Music player

[hruh7 jooohl]

I'm looking for the best alternative to playing my music collection on my 2020 GMC Denali 1500

I have a classic 160gig ipod. The system recognizes that my ipod is there and my selection shows up on screen, but does not start to play.

I was thinking of purchasing a later gen6 or 7 ipod touch to load my music on then, that would play? or has anyone found different methods?

I'm not a Spotify user or any other. I have a huge music collection that i prefer to load onto a player and play that way.

 

Thank You,

Howard

[Rook126]

I drive the same year and Denali trim you mentioned. I mainly use a Bluetooth connected iPhone for my music but I also have been using a stubby 128gb SanDisk USB drive that is left in the USB port under the center console lid. Formatted in FAT32. Amazon still sells it for $16. SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive - SDCZ430-128G-G46

There is also a 256 and 512 but I don't know if they will work. 

 

You can rename your USB drive and that is what will show up on your screen as a music source. I have noticed it spending 30 seconds to a minute indexing all of the files after you first plug it in and power the radio. Music from the drive will play while it is indexing but you just can't navigate to other songs until it is done. Note that the larger drives with more files will likely take more time to index.

 

iTunes already organizes all of my music files into folders named after the artists. I just went to the folder where iTunes stores all of the media and copied every artist folder onto my SanDisk USB. 

 

I haven't experimented with creating playlist so I'm not sure how that is done but the option is available on the touchscreen. Music is sorted by song, artists, genre, album, etc. Play anything you want or just shuffle it all. Song information displays just as it does while play from your phone and the album art displays on the screen if you have that too.

 

 

 

[cwtech]

I don't know if this is your problem, but what format are your music files?

 

My 2021 with IOR radio will not play WMA files.  ...I had to convert some of my music files to MP3 files.

[603Denali]

Howard, I have a ~5 year old Ipod Touch in my 2020 Sierra Denali and overall it works well.  It does have a few annoying quirks once and awhile and I cant tell if its the truck or the Ipod.  There are times it freezes and wont play a song so I simply restart the Ipod and it seems to fix the issue.  Another problem, again intermittent, where I go to start the truck or have remote started, turned on the ignition and it plays 2-3 seconds of a song extremely loud!  It's the weirdest thing, I set the start volume on the truck to zero and it still does it, scares the crap out of me and my passengers.  This was never and issue until the truck updated a few months ago.  Super annoying! 

[redwngr]

How many gigs of music on the ipod? 

 

2020 Infotainment system supports these file formats -  

 

Playing from a USB
A USB mass storage device can be connected to the USB port.
Audio extensions supported by the USB may include:
. FLAC
. MP3
. AAC
. OGG
. 3GP

 

 

I used itunes to convert my cd collection to mp3 for use on a usb flash drive. 

I used a Lexar, similar in physical size to what rook126 posted -- but any usb stick should work. 

One advantage of that physical size is it reduces the change of damage stuff getting caught on it -- and of course not cable to get tangled.

 

 

If you have a huge amount of files and decide to move/convert them, do a small group first to be sure the method is working as intended.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by redwngr

[hruh7 jooohl]

On 5/4/2022 at 10:15 AM, cwtech said:

I don't know if this is your problem, but what format are your music files?

 

My 2021 with IOR radio will not play WMA files.  ...I had to convert some of my music files to MP3 files.

Most of my files are Mp3's, but they are all on iTunes, so I could convert them. They all played on my 2018 Ford F-150 XLT.

However, now with my Denali, they don't play at all. I'm thinking the iPod I have, 2nd gen, is just too old.

Thank You

[hruh7 jooohl]

On 5/4/2022 at 10:32 AM, 603Denali said:

Howard, I have a ~5 year old Ipod Touch in my 2020 Sierra Denali and overall it works well.  It does have a few annoying quirks once and awhile and I cant tell if its the truck or the Ipod.  There are times it freezes and wont play a song so I simply restart the Ipod and it seems to fix the issue.  Another problem, again intermittent, where I go to start the truck or have remote started, turned on the ignition and it plays 2-3 seconds of a song extremely loud!  It's the weirdest thing, I set the start volume on the truck to zero and it still does it, scares the crap out of me and my passengers.  This was never and issue until the truck updated a few months ago.  Super annoying! 

Wow, I can imagine their, and your surprise! ha. I have found my 2020 Denali is good at keeping the start volume. My issue is my old iPod. It's a first or 2nd gen. I think I'll break down and purchase a 6th or 7th gen ipod touch.

Another responder on this page suggested a micro flash drive. Excellent idea, but again my truck did not have his option, which was a flash drive slot on the front console up from the C-drive slot and USB. Nice. My truck does have a flash drive slot, but inserted in the slot in a navigation drive that needs to stay. {i think}.

Thanks for the response.

[hruh7 jooohl]

On 5/3/2022 at 8:54 PM, Rook126 said:

I drive the same year and Denali trim you mentioned. I mainly use a Bluetooth connected iPhone for my music but I also have been using a stubby 128gb SanDisk USB drive that is left in the USB port under the center console lid. Formatted in FAT32. Amazon still sells it for $16. SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive - SDCZ430-128G-G46

There is also a 256 and 512 but I don't know if they will work. 

 

You can rename your USB drive and that is what will show up on your screen as a music source. I have noticed it spending 30 seconds to a minute indexing all of the files after you first plug it in and power the radio. Music from the drive will play while it is indexing but you just can't navigate to other songs until it is done. Note that the larger drives with more files will likely take more time to index.

 

iTunes already organizes all of my music files into folders named after the artists. I just went to the folder where iTunes stores all of the media and copied every artist folder onto my SanDisk USB. 

 

I haven't experimented with creating playlist so I'm not sure how that is done but the option is available on the touchscreen. Music is sorted by song, artists, genre, album, etc. Play anything you want or just shuffle it all. Song information displays just as it does while play from your phone and the album art displays on the screen if you have that too.

 

 

 

 

[hruh7 jooohl]

Thanks for your response. I checked to look at my console. It is different. That seems odd, given they are the same model. My console has the C-drive slot for charging phones/devices...etc and a USB, but that's it on the center console. However, in the middle console opening the center glove compartment I have an AUX insert 3/8 jack and a USB, also a flash drive slot. Currently in the slot is a factory drive with navigation info on it. I have not read on that yet, but think it might be necessary to stay put to receive and store all navigation changes, updates, etc...

So that being said, it does have a drive I could use, but is taken with this NAV drive.

Looks, like I might go ahead and upgrade to an iPod touch late gen.

 

Thanks for the reply,

Howard

[KARNUT]

I’m an older guy. All my albums, cassettes, CDs are on mp3s then to iPods. All out dated and  in a closet. Seven thousand songs total. I like things simple. Pandora, prime, IHeartRadio on my iPhone. I hit a button on my iPhone or steering wheel say an artist or album and play that  and equivalent music. Couldn’t be easier.