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Old 06-21-2018, 08:49 PM   #1
LiveWire195
 
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Exclamation Car Audio (iPod and USB Drives)

Hello All,

Hope I can get some clarity with this because it is really upsetting that I'm not able to figure out why my head unit is having issues with playing music.

So let me preface this with I previously owned a 2014 Camaro LS, and I was able to swap the head unit to a Pioneer touchscreen that supported direct iPod connection. The iPod I used in that car was an iPod Classic 120GB (4th Gen), and it worked flawlessly. I upgraded to a 2017 Camaro 1SS, and realized I'm not going to be able to upgrade the head unit in the vehicle. This is where my frustrations began...

*** I'd also like to note my music collection is roughly 75.1 GBs after cleaning up older stuff that I no longer listen to.
In addition, every Artist has a folder, and within that folder has sub folders for the album. (Screenshot) ***

Media Attempts/Progression:
1. iPod Classic (4th Gen) - URL: https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht204217#ipod

I plugged my existing iPod Classic (4th Gen) that worked without any issues prior, and what would happen is that the head unit would take a significant time to "index" within the system. However there definitely was some compatibility issues because after a certain time of being plugged in the iPod would dead freeze. I would then have to hard reset the iPod to get it to reboot, and then the same issue would occur over and over.

End Result: Not reliable or worth the hassle.


2. Lexmark - USB Stick 32 GB - Purchased at Target or Walmart

This actually worked without any issues. I used this drive since I purchased the vehicle to listen to music in my car. The indexing completed within a timely manner, and loaded up right away when I started the car after it being off for the night (8 hours).

End Result: Great, however I'm missing two thirds of my music collection and, that's really annoying. My car is officially not even a year old, and I don't have all my music with me?


3. iPod Touch 128 GB (7th Gen) (Latest Available) - URL: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/apple-i...?skuId=5707500

I loaded my music collection on to the brand new iPod, and plugged it in to the car. The device never crashed, and worked. Indexing took a while. I did notice a slower seek time for music. Specifically when navigating through artists there would be a minor delay, and then selecting a song would be a half second-to-one second load time.

End Result: I spent $300 on a brand new iPod and it is slower than a 32 GB cheap USB drive?


4. ScanDisk Ultra 128GB - URL: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandisk...?skuId=9044257

I'm three devices in now; trying to find the optimal setup for audio in the car. I decided screw it, I'm just going to buy a 128 GB USB Drive that is USB 3.0 and that should be the end of my problems! Totally wrong. I first get the drive and just copy the music on to the root of the drive. The car starts reading the drive without any issues, indexing at a fast rate, and I'm able to jump around artists/albums without any issues of delay of the list loading up. I'm ecstatic, finally a victory!

The victory is short lived because in about a minute and a half my head unit screen turns off and is a black screen and wipes all my presets and basically "reboots". [Video] I attempted to capture it, but when I started recording the screen just came back online and you can see that the camera goes up and I'm at a stop light at the very beginning, and at around sixteen seconds you see the notification pop up on the head unit that my phone reconnects to the car's Bluetooth.

End Result: Works for about six to seven minutes and gave me a heart attack like my head unit died.



So I should indicate that I do work in IT, and know my way around a computer well. I'm retracing my steps to figure out why my 32 GB drive works and the 128 GB doesn't. I plugged in the 32 GB into the computer, and see that the file system is NTFS. The folders I have in there are the same way I have the 128 GB setup (Artist > Album > .MP3 File). So I'm confused on why that the first drive works, but the new one does not.



____________________________________________

I stopped by a Chevy Service Center on Monday (6/18) after work, and basically updated them on my situation and don't have a clue what I'm talking about. They are more concerned with the fact my car has 36,507 miles, and just want to inform me its going to cost me the diagnostic which is about $140 dollars. Even after I told them on my previous visit I told the guy when I first got out of the car I was having this issue two weeks ago. They then informed me you should of told your service adviser, not the check in staff. I responded with "I don't work for Chevy and how am I supposed to know the guy taking my vehicle information down with the iPad is not going to document an issue that I'm telling them?". Nothing, but we can schedule the diagnostic and take it from there. I told the lady I get it, you have to follow your red tape guidelines but this is a different scenario. You need to reach out to someone to make this right for me. They only offered to schedule the appointment and take it from there; so I did and on Saturday at 7:30 in the morning I have to get ready to get frustrated.

If anyone has any insight, or suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. I love my car and Chevy, but cruising without music really kinda rains on the experience. It would be even more awesome if someone from Chevy sees this and could provide assistance too with making this right...

___________________________________________

Solution:
I didn't realize I did not put the solution in the original thread, so here it is!

