one of which is not being able to "burn" a playlist to a thumbdrive. I can burn the playlist to a CD or DVD, and then manually copy the files to a thumbdrive. This is time consuming and wasteful, but the files play in the correct order since iTunes appends the sequence number to the filename so dumb players will still play in the correct order. If I select the files in the playlist, then drag and drop to the thumbdrive, the sequence number does not get appended, and the files play in alphabetical order.
Additionally, the burner on my old Toshiba laptop quit working, and apparently iTunes is often responsible for creating the "code 19" condition that makes the burner no longer operational. I spent 2 hours trying everything short of re-installing Windows to get rid of the code 19 error, to no avail. Time for a new laptop, which I got last week.
Anyway, if anyone has additional things to try in MC, I am ready to try them. Thanks again.