Audio Download USB

[MTGranite]

Hello,
Living up in the mountains with limited cell and satellite services I found the best way for me to have consistent music was to download it. But my phone can only hold so much. So I ripped a small portion, approximately 1000 songs, of my CD audio collection to an external hard drive to play in my 2021 1500 Laramie. It worked great! I was able to browse and play at random by artist, type of music, etc. Each CD is loaded as a separate file on the drive.

I now have a 2023 1500 Limited Night Edition. The problem I’m having is that the system is only recognizing one artist, will not browse or list anything else. I do get a message that loading large files (?) may take awhile. The questions then become; 1. Why is the system not seeing more than the one artist? 2. Is the configuration/file type different from the 2021? 3. What do I need to do to fix it?

 

[Tulecreeper]

Hello,
Living up in the mountains with limited cell and satellite services I found the best way for me to have consistent music was to download it. But my phone can only hold so much. So I ripped a small portion, approximately 1000 songs, of my CD audio collection to an external hard drive to play in my 2021 1500 Laramie. It worked great! I was able to browse and play at random by artist, type of music, etc. Each CD is loaded as a separate file on the drive.

I now have a 2023 1500 Limited Night Edition. The problem I’m having is that the system is only recognizing one artist, will not browse or list anything else. I do get a message that loading large files (?) may take awhile. The questions then become; 1. Why is the system not seeing more than the one artist? 2. Is the configuration/file type different from the 2021? 3. What do I need to do to fix it?

What size UConnect system do you have?

 

[MTGranite]

Should be UConnect 5 NAV according to the manual

 

[Tulecreeper]

Should be UConnect 5 NAV according to the manual

I have the same standard system. I have a large audio library saved in my home PC...100 different artists, with 150 separate albums, consisting of a couple thousand songs. I copied all of it to a flash/thumb drive and play it by plugging it into my Aux port below my UConnect. Once I plug it in and hit the "Audio" button to get it off the radio stations, the system will allow me to select "Browse" by artist, song, album, folder, etc. It took some playing with it, but I finally was able to figure out that if I hit "folder", then "Shuffle", it will play everything in a random order. For some reason it wouldn't do it by selecting "Album". Or I can just play every song in order by artist, or by alphabetical order of album. You just have to play with it until you figure out the combination. It's a PITA, but it is what it is.

 

[MTGranite]

I’ll try fiddling with it a bit more. I was able to Browse and select by artist, album, genre on the 2021 using the same drive. So this just isn’t making sense to me. Ran it by serious computer and audio geek friends. They said check formatting on music, it’s all WMA which UConnect says is compatible, as is on the 2021. Tried the UConnect Chat line, no help just said “take it to the dealer”. Called dealer, he’s going to check with his tech guy. In the meantime, I’ll try your suggestions. Thank you for the assistance.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I’ll try fiddling with it a bit more. I was able to Browse and select by artist, album, genre on the 2021 using the same drive. So this just isn’t making sense to me. Ran it by serious computer and audio geek friends. They said check formatting on music, it’s all WMA which UConnect says is compatible, as is on the 2021. Tried the UConnect Chat line, no help just said “take it to the dealer”. Called dealer, he’s going to check with his tech guy. In the meantime, I’ll try your suggestions. Thank you for the assistance.

Most of mine are WMA files/albums also, but there are a few albums that are Mp3. The WMA albums are the ones where I used Windows Media Player to rip the music from the CD to the computer. The Mp3 albums are the ones where I used a device to copy the analog cassette tapes and turn them into digital format from the tape to the computer. The Mp3 albums are the only ones that give me the album art on my screen while the song is playing. For some reason, Windows Media Player didn't copy the album art data when I ripped the CD's to the PC.

 

[MTGranite]

UPDATE-Still having issues and trying to work with unresponsive and underinformed RAM and UConnect people. Keep getting conflicting information from from them.
For the record in case anyone else is having issues, these are the files and formats with the results:
USB 256mb FAT32 with WMA - worked on 2021 1500 Laramie. Isn’t recognized on 2023 1500 Limited
USB 56mb FAT32 with mp3 - this was done only on 2023 per mechanic’s recommendation. He said there is some kind of gatekeeper on the UConnect that won’t let any USB device larger than 32mb or files other than mp3 play. So tried it with a 56mb and it played. But this is decades old tech. Doesn’t make sense.
External hard drive Formatted in NTFS with WMA - recognizes drive sees one file of the many and will play the one file. Supposedly this isn’t supposed to work!
For giggles, I tried a USB with exFAT and WMA on the 2023 - got nothing
Hope this helps a little bit.

 

[Tulecreeper]

UPDATE-Still having issues and trying to work with unresponsive and underinformed RAM and UConnect people. Keep getting conflicting information from from them.
For the record in case anyone else is having issues, these are the files and formats with the results:
USB 256mb FAT32 with WMA - worked on 2021 1500 Laramie. Isn’t recognized on 2023 1500 Limited
USB 56mb FAT32 with mp3 - this was done only on 2023 per mechanic’s recommendation. He said there is some kind of gatekeeper on the UConnect that won’t let any USB device larger than 32mb or files other than mp3 play. So tried it with a 56mb and it played. But this is decades old tech. Doesn’t make sense.
External hard drive Formatted in NTFS with WMA - recognizes drive sees one file of the many and will play the one file. Supposedly this isn’t supposed to work!
For giggles, I tried a USB with exFAT and WMA on the 2023 - got nothing
Hope this helps a little bit.

Sorry Granite, you're talking way above my head, geek-wise. I've got my music copied to 3 separate 8Gb thumb drives - rock, country, and comedy - and mine are playing fine. I mean, other than the WMA files not containing the album art data.

 

[turkeybird56]

UPDATE-Still having issues and trying to work with unresponsive and underinformed RAM and UConnect people. Keep getting conflicting information from from them.
For the record in case anyone else is having issues, these are the files and formats with the results:
USB 256mb FAT32 with WMA - worked on 2021 1500 Laramie. Isn’t recognized on 2023 1500 Limited
USB 56mb FAT32 with mp3 - this was done only on 2023 per mechanic’s recommendation. He said there is some kind of gatekeeper on the UConnect that won’t let any USB device larger than 32mb or files other than mp3 play. So tried it with a 56mb and it played. But this is decades old tech. Doesn’t make sense.
External hard drive Formatted in NTFS with WMA - recognizes drive sees one file of the many and will play the one file. Supposedly this isn’t supposed to work!
For giggles, I tried a USB with exFAT and WMA on the 2023 - got nothing
Hope this helps a little bit.

My next door neighbor has U Con 5 in his 2023 Lonestar. I cut some music for him onto a 32G Drive. FWIW, I went to show him how to use it, plugged into the right USB A port under radio, no go, not seen. TRY plugging a 32G USB flash the music ripped to usb MP 3. For wat eva reason, the U con 5 is not reading USB media from right side, only left side on his 23. It read both sides on my 2019. SO try wat I wrote above.

ADDED: I did not format the 32G USB, took out of package and plugged into my computer and ripped music to it using Windows Media, which is all that is on my wife's older like 12 yr old PC that I still have. Was able when put into Left USB under radio to scan all: Album, artists etc on the 2023.