[misterbob]

I'm pretty frustrated with creating a 16GB USB flash drive, formatted FAT32, with music I've converted from LPs into MP3 files. As most of the responders to related posts with this problem indicate, Honda head units (mine sits in a 2017 RTL) with the more basic screen indicate that "Unplayable file" is a common error message which indicates the flash drive is not going to play. I have several identical flash drives I've sucessfully created from commercial music CDs using Windows Media Player (via Windows 10) that play without a problem. So, I assume that something in my recording process is creating a compatibility with my Ridgeline's requirements. Many internet searches indicate Honda is not very forthright with providing all of the requirements for the flash drives, leaving me to do trial & error or guessing to solve my dilemma.
BTW: The flash drives all exhibit the same behavior, play or not play, in my wife's 2015 CRV.
I read all responses to my posts from you all, any comments are appreciated and welcome.

 

[larryr]

Windows does not format the drives correctly for a Honda car/truck.
It has to be FAT. Windows does EX-FAT.
Use the HP USB Disk Storage Format tool.
Also no more than 240 files in any folder
Also no more than 240 folders on any usb drive.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for Windows to format USB flash drives with FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition types. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool has had 0 updates within the past 6 months.

download.cnet.com

 

[stevem5215]

I have a 2017 RTL and what I've done to play my stored music is to put it either onto my Iphone and then play through the bluetooth connection to the Radio or to use my Ipod and leave it connected to the USB port in the glovebox. Both work fine for me on my RTL (same as yours with the basic radio). I do use Sirius XM through the aux port as well and also have the same Sirius XM on the Iphone as an app to play from it if I want. (I use the app on the iphone in Rental cars almost weekly to play music in them.) Lots of choices. But one of them isn't using a USB stick.

The advantage of the Ipod is that the 5" color radio will display song titles and artists as normal. Pretty nice actually IMO. For basic and not having paid that extra $1100 bucks at the time.

 

[Pleease]

I have a 2017 RTL and what I've done to play my stored music is to put it either onto my Iphone and then play through the bluetooth connection to the Radio or to use my Ipod and leave it connected to the USB port in the glovebox. Both work fine for me on my RTL (same as yours with the basic radio). I do use Sirius XM through the aux port as well and also have the same Sirius XM on the Iphone as an app to play from it if I want. (I use the app on the iphone in Rental cars almost weekly to play music in them.) Lots of choices. But one of them isn't using a USB stick.

The advantage of the Ipod is that the 5" color radio will display song titles and artists as normal. Pretty nice actually IMO. For basic and not having paid that extra $1100 bucks at the time.

So you use the Sirius app on an iPhone, plug it into the USB port and that works?

I've never used the Sirius app, so not familiar with this stuff, but would like to in my 2019 RTL with the 5" radio. (Our other two vehicles receive Sirius conventionally.)

 

[stevem5215]

I use the Sirius app on my Iphone via bluetooth to the radio. I use my Ipod in the console connected to the USB port. You select whichever one you want with the button on the radio.

 

[misterbob]

FYI: My wife and I only have Android phones, but this discussion does not involve phones.
Formatting in FAT, not FAT32? Why do my flash drives ripped from retail music CDs work fine in my RTL with FAT32 formatting? Nevertheless, I'm going to try a FAT-formatted flash drive tomorrow and will let you all know the outcome. Thanks for the tip and the download link, Larryr!

 

[Pleease]

I use the Sirius app on my Iphone via bluetooth to the radio. I use my Ipod in the console connected to the USB port. You select whichever one you want with the button on the radio.

Thanks much; sounds pretty simple (like me, lol).

 

[HyperPete]

I suggest trying Exact Audio Copy to rip (or convert) your music. It may not solve the problem you're having, but it's free, and an easy place to start.

 

[Sparkland]

Windows does not format the drives correctly for a Honda car/truck.
It has to be FAT. Windows does EX-FAT.
Use the HP USB Disk Storage Format tool.
Also no more than 240 files in any folder
Also no more than 240 folders on any usb drive.

HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

Download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for Windows to format USB flash drives with FAT, FAT32, or NTFS partition types. HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool has had 0 updates within the past 6 months.

download.cnet.com

I attempted to download the HP USB Disk Storage Format tool and I got the normal "Permission denied, administrator rights are required" message.

 

[Nervey]

Windows gives an option to format Fat32, or exFAT. Honda will only see the FAT32, I think. But it sounds like you already know that and it will not play the files. MP3 comes in different flavors, so it depends on how you are making the MP3 files and what software made them.