I made a script for copying the proper files over to the USB drive. By proper I mean only .mp3, mp4, and .m4a audio files. I initially did a copy and paste of my entire collection right on to the USB drive. However, I lost space because of all of the .jpg files (for album art, that auto download), and caused the head unit to crash because it was reading the .XML (Lidarr; auto music downloading), and .ITL (iTunes library database).

So the script for anyone that wants to do the same setup to make their lives easier they have to copy and paste the code into Notepad, and name it *Filename.BAT*.



Script for Updating USB Drive

Code:
@echo OFF
:Restart
:Choose
cls
set /P c=Is the USB Drive plugged in, and assigned the drive letter U? [Y/N]
if /I "%c%" EQU "Y" goto :CopyFiles
if /I "%c%" EQU "N" goto :Restart
goto :Choose
:CopyFiles
@echo ON
net use M: \\192.168.168.71\Media\Music
ROBOCOPY M: U: *.mp3 *.mp4 *.m4a /MIR /R:0 /S
net use M: /delete
pause
The only items that have to be updated are the following:
  • Line 5 - set /P c=Is the USB Drive plugged in, and assigned the drive letter U? [Y/N] (This is a cosmetic label only, but the letter should be updated to your usb drive letter)
  • Line 11 - net use M: \\192.168.168.71\Media\Music (This should be the actual location of your music collection)
  • Line 12 - ROBOCOPY M: U: *.mp3 *.mp4 *.m4a /MIR /R:0 /S (this needs to be your flash drive letter, or the copy will fail)

Once you update those three lines, you're all set! Whenever you get more music, updating your flash drive is literally one click! Run the script you saved, and it will only check for new files and copy them over.

Last edited by LiveWire195; 09-12-2018 at 05:51 PM.
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Old 06-21-2018, 08:55 PM   #2
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I have a Seagate 500gig portable hdd hooked up to the USB and no issues. It's about 280gigs full. With movies and music and have no issues at all. Have no idea about iPod issues, Don't care for them. Just seems it likes some drives and dislikes others. Sorry can't give much help.
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Old 06-21-2018, 08:57 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chris227 View Post
I have a Seagate 500gig portable hdd hooked up to the USB and no issues. It's about 280gigs full. With movies and music and have no issues at all.
Do you know what the file system is formatted to: NTFS or FAT32?
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Old 06-21-2018, 10:43 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiveWire195 View Post
Do you know what the file system is formatted to: NTFS or FAT32?
I'll check in the morning. Haven't removed it in over a year.
Can't remember which it was.
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Old 06-21-2018, 10:54 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chris227 View Post
I'll check in the morning. Haven't removed it in over a year.
Can't remember which it was.
Thanks Chris, I really appreciate it! I just switched mine from NTFS to FAT32, and was able to get the drive to read and complete indexing. I'll see on my commute to work tomorrow if it wants to act up again.
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Old 06-22-2018, 01:14 AM   #6
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I use a 120gb classic ipod and haven't had any problems with it.
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It didn't go as hoped, but that's okay"
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Old 06-22-2018, 07:43 AM   #7
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Anybody using a Zune? Thinking about plugging mine in
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Old 06-22-2018, 07:57 AM   #8
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my first question is why don't you just use an iphone?

I plug my older iphones in (that aren't updated at all) and they have issues but anything IOS 9 or above I haven't had an issue.
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Old 06-22-2018, 10:53 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kise View Post
my first question is why don't you just use an iphone?

I plug my older iphones in (that aren't updated at all) and they have issues but anything IOS 9 or above I haven't had an issue.
I do not like iPhone's at all. I prefer using my Pixel 2 and the Android OS. Additionally if I were to use one I would have to buy an upgraded model to accommodate the space which is more money that I do not want to spend. Lastly I don't want to have to plug my phone in every time I get in my car to have music.

Last edited by LiveWire195; 06-22-2018 at 12:07 PM.
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Old 06-22-2018, 12:23 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LiveWire195 View Post
Hope I can get some clarity with this because it is really upsetting that I'm not able to figure out why my head unit is having issues with playing music
Your experience mirrors mine.

I tried using iPods. The MyLink system treats iPods as data storage similar to a USB stick, so anything larger than approximately 32Gb can take a very long time to index. My experience is that older iPods (that cannot connect via Apple CarPlay) are no better than USB sticks—perhaps worse—for usability.

If you are willing to live with MyLink, then USB flash drives are inexpensive and easy to use. All USB flash drives are not created equally, though. Some will be quickly read and accessed by MyLink, some take forever. My experience suggests that USB 3.0 is essential for speed and ease of reading by MyLink. The larger the flash drive's capacity, the longer it takes for MyLink to index.

