Recommend best MP3 player for Uconnect

[cw_mi]

Yes, I am still one of the few that has a dedicated MP3 player. Currently using an old Galaxy Player , it is fine except to manipulate through music I have to do it on the player and not on the Nav screen. UConnect doesn't recognize the player. I have to switch to media/then the button with the micro plug in order for it to play music thru the system.

Would love to plug a player in and navigate through the music selection on screen, if possible

 

[SpeedyV]

Yes, I am still one of the few that has a dedicated MP3 player. Currently using an old Galaxy Player , it is fine except to manipulate through music I have to do it on the player and not on the Nav screen. UConnect doesn't recognize the player. I have to switch to media/then the button with the micro plug in order for it to play music thru the system.

Would love to plug a player in and navigate through the music selection on screen, if possible

I’ve been using my phone, so I’m not the most qualified to respond, but I’m wondering if you might see better results by transferring your content to a flash drive. Maybe someone using USB can chime in as to whether they agree?

 

[rrbhokies]

I have a 128gb flash drive and the system reads all 10,000 songs meta data. You can then select genres artists albums etc. You can also use voice recognition to ask it to play a particular song or artist or genre. No need for an MP3 player

 

[Hihosilver]

I have a 128gb flash drive and the system reads all 10,000 songs meta data. You can then select genres artists albums etc. You can also use voice recognition to ask it to play a particular song or artist or genre. No need for an MP3 player

What he said... just a usb drive/stick and you are golden...

 

[cw_mi]

Did this over the weekend. For the most part it worked, although for some reason the truck isn't picking up every song that is on the USB stick.
For instance, I have 3 albums of Jane's Addiction loaded on the stick, only two show up.
I'll have to try and figure out why, if not I guess go back with the player route.

 

[Billy James]

Did this over the weekend. For the most part it worked, although for some reason the truck isn't picking up every song that is on the USB stick.
For instance, I have 3 albums of Jane's Addiction loaded on the stick, only two show up.
I'll have to try and figure out why, if not I guess go back with the player route.

Check your file tags for errors. I think USB stick is the way to go for sure; the UConnect integration and voice commands with USB makes it worth it. I'm a MP3 player guy myself; but not in my truck.

 

[cw_mi]

Check your file tags for errors. I think USB stick is the way to go for sure; the UConnect integration and voice commands with USB makes it worth it. I'm a MP3 player guy myself; but not in my truck.

File tags ? If there were errors, is it something I can fix or is it with the .mp3 file ? And I agree, the USB set up is very cool.

 

[Billy James]

File tags ? If there were errors, is it something I can fix or is it with the .mp3 file ? And I agree, the USB set up is very cool.

Go into Windows Media Player or a similar program and make sure that the missing albums are labeled correctly. For example, is the Artist column labeled properly. Sometimes my albums don't show up under the artist because I don't have the proper tags for artist in the proper column; so I go back and look on my computer and change it to match the ones that do show up.

 

[cw_mi]

Okay, got this figured out ...sort of. I now can see all my songs but only if I "browse" by folder, and voice recog doesn't work. I think it is an easy fix though.
What I found was through the years as I was adding content on my media player, somehow some of the songs we added under an additional folder. The media player didn't car and found the songs anyway, Uconnect did not. So I pulled them out of the folder and placed them where the media I could see was. Now the problem is, all those songs that were under the sub folder have a long series of numbers, followed by an underscore then the song name. I think if I pull everything before the underscore it should be good.

It's about 17gb worth of contect, something like 2800 folders...surprised that didn't give me an issue.

 

[Billy James]

Okay, got this figured out ...sort of. I now can see all my songs but only if I "browse" by folder, and voice recog doesn't work. I think it is an easy fix though.
What I found was through the years as I was adding content on my media player, somehow some of the songs we added under an additional folder. The media player didn't car and found the songs anyway, Uconnect did not. So I pulled them out of the folder and placed them where the media I could see was. Now the problem is, all those songs that were under the sub folder have a long series of numbers, followed by an underscore then the song name. I think if I pull everything before the underscore it should be good.

It's about 17gb worth of contect, something like 2800 folders...surprised that didn't give me an issue.

Mine are all organized by Artist (folders) and then Album Name (folders) under each artist. Voice commands, search, etc. work perfectly. I have about 80 gb of songs on a 128 gb drive. When I first inserted the drive it took an hour or two for everything to update and work right because UConnect was reading the drive. I think if you organize Artist and Album, then rename those songs by removing the extra digits; then it will all work. I had to spend a lot of time going through my old MP3 files to get the tagging all straightened out. Its worth the effort.

 

[brotharon]

but the Android auto and Apple Car Play on the systems is so excellent...i can control Spotify directly from my headunit and I dont have to have a separate MP3 player...

 

[brian42]

I was an MP3 player guy until this truck also. The USB stick is the way to go for me also. I have a tiny 32GB one that is out of the way and can't get bumped because it's so small and it's great. I had some issues when I first started using it but keeping everything no more than 2 folders deep has solved my issues.

