I know this is an older thread, and including some other threads- I do not see any conclusive story to what will work for music format on USB Stick. My Ram is just over 2 yrs old, and I originally thought most of my music was formatted as FLAC 24/48(24 Bit/48 Khz, as my 2016 Colorado would see that resolution. That USB stick was originally made for a Pioneer double din that was used in my Frontier prior to that. It worked in the Colorado so I kept it. Anyway- the USB Stick is a Cruzer Blade (USB 2) in 64 gig. When I got my RAM- the stick wouldn't be seen, and it is FAT32. So I dumped everything from the drive and since most all my music is Flac 24/96 or Flac 24/192 I just converted what I wanted to 320K MP3's. I do know how to properly TAG each LP of what I bring over, and ensure I've tagged Title, Album, Artist, Song #, and .jpg artwork at 500 x 500. I currently have 240 folders each comprising one LP, in Artist - LP Title folder name. I still have over 35 Gig left on the stick.
A couple weeks ago- I got a rip of the new Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill reissue on UHQR at 24/192.
I then created 3 folders on my stick, One was just Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill, while the other 2 listed in the folder title as Flac-16 and the third Flac 24-48. I also redid the Tagging to LP Name to reflect Flac 16 or Flac 24, as well as each song title to avoid any possible read duplication in Uconnect 4.
As for the results- obviously the 320K mp3's would read and play, the Flac 16(basically stock CD resolution converted to Flac) also was seen and played. The Folder labelled as Flac 24-48 was not even seen, which I assume is because nothing inside it was seen as valid music to the system.
Oh- I almost forgot one step in what I do. Most audio systems cannot handle having folders of music added to a stick, and then expected to play everything in order... I learned that many years ago. Once I've added what I want to my stick- I use a piece of freeware called Drivesort. It can just be clicked on from within File Explorer, and opens in a window. It needs to be configured, and there are some guides out there. It opens the drive and will see the last state of drive. You then click Sort, and it then adds to the file structure- any folders you have just added and gives the a weird version of the name. Click folder/Save and it rewrites the folder mapping. Drive is then 100% available in a car system... it is something to read up on as to WHY it is needed.
Since I need to convert my music anyway from Hi-Rez, whether I do it to Flac 16, or 320K mp3 really makes no matter as the software, process and mechanics to do it are all the same. Size wize- the 320K mp3's win out by roughly half the size of Flac. Will I hear the difference between Flac 16 and 320K mp3? That is a really good question, as with the quietness of the RAM Cab- one might be able to perceive a difference. I'll give that a shot next time I take the RAM to work(I have 2 vehicles and only go to office 1 day a week). Although my other vehicle is a 16 Honda Accord, and I believe only mp3's work there- so its just as well I stay where I am on my USB stick.
Now- if something really could be done with how Uconnect 4 handles a USB Stick- that would be great!!! I am sooo tired of an LP finishing and just stopping...you can't tell the system to just move on to next folder. Once you hit the button to view folders- the system goes all the way back to the beginning alphabetically. Again- it won't pick up from where you are at.
Chris
