Use USB Drive like a CD?

Denicio · Jun 17, 2019

I run a semi pro recording studio. During mix stage i will take mix CD's out to the car and 'proof' them there.

Since getting the 2017 RL i have been missing the ability to do this.

Is there an easy way to format and use a USB drive like a CD player. Where i can load and delete files and simply plug it into the USB jack and listen?

If so, can you share the step by step directions?

D

smufguy · Jun 17, 2019

Since the current Gen Odyssey uses similar entertainment unit and USB media, this is what I did.

Purchased a 16GB flash drive and reformatted it to FAT32
loaded downloaded video files from YouTube and it plays without a glitch.

zroger73 · Jun 17, 2019

There is a CD player on the market that connects to a USB port. It's expensive ($300-350), though. Do an internet search for "USBCD1".

Denicio · Jun 17, 2019

zroger73 said:
There is a CD player on the market that connects to a USB port. It's expensive ($300-350), though. Do an internet search for "USBCD1".

I was hoping there is a way to play from a USB stick. So am i to read by your answer there is no way to do this?

I have the RTL-T, btw.

smufguy said:
Since the current Gen Odyssey uses similar entertainment unit and USB media, this is what I did.

Purchased a 16GB flash drive and reformatted it to FAT32

loaded downloaded video files from YouTube and it plays without a glitch.

Thanks, i will give this a try.

I render out my mixes as 44.1/16 .wav files, so in theory it SHOULD easily play the files.

I was just unsure if i needed to create a folder for the RL to see and use the files.

CentexG2 · Jun 17, 2019

Overview:

Insofar as audio file formats your '17 RTL-T will only play .mp3, .wma, or .aac from a USB flash drive (that list of compatible file formats is per the Owners Manual).
Yes, all are "lossy" formats (it will not recognize/play lossless .wma codec, it will not recognize/play good old .wav, I've tested and it failed to recognize those files).
It can be 'picky' about AAC files - usually better to just use .mp3 for best reliability IME (all three are comparable lossy SQ IMO, so from a sound quality standpoint it makes no or very little difference)
The USB drive itself needs to be formatted to FAT32 (most flash drives are FAT32 out of the box, even the smallest (GB) flash drive will hold a CD's-worth of music)

If your 'proofing' requires that you hear lossless 'same as CD quality' playback, you're out of luck with the '17-'19 RL's USB playback capability.

If your studio equipment can render files as .mp3 or lossy .wma, you can just copy those directly to a FAT 32 USB drive in the root directory for easiest access/playback (I get the impression you are 'proofing' a few files at a time and have no need for organizing a big 'library' of files on the flash drive in folders which will slightly complicate the playback steps)

Does this sound like something you want to pursue?

If yes and you need further "step by step directions" ... is that with regard to getting the files to the USB drive or playing the USB drive in your RL?

Denicio · Jun 17, 2019

CentexG2 said:
Overview:

Insofar as audio file formats your '17 RTL-T will only play .mp3, .wma, or .aac from a USB flash drive (that list of compatible file formats is per the Owners Manual).

Yes, all are "lossy" formats (it will not recognize/play lossless .wma codec, it will not recognize/play good old .wav, I've tested and it failed to recognize those files).

It can be 'picky' about AAC files - usually better to just use .mp3 for best reliability IME (all three are comparable lossy SQ IMO, so from a sound quality standpoint it makes no or very little difference)

The USB drive itself needs to be formatted to FAT32 (most flash drives are FAT32 out of the box, even the smallest (GB) flash drive will hold a CD's-worth of music)

If your 'proofing' requires that you hear lossless 'same as CD quality' playback, you're out of luck with the '17-'19 RL's USB playback capability.

If your studio equipment can render files as .mp3 or lossy .wma, you can just copy those directly to a FAT 32 USB drive in the root directory for easiest access/playback (I get the impression you are 'proofing' a few files at a time and have no need for organizing a big 'library' of files on the flash drive in folders which will slightly complicate the playback steps)

Does this sound like something you want to pursue?

If yes and you need further "step by step directions" ... is that with regard to getting the files to the USB drive or playing the USB drive in your RL?

ALL good info! Not excited about your answer but its not you fault

Yes, i can render my mixes into .mp3 and i can generally make my mix change decisions from that.
This is not for a large library of songs but up to 10 songs max to proof.

So if you dont mind, can you give me the step by step on getting it to the USB drive ready for playback?

Many Thanks in Advance,
D

CentexG2 said:
Overview:

Insofar as audio file formats your '17 RTL-T will only play .mp3, .wma, or .aac from a USB flash drive (that list of compatible file formats is per the Owners Manual).

Yes, all are "lossy" formats (it will not recognize/play lossless .wma codec, it will not recognize/play good old .wav, I've tested and it failed to recognize those files).