Formatting is also an issue. FAT32 seems to be the most consistently successful formatting type, but MyLink will read MacOS and other formats—but not on a consistent basis in my experience. Format corruption and data issues cropped up for me. I had a 128Gb flash drive index within minutes and play wonderfully for approximately two weeks and then it stopped working. After trying different things, I re-formatted it (FAT32) and it worked again, but never as quickly as the first time. I found some non-music files that made MyLink hang up, but even after deleting those files, the 128Gb drive was slow.

Samsung USB flash drives seem to consistently work well for me, specifically the Fit and the Bar drives. There are some good reviews online about which flash drives work best with MyLink. I used two 64Gb Fits in both USB inputs, but they took forever to index.

I tried using a USB hard drive with no success. I did not try very hard, to be honest.

My biggest complaint is inability to play albums. All I want to do it play albums, not playlists or random songs.

The best solution for me has been using my iPhone 7 via Apple CarPlay. I have an app on my iPhone that shuffles by album (not song), and it works wonderfully. I have gotten used to using my car to charge my phone, so I plug it in via USB and it plays. Usually. Apple CarPlay is almost as inconsistent as MyLink. Sometimes it is as easy as plug and play, but sometimes I have to unplug and re-plug the phone; similarly, it often takes up to one minute for CarPlay (or MyLink) to recognize the phone and start playing. In approximately half of those instances, MyLink/CarPlay will not recognize the iPhone and it ends up being recognized as an iPod via MyLink alone and I must use the MyLink player, not CarPlay. Go figure.

I would venture that the most hassle-free connection between my iPhone and the car is via Bluetooth, but even then there are occasional failures to pair. I had it happen yesterday, as a matter of fact. Bluetooth always seems to pair the iPhone as an iPod using MyLink, not CarPlay.

There is a good question as to whether or not audio sounds better using MyLink playing files versus using my iPhone as media player. I give a slight nod to my iPhone, but at speed, everything sounds a bit muddled.

After 18 months of fiddling around, my best solution is using CarPlay. I keep a USB flash drive in the car as a backup, but if you can get a device to connect via CarPlay, and if CarPlay and MyLink decide to get along, it seems quickest to set the iPod/iPhone running and leave it. If you want to use MyLink as a player (using the car's menus to select music), then I recommend getting a known highly compatible USB 3.0 flash drive.

Sometimes I wish there was a cassette or CD player in my car—they are much easier to use with 99% consistent results!
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Old 06-22-2018, 12:44 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by danomar View Post
There is a good question as to whether or not audio sounds better using MyLink playing files versus using my iPhone as media player. I give a slight nod to my iPhone, but at speed, everything sounds a bit muddled.
Hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply. I feel a little bit better that someone else is going through the non-sense.

Regarding the usage of the Bluetooth, I did remember reading an article the quality of the audio streamed through there is lower than hard wired in.

I do think I found a sweet spot. I formatted the drive to FAT32 last night, and dumped all my music on it. Interestingly enough, I noticed transfer speeds to drives with FAT32 are much slower than NTFS file systems. Example being I copied the entire contents of the drive onto my computer before I formatted and it took roughly around 14-15 minutes. After the format to FAT32 copying the data back it first said it was going to take two plus hours. I reformatted the drive again to FAT32 and set the allocation size to 64 KBs (default is 32 KB for a 128 GB drive). The transfer then said it was going to take and hour and fifteen minutes.

I let the transfer finish, and just opened up the folder to ensure everything copied. During my review I noticed the "iTunes" folder was in there with databases for my music collection; so I deleted it. I suspect this was the reason that the head unit was crashing attempting to read those files. Seems like .ITL files cause the head unit to crash, and seems like a huge bug within the system. These results of course are based on my one commute into work today, as when I started this car this morning it took about 10 seconds to start playing music and no issues to report as of yet.

*** I also wanted to note that FAT32 file system doesn't sort files alphabetically automatically, as I ran into this issue in a previous situation with a project. There is a program entitled "DriveSort" that I used to sort everything after copying so it would be alphabetical.
URL: http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort/?lang=en

If the head unit is stable for a few days, I'm going to reattempt to format the drive to NTFS because it reads and writes much faster to the drive which would also allow the indexing time to be much shorter.
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Old 06-22-2018, 05:43 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by classicrockr View Post
Anybody using a Zune? Thinking about plugging mine in
I miss my Zune. Wish I still had it to be honest!
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Old 06-22-2018, 05:53 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by LiveWire195 View Post
I miss my Zune. Wish I still had it to be honest!
I still have a old Zune Halo 3 zune. My HDD is fat32 by the way.
Had to snap a quick pic.
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Old 06-22-2018, 06:00 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by chris227 View Post
I still have a old Zune Halo 3 zune. My HDD is fat32 by the way.
Had to snap a quick pic.
Thanks Chris! I kinda jumped the gun, and testing out NTFS now. Everything worked without any issues today.

Man that Zune is a relic! Does it still boot up?
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