I agree that the Apple CarPlay is awesome but I don't get the same sound quality as I do from the USB plugged directly into the media hub. I'm not sure if it's the cable I am using or not but I've orderd a USB-C to lightning cable and will see if that makes a difference compared to the USB-A to lightning cable I am currently using.

 

[Kungfubhuda]

I'd love it if UConnect played nicely with USB for me. 85% of the time I start my truck, it defaults to track 1 of a specific album (which happens to be something like track 2,153 according to UConnect). Interestingly, I've had different results depending on different music collections, and different trucks:

My 2019 Laramie starts with the same annoying track every time, but that track will change depending on the music collection.
My 2019 loaner seems to pick a different track to default to.
A 2018 loaner BigHorn always worked correctly.

You would think that the 2018 & 2019 UConnect systems would be more or less the same, but apparently not.

For those of you without issues, if you don't have your library tagged correctly, will UConnect still resume from where it left off?

 

[Billy James]

I'd love it if UConnect played nicely with USB for me. 85% of the time I start my truck, it defaults to track 1 of a specific album (which happens to be something like track 2,153 according to UConnect). Interestingly, I've had different results depending on different music collections, and different trucks:

My 2019 Laramie starts with the same annoying track every time, but that track will change depending on the music collection.
My 2019 loaner seems to pick a different track to default to.
A 2018 loaner BigHorn always worked correctly.

You would think that the 2018 & 2019 UConnect systems would be more or less the same, but apparently not.

For those of you without issues, if you don't have your library tagged correctly, will UConnect still resume from where it left off?

Not sure when your truck was built or which Radio you have; but I had a software update done for my 8.4 no nav unit that fixed the track defaulting. I had mine updated about 8 to 10 months ago and it returns to where I left off every time.

 

[Kungfubhuda]

Not sure when your truck was built or which Radio you have; but I had a software update done for my 8.4 no nav unit that fixed the track defaulting. I had mine updated about 8 to 10 months ago and it returns to where I left off every time.

I'm jealous. I've been told by both the site and the dealer that my software is up to date, even though I've had no updates since I bought my truck ~8 months ago. Maybe when I get my truck back from the shop it will mysteriously work. I also have an 8.4 with no nav, so it's good to know that a fix is at least theoretically possible.

 

[brian42]

I agree that the Apple CarPlay is awesome but I don't get the same sound quality as I do from the USB plugged directly into the media hub. I'm not sure if it's the cable I am using or not but I've orderd a USB-C to lightning cable and will see if that makes a difference compared to the USB-A to lightning cable I am currently using.

Update on the cable. I got the 3' Anker Powerline+ II (USB-C / lightning connections) and it is a huge improvement over my USB-A cable. Not quite the clarity of the other inputs (USB, CD, radio, XM) but good enough now to use (Pandora, etc.).

Not sure when your truck was built or which Radio you have; but I had a software update done for my 8.4 no nav unit that fixed the track defaulting. I had mine updated about 8 to 10 months ago and it returns to where I left off every time.

When I start my truck my media hub will default to the CD player if I didn't have the hub selected when I turned the truck off.

I thought my Uconnect was up-to-date since CarPlay worked when I bought the truck but now I'm going to have to check.

 

[Billy James]

Update on the cable. I got the 3' Anker Powerline+ II (USB-C / lightning connections) and it is a huge improvement over my USB-A cable. Not quite the clarity of the other inputs (USB, CD, radio, XM) but good enough now to use (Pandora, etc.).


When I start my truck my media hub will default to the CD player if I didn't have the hub selected when I turned the truck off.

I thought my Uconnect was up-to-date since CarPlay worked when I bought the truck but now I'm going to have to check.

Also, set up your UConnect where you would like it to pick up on the next start; then hit the driver save buttons (S and 1) on your door panel...you may have it saved to default to CD.

 

[cupcars]

I too use a usb thumb drive for mp3’s. I also have several playlists on the drive that I can access on the uconnect.

 

[brian42]

Also, set up your UConnect where you would like it to pick up on the next start; then hit the driver save buttons (S and 1) on your door panel...you may have it saved to default to CD.

Didn't know I could set the media default. I'll have to look into that one, thanks.

I don't have driver presets, just plastic next to the driver's door handle. You need to have a Laramie or above to get that feature.

 

[tloon]

I tried my MP3 when I got the truck a month ago. Would not recognize the device. Put all my music on my Samsung S9 Plus phone, plugged it into the USB and worked and sounded great. The artist ect would come up on the screen, but had to go back to the phone to switch to a new album. Loaded it on to the USB today and works as you describe. Can browse thru everything on the screen. The MP3 worked fine in my '16 Laramie. There was one particular Beach Boys album I had on the MP3 that would not show up when I plugged into the 16' Laramie. MP3 would play that album in my Bose portable, but not the truck. If I plug the Samsung phone into the new truck the Beach Boys will play. If I use the new USB album will not play. Nowhere to be found.