FL5 - playing music from USB stick (or not?).

[Pebble]

When our FL5 first arrived in Jan 2023, I thought it would be just a case of popping in the USB stick and away we go as per all previous non MG cars. How wrong was I and soon realised that the 50+ albums were in the wrong format for the 5 so tried to re-format them using 3rd party software but no success. These albums were all from CDs and they've now long gone, so no way of putting them back on to a new stick in the correct format, if that even works.

So moved on to AA and Amazon Music. Worked ok with albums in the AM library/playlists for a while until AM decided you have to subscribe to AM Unlimited to get any playlists. Otherwise AM just picks albums that are similar to your selected ones. For example, "play Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits" and it'll play something like "Abba Greatest hits", totally random or what,

Without paying the extra for AM Unlimited, how can I stream at least some of my old albums in a playlist by artist or, if someone is really up on this, how to get streamed tunes onto a USB stick.

Any input much appreciated

 

[Gomev]

How is your USB stick formatted ? If NTFS that is the problem, needs to be FAT or FAT32.

 

[Grriff]

From what you saying, you have the albums on a USB stick.
What format are they in (i.e. file type)?
Do you have a computer?

 

[maskull]

I've used FAT32 and NTFS format on the USB on the Pre FL 5 ,both without problem . What format are the audio files in ? I've used MP3 and FLAC without a problem

 

[Grriff]

I have an MG4 Trophy and did find that it would read a large number (more than 1000 files) from the USB stick and then refuse to acknowledge any existed.
I would transfer a few MP3 files to a newly formatted stick and try it in both front USB sockets. Check out any instructions in the infotainment manual, assuming it's of any use.
An alternative is to load the files onto a smartphone, use a music app (e.g. Musicolet) and connect using Android Auto. I appreciate this may not be an option available to you.

 

[Pebble]

Griff & Gomez - the original USB files are WMA. I did try conerting to FAT, FAT32 and NTFS using an online file coinverter but the car still refused to acknowledge their existence.

I'm happy to stream using a free/non chargeable service but how and what is the question if the USB stick is a non starter.

 

[kevin ellard]

I have an MG4 Trophy and did find that it would read a large number (more than 1000 files) from the USB stick and then refuse to acknowledge any existed.
I would transfer a few MP3 files to a newly formatted stick and try it in both front USB sockets. Check out any instructions in the infotainment manual, assuming it's of any use.
An alternative is to load the files onto a smartphone, use a music app (e.g. Musicolet) and connect using Android Auto. I appreciate this may not be an option available to you.

A second vote for Musicolet. I gave up trying to use the usb stick. It only works in the socket that I need for Android Auto and even when it did work it was horrible to control. I actually use Musicolet and VLC on my android phone with them set to different folders on the phone so I done have to have the grandchildren's stories mixed with my own music/podcasts.

 

[Grriff]

@Pebble . I would encourage you to persevere with a free file converter (7 Best Free Audio Converter Software Programs) to convert the WMA files to mp3 on a computer. You can then load the mp3 files onto a USB stick (start with a few), or smartphone.

 

[Grandadgeorgec]

When our FL5 first arrived in Jan 2023, I thought it would be just a case of popping in the USB stick and away we go as per all previous non MG cars. How wrong was I and soon realised that the 50+ albums were in the wrong format for the 5 so tried to re-format them using 3rd party software but no success. These albums were all from CDs and they've now long gone, so no way of putting them back on to a new stick in the correct format, if that even works.

So moved on to AA and Amazon Music. Worked ok with albums in the AM library/playlists for a while until AM decided you have to subscribe to AM Unlimited to get any playlists. Otherwise AM just picks albums that are similar to your selected ones. For example, "play Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits" and it'll play something like "Abba Greatest hits", totally random or what,

Without paying the extra for AM Unlimited, how can I stream at least some of my old albums in a playlist by artist or, if someone is really up on this, how to get streamed tunes onto a USB stick.

Any input much appreciated

I use an app on my Android phone called ibroadcast which is compatible with Android Auto. I uploaded all my music which is now available whenever I need it. It also works with Amazon Alexa throught my home. Its a free app and service.?

 

[Pebble]

Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions. File transfer to MP3 is something I'll look at long term but for now, Spotify via AA has come to my rescue. My most played and favourite artists are on there, so will create a few playlists to keep me going.

 

[Gomev]

Griff & Gomez - the original USB files are WMA. I did try conerting to FAT, FAT32 and NTFS using an online file coinverter but the car still refused to acknowledge their existence.

...

FAT, FAT32 and NTFS are not file formats that you can convert your music to. They are how the stick itself is formatted.

See this post (not the whole thread, just this post) New owner, USB and 12 volt battery query

 

[Pebble]

For speed and convinience, I've gone down the Musicolet route.
All albums are on laptop in WMA format, just as they were on the USB. Successfully transferred them to MP3, reloaded onto USB but car refused to read some of the albums. Those that the car did read were all over the place and in no sort of library.
Enter Musicolet - set up a Samsung music file on phone and copied all WMA files from laptop to phone's SD card. Musicolet then took care of the rest. Thanks to all above who recommended this app.
The main reason for using Musicolet was the point that kevin ellard made above - I too need the USB port to run AA nav. If the built-in nav had live traffic, things might have been different.
Now I have all the music I'll ever need and in a more user friendly way than it's ever been on previous cars that did successfully read the USB stick.
Many thanks again for those that offered advice and suggestions

 

[Grriff]

Thanks for letting us know. Glad you sorted out the problem.

 

[Joules]

I have an MG4 Trophy and did find that it would read a large number (more than 1000 files) from the USB stick and then refuse to acknowledge any existed.
I would transfer a few MP3 files to a newly formatted stick and try it in both front USB sockets. Check out any instructions in the infotainment manual, assuming it's of any use.

Hi Pebble & Griff, this happened to me too. 100's of tracks on a USB stick that did work in MG4, then stopped working. Whilst it was in at the dealers for a software update, I asked them to check the USB music. They informed that either something was wrong with my stick or the tracks weren't in MP3 format as theirs worked fine. I converted a couple of tracks from AAC to MP3 using my MacBook Air and they worked fine. So converted all of them and it works OK.
One day I had a look at the manual in the car for the infotainment and in there it says it reads all file formats, including AAC, FLAC etc. So still not sure if something has changed, software wise. The USB stick worked fine in my Kona previously.

 

[snowyy]

For speed and convinience, I've gone down the Musicolet route.
All albums are on laptop in WMA format, just as they were on the USB. Successfully transferred them to MP3, reloaded onto USB but car refused to read some of the albums. Those that the car did read were all over the place and in no sort of library.
Enter Musicolet - set up a Samsung music file on phone and copied all WMA files from laptop to phone's SD card. Musicolet then took care of the rest. Thanks to all above who recommended this app.
The main reason for using Musicolet was the point that kevin ellard made above - I too need the USB port to run AA nav. If the built-in nav had live traffic, things might have been different.
Now I have all the music I'll ever need and in a more user friendly way than it's ever been on previous cars that did successfully read the USB stick.
Many thanks again for those that offered advice and suggestions

If you need more USB output you could buy a cheap USB hub from amazon I can use my stick and android auto without any problem.also You might consider audacity for converting and for acquiring new music via the PC sound card