It can be 'picky' about AAC files - usually better to just use .mp3 for best reliability IME (all three are comparable lossy SQ IMO, so from a sound quality standpoint it makes no or very little difference)

The USB drive itself needs to be formatted to FAT32 (most flash drives are FAT32 out of the box, even the smallest (GB) flash drive will hold a CD's-worth of music)

If your 'proofing' requires that you hear lossless 'same as CD quality' playback, you're out of luck with the '17-'19 RL's USB playback capability.

If your studio equipment can render files as .mp3 or lossy .wma, you can just copy those directly to a FAT 32 USB drive in the root directory for easiest access/playback (I get the impression you are 'proofing' a few files at a time and have no need for organizing a big 'library' of files on the flash drive in folders which will slightly complicate the playback steps)

Does this sound like something you want to pursue?

If yes and you need further "step by step directions" ... is that with regard to getting the files to the USB drive or playing the USB drive in your RL?

Well, based on this reply alone it looks like all i need to do is render in .mp3 and put on the root directory of a Fat 32 flash drive.

Sound about right?

CentexG2 · Jun 17, 2019

Denicio said:
...
So if you dont mind, can you give me the step by step on getting it to the USB drive ready for playback?
...

I've no idea how your studio equipment 'works' (it's interface, etc?)

If doing this on a PC as is my usual practice:

Plug the flash drive into a USB port
Open that USB drive in 'explorer'
Find the music files on the computer
Use "copy>paste" to copy the files from the source location to the USB drive
When all desired files are copied to the flash drive, right click on the USB drive name and choose "eject" - all the files will then be saved an ready for playback; remove the USB drive from the computer

Are we in the ballpark?

Denicio said:
Well, based on this reply alone it looks like all i need to do is render in .mp3 and put on the root directory of a Fat 32 flash drive.

Sound about right?

Yes!

longboat · Jun 17, 2019

To echo above, you can't play lossless digital files (.wav) via USB. The best that you can hope for is probably mp3s ripped at highest quality (Exact Audio Copy may be best for this, and you can rip directly from .wav to .mp3, IIRC).

A couple other possible options...

You can get a external dvd player designed for laptops that works from usb. I recently got one for my wife, an LG model, and it will also play DVDs on a tv through usb port. Cost was $15 Amazon Prime. I haven't tried, but assume it would play audio cds as well. Don't have a Ridgeline yet to test it in that application, either.

I've got a couple old Panasonic portable CD players, Walkman-style, that would work via the line-in jack. They play regular CDs, as well as CDs with mp3s. I got 'em for a trip to Tahiti 15 years ago because they are also waterproof. I doubt they make them anymore, though.

For your purposes, you may want to invest in either a home receiver / CD setup with reference speakers somewhere in your studio, or even a high-dollar soundcard setup with surround speakers on your desktop computer. I had a pretty spectacular system 20 years ago, and I would think they would have similar quality or better nowadays. Or run the soundcard through some reference speakers, or a great set of cans.

Denicio · Jun 17, 2019

longboat said:
To echo above, you can't play lossless digital files (.wav) via USB. The best that you can hope for is probably mp3s ripped at highest quality (Exact Audio Copy may be best for this, and you can rip directly from .wav to .mp3, IIRC).

A couple other possible options...

You can get a external dvd player designed for laptops that works from usb. I recently got one for my wife, an LG model, and it will also play DVDs on a tv through usb port. Cost was $15 Amazon Prime. I haven't tried, but assume it would play audio cds as well. Don't have a Ridgeline yet to test it in that application, either.

I've got a couple old Panasonic portable CD players, Walkman-style, that would work via the line-in jack. They play regular CDs, as well as CDs with mp3s. I got 'em for a trip to Tahiti 15 years ago because they are also waterproof. I doubt they make them anymore, though.

For your purposes, you may want to invest in either a home receiver / CD setup with reference speakers somewhere in your studio, or even a high-dollar soundcard setup with surround speakers on your desktop computer. I had a pretty spectacular system 20 years ago, and I would think they would have similar quality or better nowadays. Or run the soundcard through some reference speakers, or a great set of cans.

Thanks. Yeah i have no shortage of speakers in my set up or other ways to monitor. Mix engineers are always keenly focused on how things sound in a car...as thats where 80+% of people take in their music.

For my needs i think the MP3 should work out fine.

CentexG2 said:
I've no idea how your studio equipment 'works' (it's interface, etc?)

If doing this on a PC as is my usual practice:

Plug the flash drive into a USB port

Open that USB drive in 'explorer'

Find the music files on the computer

Use "copy>paste" to copy the files from the source location to the USB drive

When all desired files are copied to the flash drive, right click on the USB drive name and choose "eject" - all the files will then be saved an ready for playback; remove the USB drive from the computer

Are we in the ballpark?
Yes!

Yes, we are IN the ballpark and have hit a home run!