A brief summary just to know.
MP3 in its original form and flavor is created using an encoder from Fraunhofer and it requires a license for software developers to implement. Windows included this and many consumer programs did as well (e.g Adobe Audition). Because of the cost of implementation, a couple of groups of developers reverse engineered and created their own encoder, the most popular being LAME. LAME is in most small software as it is free... (although technically creating the MP3 is not free for commercial use).

Anyway, all that said, LAME sometimes had compatibility issues depending on the version(s) used. Maybe your software is suffering with that. Also, Fraunhofer kind of had two versions of MP3... and the all known regular MP3 and the enhanced MP3-Pro (Pro was short lived) sometime the Pro encoded would trip up systems.

To Add, certain nonstandard metadata (ID3 tags) will confuse a system (typically weird album art graphics files)

Aaaaand finally. The MP3 parameters used can create compatibility issues. The most compatible MP3 files ripped from CDs should be set as:

128, 256 or 320KBPS (preferably the higher the better)
Constant bitrate (CBR, not VBR)
44.1khz sampling rate, which matches the CD
16bit word depth
Stereo (non-joint)
No error correction
No copy protection.

Then you can vary with your other settings once you verify that these most simple (and best sounding) parameters works in your ridgeline.

So, again another long explanation saying that it could be the format parameters of how your file is encoded. In windows, you can verify by right clicking on the mp3 file and viewing the properties. If I need to Rip via LAME CODEC, I usually opt for software called "dbPoweramp" but there are several. dbPoweramp has an add-on tool that lets you view all the aspects of the MP3 file.

 

[misterbob]

Thanks, Nervey, for the very detailed (much appreciated) response that does give me a good feeling that I do have hope to find the right combination of MP3 parameters that will yield a good conclusion. I did try to format my 16 GB USB 3.1 drive in FAT format using both the HP downloaded GUI utility (FAT was not an option) and Windows 10 native command line FAT options -- neither could successfully complete a FAT format. Since I did have success with FAT32 formatting the 3 flash drives containing CD-originated music, I've concluded FAT32 is compatible with Honda's protocols. I'm leaving for a 10 day vacation to FL tomorrow morning, so this project is on hold for now. I will continue my efforts and will continue this line of posts when I get back rested, and tanned!

 

[HyperPete]

I attempted to download the HP USB Disk Storage Format tool and I got the normal "Permission denied, administrator rights are required" message.

To download it, or to run it?
If the latter, right-click the executable or the shortcut to it and run as administrator.

I did try to format my 16 GB USB 3.1 drive in FAT format using both the HP downloaded GUI utility (FAT was not an option) and Windows 10 native command line FAT options -- neither could successfully complete a FAT format.

You can only format up to 2 GB with regular FAT.

 

[jfaldridge]

I once had this issue and used a small utility called - RUFUS. [ Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way ] Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc. worked great!

 

[stevem5215]

Yep, RUFUS is your friend for oddball formatting of drives and old formats like DOS bootable.

 

[HyperPete]

Best USB Format Tool 2023 (Top 10 Utility Comparison)

Got a new flash drive and now you need a formatter utility? If you want disk storage management beyond basic Windows, check out this list of the best USB format tools out there.

crm.org

Also:

5 Workable Ways to Format USB to FAT32|32GB/64GB/128GB/256GB Included

How to format a USB drive to FAT32 using different methods? This article provides appropriate techniques for formatting a USB flash drive to the FAT32 file system.

recoverit.wondershare.com

 

[misterbob]

Windows gives an option to format Fat32, or exFAT. Honda will only see the FAT32, I think. But it sounds like you already know that and it will not play the files. MP3 comes in different flavors, so it depends on how you are making the MP3 files and what software made them.

A brief summary just to know.
MP3 in its original form and flavor is created using an encoder from Fraunhofer and it requires a license for software developers to implement. Windows included this and many consumer programs did as well (e.g Adobe Audition). Because of the cost of implementation, a couple of groups of developers reverse engineered and created their own encoder, the most popular being LAME. LAME is in most small software as it is free... (although technically creating the MP3 is not free for commercial use).

Anyway, all that said, LAME sometimes had compatibility issues depending on the version(s) used. Maybe your software is suffering with that. Also, Fraunhofer kind of had two versions of MP3... and the all known regular MP3 and the enhanced MP3-Pro (Pro was short lived) sometime the Pro encoded would trip up systems.

