USB Media for Mac user

[DocBrown]

I have older flash drives that aren’t recognized by LUCI. They were formatted FAT32 that worked with my prior Mercedes. If there are any MAC users that can tell me how to create a flash drive that would work in LUCI with protected and unprotected aac files. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[joec]

I have older flash drives that aren’t recognized by LUCI. They were formatted FAT32 that worked with my prior Mercedes. If there are any MAC users that can tell me how to create a flash drive that would work in LUCI with protected and unprotected aac files. Any help would be appreciated.

I formatted a thumb drive just a little while ago in FAT32 on my Mac using Disk Utility. And the Lucid recognizes it just fine. Are you just not seeing the drive at all, or will it just not play the files?

I did have to disconnect and reconnect after choosing USB Media in order to get it to show up. At first, it just said "Insert USB" or something like that.

Hope that helps.

 

[DocBrown]

I’ve connected and reconnected multiple times and still says to plug in a flash drive. Are you using the USB a or USB c port? Tried resetting the car to no avail. Tried reformatting flash drive, unfortunately nothing has worked yet.

 

[GoFast]

I have older flash drives that aren’t recognized by LUCI. They were formatted FAT32 that worked with my prior Mercedes. If there are any MAC users that can tell me how to create a flash drive that would work in LUCI with protected and unprotected aac files. Any help would be appreciated.

Are you sure it isn't formatted as an exFAT volume ?

That would explain what you are seeing...

 

[DocBrown]

I’ve tried both fat32 and exfat with no success

 

[joec]

I’m using the USB-C port. In the front console. The ones in the back won’t work. They are still power only.

 

[pmasonaz]

Not a Mac user, but Windows and having same issue. Formatted Fat32, went to the USB icon and then inserted the flash drive and getting error. Brand new flash drive, so speed not an issue.
???

 

[Rocko]

You may have answered your own question by pointing out that it was an older flash drive. I tried with an old 4gb flash drive, no dice. Same vintage 128gb flash drive no dice in either port. Finally, grabbed a newer (faster) micro sd card and it worked first time on both USBA and USBC with an adapter. The working SD card is a class 10 I have for use with a GoPro. Fwiw, it's formatted to FAT32 which a Mac can do.

Because it has to scan the entire collection each startup, I don't think it's practical for the full music library, but maybe some favorite playlists.

 

[DocBrown]

guess I’ll have to get another flash drive, unless someone gets the usb a to work?? I currently use the usb C to charge my phone and I have a phone cradle because I use Waze.

 

[Rocko]

Try a faster drive with USB A. I'm using a micro SD card with an adapter in the USB A plug.

 

[DocBrown]

Any recommendations for a faster usb a flash drive to try? And one that will fit under the panel easily?

 

[Rocko]

I used a class 10 card and it worked. Likely overkill, but they are cheap. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultr...refix=micro+sd+cl,electronics,240&sr=1-5&th=1

If you don't already have one, you will need a usb adapter like: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobi...s&sprefix=micro+sd+usb,electronics,168&sr=1-3

For what it's worth, the effort seems to have been worth it for me. As others have said, the higher bitrate files sound noticeably better.

Downside is the file browser is functional but very much a first generation.

 

[DocBrown]

Thanks for the info, guess I’ll see what Best Buy has tomorrow and give it another go.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Just saying, now that I had a moment to sit down and properly evaluate the USB audio on the car, playing back m4a tracks from my library I put together ages ago, holy crap this sounds so good I can barely believe it. It’s like I’m hearing the song again for the first time. Obvious if you have some weak ass small mP3 file it’s not going to sound right, but I had ripped everything at minimum 16bit 44khz or whatever format it was mastered in, had some 24 bit 96khz I down converted too, then converted to the highest resolution m4a, and it’s like I’ve been given a professional grade recording studio. Having heard some of these tracks in an actual professional studio on either Meyer HD1 or Mackie or Genelec speakers, the Lucid is the next best thing. Whoa. To my ear the bass sounds fuller also, kicks you in the chest for sure. I guess streaming is still inferior to direct off a USB drive! I’m not kidding, if we got CarPlay tomorrow and it was wireless and didn’t play audio directly over USB, I probably wouldn’t even use it except for Atmos tracks, because the USB version sounds better than any streaming format I’ve heard.