Yeah, i can get it rendered into a format...so at that point it becomes a windows file. I was just unsure if i had to have sub directories named certain ways...etc etc.

Thanks for all the help on this.

CentexG2 · Jun 17, 2019

Denicio said:
….. I was just unsure if i had to have sub directories named certain ways...etc etc.

All of that would come into play if dealing with a multi-album library. I get the impression you're gonna put +/- 10 tracks on the drive, listen, and then delete/replace those with new/revised files, so you'll not be needing to build a 'library structure'.

Also, your quick-for-proofing mp3 files probably lack a lot of the 'tagging' usually associated with 'formal' mp3 downloads (album/artist/track/genre/etc tag info) so they may not be handled particularly well by the RL's search and playback features anyway.

Thus my suggestion to just slap those files in root.

Still in the ballpark?

TIP - for easiest 'proofing' playback you should be able to use the RL "Song By Voice" feature (I think in the RTL-T, I know in the RTL-E):

Push the steering wheel "Talk" button
Say "Music Search"
Say "Play Track/Song [Name - in your case the filename, so keep 'em simple]"
Repeat all steps for the next song

The beauty of "Song By Voice" is eyes-free and minimal button pushes - it always defaults to looking on your USB drive so you don't have to go through steps to select that as your input source!

GreginJaxFL · Jun 19, 2019

Will my RL play MPEG-4 or .m4a music files?

zroger73 · Jun 19, 2019

It should. I copied my entire iTunes library from my iMac to a USB drive and everything seems to play (except for a few DRM-protected songs). The majority of my library consists of purchased songs from Apple.

CentexG2 · Jun 19, 2019

GreginJaxFL said:
Will my RL play MPEG-4 or .m4a music files?

Apology for the confusion, in my 'overview' post above I mistakenly used ".aac" instead of the correct ".m4a" on the list of format file extensions that will play per the Owner's Manual.

Nimrod goof by a non-iTunes / Apple music user (embarrassed), too late to edit/correct that post.

GreginJaxFL · Jun 19, 2019

Excellent!

I just ordered a small Sandisk thumb drive to leave plugged in for this purpose!

Will no longer have to connect my iPhone.

Thanks ALL!

zroger73 · Jun 19, 2019

One thing I remembered was that when I first copied everything over to the USB drive, it seemed like every other file was "unplayable". If memory serves me correctly, there was some "hidden" folder the contained small or zero-byte files with just the song names that the head unit was seeing and trying to play. After I deleted that folder, everything played correctly.

rlobrecht · Jun 19, 2019

If you use a Mac, it will leave files with a first character of . (period). These files will be unplayable. There are some command line tools you can use to turn this behavior off, but I am not an expert on them. Look at this MacRumors page for some suggestions.

GreginJaxFL · Jun 19, 2019

One last question. When I copy my .m4a files to the root directory , do I copy whole albums or just the individual files. Seems that would make a mess and thing would be out of order.

CentexG2 · Jun 19, 2019

When building a 'library' USB I've used this structure with good success:

Root
Artist Folders [artist/band name]
Album Folders under each artist [album name]
Song tracks in album folders

I like to be able to playback albums with the songs in the 'as recorded order' when I ask for "Play album [album name]". That may come out fine if the album is a 'commercial download' with full tagging / metadata.

Since I rip my own CD's to a format for USB playback using Exact Audio Copy and don't always mess with full tagging data I use the feature in EAC that automatically assigns a suffix number to each filename when it rips (e.g. 01 [song 1 title].mp3, 02 [song 2 title].mp3, etc) to help ensure playback in proper album order on most car systems.

IME it's useful to make a small test USB and try it in your car before investing the time/effort to transcribe a big library, just to be sure it all 'plays nice'.

Other organization structures / techniques may come into play if you use 'playlists' … I don't so can't help with that.

rlobrecht · Jun 20, 2019

CentexG2 said:
When building a 'library' USB I've used this structure with good success:

Root

Artist Folders [artist/band name]

Album Folders under each artist [album name]

Song tracks in album folders

I have a USB drive organized like this that I keep in my truck. Its a low profile one and lives in the USB port in the console. I don't use it much, but it seems to work ok. The only thing I haven't figured out how to do is to play random songs from a single artist.

zhoomer · Jun 20, 2019

I have a 2019 RTL so have low end audio system. I downloaded about a 100 of my favorite (mp3) songs from my PC and copied them to a 2GB USB flash memory stick. I leave the stick plugged into the truck and when I want to hear the recorded music it is just a matter of selecting Media and follow on screen ques.

Use USB Drive like a CD?

Denicio

smufguy

zroger73

Denicio

CentexG2

Denicio

CentexG2

longboat

Denicio

CentexG2

GreginJaxFL

zroger73

CentexG2

GreginJaxFL

zroger73

rlobrecht

GreginJaxFL

CentexG2

rlobrecht

zhoomer

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