2025 RAM 1500 USB Stick With Music Results in "Device Read Error" Regardless of USB Port Used

[Cat Truck]

I recently purchased a new RAM 1500 and removed my old USB music sticks which played without any issue in my 2021 RAM 1500. In the new truck, regardless of which USB port I use I receive the message of "Device Read Error". I have attempted to connect without success many times, even at the dealership before I departed with my new truck. Multiple employees of the dealership do not have a clue. I also transferred the music to a new 3.0 USB stick and did not place all the songs into one folder in case the media reader could not open folders outside of where the individual songs are stored.

One other thought I had, might it be that the owner of the media software in the vehicle does not want people to be able to play their own music but be restricted to music from the car radio or the supplied satellite radio?

It is one of three issues I have with the new truck. I now miss by old 2021 RAM 1500 that gave me zero issues.

 

[RamDiver]

Is the USB stick formatted FAT32?

Are you able to use the USB connections to connect your phone, with the wireless connection disabled?

.

 

[Cat Truck]

The phone successfully paired with the truck before I left the dealership. How does one know if a stick is formatted via FAT32?

 

[Cat Truck]

Already found the way to determine how a stick is formatted. My USB sticks will not play in the 2025 RAM 1500 regardless of whether the USB stick is formatted as FAT32 or exFAT. They played in my 2021 RAM with no issues.

 

[azzolij]

I have a 2025 1500 Limited and my USB plays fine. I have a top level directory named Music and under it I have directories for each artist/album. I also have
files for each playlist. I think they are basically text files, but I created them with a program called "Playlist Creator" on Windows 10. I previously used the drive
on my 2018 Grand Cherokee with a UAQ radio.

 

[MADDOG]

Are all your files in a folder on the stick?

If so, move them all into the stick as individual files and delete the folder. That's how I managed to get mine to work.

 

[Cat Truck]

Finally got my USB stick to play in the 2025 RAM 1500 media player. I took a blank USB stick and converted my songs from Wave format to MP3, loaded them onto the USB stick, plugged it into the USB 1 Port and after a period of time, the player began to read and play my music. I miss my 2021 RAM 1500 as I had no issues whatsoever with it, but this time I wanted to upgrade from a 4x2 to a 4x4.

 

[Mlarv5]

Finally got my USB stick to play in the 2025 RAM 1500 media player. I took a blank USB stick and converted my songs from Wave format to MP3, loaded them onto the USB stick, plugged it into the USB 1 Port and after a period of time, the player began to read and play my music. I miss my 2021 RAM 1500 as I had no issues whatsoever with it, but this time I wanted to upgrade from a 4x2 to a 4x4.

The issue was really not your truck. Wave files have less of a compression (larger files less songs on a USB), which normally means better play back (sound quality). Where as MP3's are highly compressed (smaller files more songs on a USB), which means you give up a little quality of the play back to hold more music.

MP3 file format is supported by more devices then the WAV format. You shouldn't have anymore issues now you converted them to MP3s.