Connecting a USB-A stick or drive to the infotainment screen

[ebp3]

The fatsort tool that lewma pointed me towards above does work, but it’s not for the tech faint of heart. It’s a command line tool that taxed a decade+ unused part of my brain that actually once knew how to use UNIX.

For now, I was able to get the USB to show up in the grenadier and browse folders and all the files were in the order of their file names. Fat32 256gb thumb drive with .WAV files in separate folders for each album. All files included the track number and should be alphabetically sortable as such. It did not, as far as I can tell, read any metadata in the files and as you and others have said it simply reads the files in the order they were written into the directories. If I understand it correctly, the fatsort tool simply rewrites the order of the files in the fat32 directory system. Voila bobs your uncle you now have a grenadier reading the files in the intended alphabetical order.

Until there is a software update that can address the way the filesystem is read, or even can scan metadata (such as ID3 tags) within the files themselves, I see no other solution.

There was an app version of fatsort but I felt like a challenge. No surprise since I’m the kind of guy who buys a grenadier fully aware of it’s idiosyncrasies

 

[MartinK]

I have taken the USB stick from my last car, but yet to pop it into the Grenadier.
Once I have, the next challenge will be trying to stop the Mrs putting every bloody song taylor swift has even recorded and ruining my playlists with taylor bloody swift

 

[Blackwolf]

Interesting. Fatsort did nothing to make mine work predictably.

 

[smbennett]

I use SDSorter for my digital audio player running Rockbox (https://www.trustfm.net/software/utilities/SDSorter.php) with my truck. It supposedly works with any removable USB drive, but I use it primarily for the SD card in the DAP. Pretty straightforward to use, so might work better for those with USB sticks ? It runs a bit slow, so if it looks like it hangs up on a file - be patient.

 

[lewma]

has anyone tried a new stick, then copy the files/folders to that stick in the order that you want them displayed ? I think FAT32's default sort order is the file/folder creation date

 

[Blackwolf]

Yes. On my vehicle it will still play them in an unpredictable order.

 

[ebp3]

I wanted to follow up… after using fatsort last week to clean up the sort order on my usb thumb drive my head unit has continuously recognized the files in the folders as I sorted them using fatsort (alphabetically). So, this tool seems to be one trick if you’re hellbent on using a thumb drive. It’s not for me. Too much work and even after using a highly technical workaround to get the head unit to behave with reading the files the interface is just clunky.

My main intention with using a thumb drive was being able to play cd quality WAV files and I liked the idea of being able to just leave what was essentially a giant CD carousel in the car.

Going forward I’ll probably mainly plug in my iphone for listening to hi-res audio. The Files app iOS 26 has made accessing the file system easier than ever so I can copy the files into the directory for another app. I like VLC, it’s recognized in CarPlay and does the same thing I’d want from the thumb drive minus just being able to leave it in the car and have it pick up where I left off every time I turn on the car.

Thanks for all the input I’m glad I have a solid understanding of how the current state of the firmware in the factory head unit works and can stop laboring over it now.

 

[lewma]

My main intention with using a thumb drive was being able to play cd quality WAV files and I liked the idea of being able to just leave what was essentially a giant CD carousel in the car.

I use the youtube music app and download tracks to my phone so I can access them offline. Seems to work fine.

 

[CRH]

Dumb questions;

How do I get my CD's to play on the Grenadier?
My old Apple music player thing isn't recognised plus i can't add new CD's to that as can't remember any passwords
As I am asking this, please bear in mind your explanation and abbreviations so I have any chance of knowing what you are talking about. I have tried using some sort of software to save on computer but couldn't get them to save on my phone, or where I did it wouldn't play on the Grenadier.
If I use a USB stick then I would have to unplug the USB that works the Android auto as I have an early vehicle that needs to be plugged in.
I have asked previously but it didn't work

 

[Eric]

Dumb questions;