To Add, certain nonstandard metadata (ID3 tags) will confuse a system (typically weird album art graphics files)

Aaaaand finally. The MP3 parameters used can create compatibility issues. The most compatible MP3 files ripped from CDs should be set as:

128, 256 or 320KBPS (preferably the higher the better)
Constant bitrate (CBR, not VBR)
44.1khz sampling rate, which matches the CD
16bit word depth
Stereo (non-joint)
No error correction
No copy protection.

Then you can vary with your other settings once you verify that these most simple (and best sounding) parameters works in your ridgeline.

So, again another long explanation saying that it could be the format parameters of how your file is encoded. In windows, you can verify by right clicking on the mp3 file and viewing the properties. If I need to Rip via LAME CODEC, I usually opt for software called "dbPoweramp" but there are several. dbPoweramp has an add-on tool that lets you view all the aspects of the MP3 file.

So, I am back from vacation, rested but not tanned. Ready to start (restart) my project again.
With your depth of knowledge in MP3s and Honda "issues", I'd like to pick your brain about recording specifics.
I've been using the latest version of Audacity to record the LPs' stereo signal via a Behringer UFO202 USB/preamp. Each track is then exported to MP3 within Audacity and saved to my PC's hard drive. Next step is burning or ripping each MP3 to a 16GB flash drive, formatted to FAT32 using Windows Media Player under Windows 10. What would you change if you were to prepare a drive for the best outcome?
I do have a lot of electronic and computer experience and a big "junk box" of unique and quaint cabling, hardware and other misc. gadgets.

 

[Nervey]

So, I am back from vacation, rested but not tanned. Ready to start (restart) my project again.
With your depth of knowledge in MP3s and Honda "issues", I'd like to pick your brain about recording specifics...

Hey there, welcome back. Here's a primer (Screenshots for each step are below)

Use the latest Audacity, it has the latest LAME encoder built in. If you are using a UFO and Analog Vinyl, set to record at 48kHz Sampling Rate. **If you at some time want to RIP CDs, you would not use this method by recording, of course. CDs are a direct data copy when you rip and you u would and you would want 44.1kHz files (CDs are 44.1kHz). But if you are doing analog, and you have no specific reason, otherwise... you will want to record at 48kHz for better future compatibility and better-quality resolution (by a smidge).

1) Go to Preferences and set:

• Recording: Detect dropouts
• Quality: 48khz, 32 bit float
• Import/Export: Show Metadata if you are going to add song info (tags)
• Libraries: Just verify you have built in Lame v3.1 or later at this time

2) When Recording watch your levels and keep them around -12dB to -08dB for Vinyl to provide headroom for transients.

3) After recording and trimming up the silence and other editing, SELECT your entire file (CTL-A) and NORMALIZE your entire audio to something no greater than -2dB. When MPEG is decoded on playback there are times that the data will cause decoding overshoots, keeping at something under -2dB helps with that. I prefer to set mine to -4dB for other reasons, but never a bad choice.

4) Export your audio as

• MP3
• Constant
• 320kbps
• Stereo (not joint stereo)

5) Enter your metadata (tag) info. At least Artist and Title so that some players can display the info correctly. This is not mandatory though.

6) Format your USB drive to FAT32. This is the only compatible format for the Honda Ridgeline Entertainment System.

• Windows will not natively give an option to format FAT32 on drives larger than 32GB.
• If you want to use a larger drive, you can format larger USB drives with utilities like "Fat32 Format" (aka: "GUIformat.exe") by Ridgecrop or a more versatile utility called RUFUS. GUIformat is the easiest, bulletproof to format anything to Fat32 with one step and you can't mess it up.
  • It can be found here: Click on the picture of the utility on the website to download. Link: Fat32 Format (GUIformat.exe) Utility

Here are some visuals to show the settings in Audacity.

 

[misterbob]

Thanks again, Nervey, for your very helpful contributions to my recording issue. It is most imported, to me, to understand all of the details you illustrated above rather than a "just do this" comment. I never fail to count my blessings when so many ROC contributors chime in with great information.
Hope your weekend improves soon so you can enjoy some R&R!

 

[misterbob]

Thank you, everyone that responded, for your input. My recording problem is SOLVED. I discovered today that the 16GB USB flash drive I was using is defective for use as a music stick with the dedicated help from a couple of ROC members. It seems to work for other file storage and retrieval, passes Windows scandisk test and formats in FAT32 and NTFS just fine.
😏

 

[stevem5215]

Lots of times it's not "defective" as defined by the manufacturer. What it is though is usually not "compatible" with the application you are using it in. Some manufacturers of USB products will at times test various memory sticks and ensure them to be compatible with their applications. Don't know if Honda does this but lots do.