 

[pmasonaz]

I purchased this USB-C / USB-A drive from Amazon. Downloaded music and plugged it into the USB-C port in the car and recognized instantly. Worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BD72M6Y4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[Drendino]

I purchased this USB-C / USB-A drive from Amazon. Downloaded music and plugged it into the USB-C port in the car and recognized instantly. Worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BD72M6Y4?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Thanks, I need to pick one up. I assume that it fits ok?

 

[idiot900]

Just saying, now that I had a moment to sit down and properly evaluate the USB audio on the car, playing back m4a tracks from my library I put together ages ago, holy crap this sounds so good I can barely believe it. It’s like I’m hearing the song again for the first time. Obvious if you have some weak ass small mP3 file it’s not going to sound right, but I had ripped everything at minimum 16bit 44khz or whatever format it was mastered in, had some 24 bit 96khz I down converted too, then converted to the highest resolution m4a, and it’s like I’ve been given a professional grade recording studio. Having heard some of these tracks in an actual professional studio on either Meyer HD1 or Mackie or Genelec speakers, the Lucid is the next best thing. Whoa. To my ear the bass sounds fuller also, kicks you in the chest for sure. I guess streaming is still inferior to direct off a USB drive! I’m not kidding, if we got CarPlay tomorrow and it was wireless and didn’t play audio directly over USB, I probably wouldn’t even use it except for Atmos tracks, because the USB version sounds better than any streaming format I’ve heard.

M4A is just the container format. What was the codec? AAC? At what bitrate(s)?

Curiously, do you think you could tell the difference in a blind comparison between the exact same song on Spotify vs your file on USB stick? Both while parked and driving?

Even if there's no difference in audio quality, this is still a great feature to have for various other reasons, and one I'll be using.

 

[joec]

I will say this about USB sticks: Get one with a fast read speed. Makes a huge difference. The one I'm using now connects via USB-A, but it's basically an adapter for a very fast micro SD card made for media files. Even using the USB-A connection, it's way faster than my other stick that was USB-C.( It's actually the old drive I was using for Sentry Mode on my prior Tesla.) Loads up very quickly and plays great.

And yes, you can definitely hear a difference when using the stick vs streaming. Especially if you have flac files or WAVs, but even with 256 AAC files I ripped many years ago, it sounds way better than streaming the phone over Bluetooth, and maybe even better than non-Atmos Tidal tracks. Hard to say with the last one.

Still think Tidal Atmos sounds great, too. But this new feature has me thinking wired CarPlay will be the bees knees when it finally gets released.

 

[Drendino]

I will say this about USB sticks: Get one with a fast read speed. Makes a huge difference. The one I'm using now connects via USB-A, but it's basically an adapter for a very fast micro SD card made for media files. Even using the USB-A connection, it's way faster than my other stick that was USB-C.( It's actually the old drive I was using for Sentry Mode on my prior Tesla.) Loads up very quickly and plays great.

And yes, you can definitely hear a difference when using the stick vs streaming. Especially if you have flac files or WAVs, but even with 256 AAC files I ripped many years ago, it sounds way better than streaming the phone over Bluetooth, and maybe even better than non-Atmos Tidal tracks. Hard to say with the last one.

Still think Tidal Atmos sounds great, too. But this new feature has me thinking wired CarPlay will be the bees knees when it finally gets released.

Can you recommend a USB stick? I’ve been out of the game ever since I converted my cassette tapes to CDs. I’m not even going to talk about my 8 track collection.

 

[BACamster]

Can you recommend a USB stick? I’ve been out of the game ever since I converted my cassette tapes to CDs. I’m not even going to talk about my 8 track collection.

The Sandisk Ultra Fit series is fast, small and reliable.

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/usb-flash-drives/sandisk-ultra-fit-usb-3-1#SDCZ430-016G-G46