How do I get my CD's to play on the Grenadier?
My old Apple music player thing isn't recognised plus i can't add new CD's to that as can't remember any passwords
As I am asking this, please bear in mind your explanation and abbreviations so I have any chance of knowing what you are talking about. I have tried using some sort of software to save on computer but couldn't get them to save on my phone, or where I did it wouldn't play on the Grenadier.
If I use a USB stick then I would have to unplug the USB that works the Android auto as I have an early vehicle that needs to be plugged in.
I have asked previously but it didn't work

Step at a time, do you have an old iTunes account on you PC?
Apple files are aac and therefore not recognised by the Grenadier. So they need transfering to a USB stick in MP3 format. If you have ITunes on your PC there is an option to convert Apple aac files to MP3 files. If you don't have an iTunes account on your PC it may be worth opening one (that assumes that facility still exists these days and hasn't been superceded by the iPhone software. In which case I'm lost as an Android phone man) Then upload all your existing Apple tracks from your phone, music player and add the CDs to that account. Then convert the whole lot in one go to MP3 and copy to a USB stick. You say you are using Android Auto plugged in. If it is hard wired, or an AA doogle then you are using the C port. Leaving the A port free to accept a USB stick.

 

[CRH]

Step at a time, do you have an old iTunes account on you PC?
Apple files are aac and therefore not recognised by the Grenadier. So they need transfering to a USB stick in MP3 format. If you have ITunes on your PC there is an option to convert Apple aac files to MP3 files. If you don't have an iTunes account on your PC it may be worth opening one (that assumes that facility still exists these days and hasn't been superceded by the iPhone software. In which case I'm lost as an Android phone man) Then upload all your existing Apple tracks from your phone, music player and add the CDs to that account. Then convert the whole lot in one go to MP3 and copy to a USB stick. You say you are using Android Auto plugged in. If it is hard wired, or an AA doogle then you are using the C port. Leaving the A port free to accept a USB stick.

We had apple account but can't access due to passwords and lined emails. It just doesn't seem to want to let us in due to security and won't let me open a new one because of the linked emails.

Let's forget the Apple player thing for now, we still have all the CDs that were loaded onto it, very little was purchased from the Apple store.

How do I get CD's onto my Android phone or usb and then be able to play on the Grenadier. I don't mind which option, just the easiest.

 

[Eric]

We had apple account but can't access due to passwords and lined emails. It just doesn't seem to want to let us in due to security and won't let me open a new one because of the linked emails.

Let's forget the Apple player thing for now, we still have all the CDs that were loaded onto it, very little was purchased from the Apple store.

How do I get CD's onto my Android phone or usb and then be able to play on the Grenadier. I don't mind which option, just the easiest.

I'd have to have a play on the PC to check, but I think you can load your CDs into your PCs Windows Media Player, and in settings choose MP3 format. Convert all the tracks you want and store in a "Temp" folder on your PC. Then just drag the lot into a USB stick.

 

[Krabby]

I have an old JVC 6-disc changer I’d be willing to part with.

 

[Rok_Dr]

I’ve used the Exact Audio Copy software to rip my CDs to mp3 for many years on my pc. https://www.exactaudiocopy.de

 

[Blackwolf]

... How do I get CD's onto my Android phone or usb and then be able to play on the Grenadier. I don't mind which option, just the easiest.

I use a free software application called MediaMonkey on my PC to convert (or "rip" in the vernacular) all my CDs onto the PC in an MP3 format. I then connect my Android phone by means of a USB cable to the PC and copy the ones I want to listen to in the car from the PC to the phone. I then use an 'app' on the phone called AIMP which works with Android Auto to play back on the car. Before I used the phone I would copy them fro the PC to a USB stick which would plug directly into the Grenadier, but the drawback to this was there was no way I could find, however you wrote them to the stick, to ensure that the playback would be in the right order (which is unacceptable for things like audio books and certain genres of music, especially classical).

It's all a lot more long-winded than the days when you shoved a CD into some random slot between the car audio device and the dashboard and then spent a few hours trying to find out where it went, prior to then putting it the correct slot and playing. But, hey, that's progress!

 

[CRH]

Don't you all just love progress, 'making our lives easier'

I'll have a go at all this again and see how i get on

I could do with a Cd player that just plugs into the USB