So I m an old guy with a question

[4xdad]

I was thinking can I load my music from my computer unto a usb drive and then plug it in to the port in the console and then have it play. I have a 2015 pw. I m a old guy that doesn’t know much about computers. Any tips from you young fellers is appreciated

 

[turkeybird56]

Depending upon which radio, yes. Load Music as MP3 files, and I would stay away from a bunch of folders, I would load all singularly, since not know which U Conn you are running and which radio, BUT I am by no means an expert. I would prob not go any further than 32G on the USB also.

 

[mtofell]

I did this a while back and it seemed to work okay but I agree with @turkeybird56 Don't get too greedy with huge amounts or complicated file trees. Mine seemed to "choke" and freeze up with more than 10GB and/or if I had a lot of folders.

 

[jawzs2]

Not sure if yours has the SD card slot, but that's what I use. I have almost 200 folders on mine by artist, each artist has subfolders by album, then the songs, (mp3's). about 375. If you are feeling really industrious, you can "tag" each song using MP3Tag. All my songs have the album art, title, artist and album "tagged", and all that shows up on the screen as the songs playing.

For those of you interested - here's a screenshot of MP3tag. I'll get a shot of it playing on the screen in the truck when I get a chance.

 

[4xdad]

Even if I had to use multiple devices it would be worth it I have 3-400 old school CDs that I would like to use in my truck

 

[Flip-er]

I have like 550 songs on my tumb drive and it plays fine, I also have it on a sound card
BOTH play fine in center console of my 2013 ram with the 8.4 screen

 

[jawzs2]

It's not that hard - just will be time consuming. Any flavor of Windows Media Player will rip a CD to mp3 or wav format. Either will work, at least they do in my 8.4, not sure what radio you have.

 

[Marshall]

I was thinking can I load my music from my computer unto a usb drive and then plug it in to the port in the console and then have it play. I have a 2015 pw. I m a old guy that doesn’t know much about computers. Any tips from you young fellers is appreciated

I am not up on loading music, but the little I have on my phone will play thru that with a cable , or on blue tooth to the radio, (or my hearing aids).
I have the 8.4 radio with Nav and such, touch screen, factory, on my 2014.

My truck before was a 2010 with a hard drive and DVD , and I could load all kinds of stuff on it, video, music, thru usb

I have stuff on USB drives for the computor, have not tried on in this truck.

 

[Mojo88]

Even if I had to use multiple devices it would be worth it I have 3-400 old school CDs that I would like to use in my truck

'Rip' the CD's into MP3 files. Then load your favorite songs onto a small USB stick and you're all set.

If you get stuck, just ask your 8-year old grandson, or 12-year old niece, or pay a neighbor's kid; any one of those kids will whip it all together in short order, haha.

 

[MADDOG]

I've used USB sticks with ripped CD content in MP3 or FLAC format in my last three Ram trucks plus two Jeeps and a Mazda CX-5. These are the things I've learned in that process:

1. 128GB PNY USB sticks are affordable and last quite a while. I get them at Amazon.

2. Format your USB stick(s) in FAT32 format. If your PC's software does not have this option, you can download free software to format the stick(s).

3. There are plenty of free CD ripping software packages available online. Some limit your # of rips per day/per month before you have to start paying to use the software so read the info on the software before downloading it.

4. You may need an auxiliary USB connected disc drive. This is needed if your computer does not already have an internal CD/DVD drive.

5. Before ripping your CD's create a main folder on your computer or an external hard drive labeled "Music" or any other name you wish. Then create folders for each CD album you plan to rip. Basically, you are creating a file cabinet to hold your music. I name those individual folders to identify the Artist and the Album i.e., Eagles - The Studio Albums.

6. Rip all your CD's to your computer's hard drive or the external hard drive "Music" folder and the album folder. Ripping directly to your USB stick(s) is not recommended. It will take forever to complete.

7. I use FLAC format, which is lossless and not compressed, because it works in my truck's systems. Older units, such as my 2014 Ram 8.4 system, wouldn't process FLAC so I used MP3.

8. With a 128 GB stick you can load a huge number of tracks on one stick. I like to keep it under 500 files just so it doesn't take forever for the head unit to read the stick's contents at each system power up cycle.

9. Do not load album folders on your stick unless you want to play an entire album at one time. The upside is that you can listen to one album at a time but once it gets to the end the music stops until you switch to a new album manually using the head unit controls. That may be an unsafe operation as you drive the truck. I prefer to mix it up with a large collection of diverse artists and tracks, put the head unit playback on "Random" and let it play on.

Good luck with digital music in your truck!

 

[2016 2500]

This is how I have my songs all the time, any I buy I put on the usb thumb drive and plug it in, in my truck the usb I use is inside the center consol arm rest. I use this style of thumb drive it doesn't take up much room and nothing else pushes it while in that box

 

[Tulecreeper]

Even if I had to use multiple devices it would be worth it I have 3-400 old school CDs that I would like to use in my truck

Ah, just a beginner I see.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I have the lowest level radio they provide. I have about 1800 songs/files on a thumb drive and they play just fine. They are all in separate folders - Country, Rock, Comedy, etc. - and I can pick any individually by genre, artist, or randomly play them all.

 

[joesstripclub]

Not sure if yours has the SD card slot, but that's what I use. I have almost 200 folders on mine by artist, each artist has subfolders by album, then the songs, (mp3's). about 375. If you are feeling really industrious, you can "tag" each song using MP3Tag. All my songs have the album art, title, artist and album "tagged", and all that shows up on the screen as the songs playing.

For those of you interested - here's a screenshot of MP3tag. I'll get a shot of it playing on the screen in the truck when I get a chance.

View attachment 576745

I used (not much anymore) a software called MusicBee that is an alternative to iTunes after I modified my ipod back in the day. Musicbee has a tagging system that works pretty well. I seem to recall using MP3Tag as well back in the day. I have all sorts of music and video converters buried in a 10 year old folder on my computer somewhere.

 

[JayLeonard]

I have 1800 plus songs on a 16 GB thumb drive and they play fine in my 2021. And in my travel trailer.
Last I knew 32 gb is max that will play on most systems.

 

[Docwagon1776]

If you can find an old school iPod you'll open up a lot of options for Playlists, shuffle, etc. I still have my old clicky wheel iPod in my Camaro.

 

[4xdad]

Mine died

 

[Daw14]

I have one of the first Sirius stand alone receivers , that I purchased three of , when Sirius came to be.
Back around 2000.
One for my truck ,boat and one for the wife’s car .

After a few years two of them stopped working.
I did not touch the third as I had a trial subscription with new vehicle.
When the free subscription expired,for giggles I tried the receiver that still worked , it came to life with music playing.
It has bee more than twenty years now , I still have free Sirius/xm radio.
Yes the receiver is very dated , but with so many different music,news, sports channels, I can overlook the age.
I suppose it’s possible that I’m just a cheap old mfr.

But I consider it karma on them, if you have ever tried canceling your subscription, or with their automatic resubscription service.
This was some of the worst customer non- service , next to ram that I’ve ever experienced .

And I am a dinosaur with technology.

 

[Docwagon1776]

Mine died

You can probably still find them on ebay or the like if you wanted one, I know the shuffles use to be cheap AF but I haven't looked for years. USB drives work just fine, you just lose some functions you had with the ipod. If it's enough to bother with is debatable, but if you have a lot of GB of music I'd bust it up into multiple USB drives just for easy of navigation.

 

[D1DAVE]

If you have a smart phone, you might consider downloading your music to an app, and Bluetooth to your head unit. I use an app called Poweramp on my Android phone. I have all my music at my fingertips. Just a thought.