Thumb drive USB playing music on '23 Silverado

[Dennis Hayes]

When I got my '23 Silverado LTZ I was a little peeved that it didn't include a CD player. Then I discovered that it would play music from a thumb drive and I got happy. I took a 4 gig drive and put 225 of my favorite songs and thought it would be fine but then I found out it only plays about 25 of the songs. I haven't a clue why that happens, does anyone else?

[SteveP45]

No idea, however it should also play music from a connected/synced device like an iphone.

 

How is the USB stick formatted?  FAT, EXFAT or NTFS?   Vehicle tech is usually way behind. 

 

It is why I would never purchase a built it navigation or map system.  I just do my  mapping via the iphone connected to the vehicle and it works find through carplay on the vehicle display (whether it be apple maps, google maps or waze)

 

If I had a 2023 and it was under warranty I would be back at a dealership having them  explain to me why my USB stick did not work and to point me to a website which has all the technical information documenting the limitations.

 

[kickass audio]

It's probably totally different from my 2014 to the 2023 but on my 14 when I connect my big 512GB solid state drive to the radio it takes like 30 minutes to cache all the files and allow me to play them all. I know it's caching when I go to look for a song or artist and see the little refresh symbol on the radio flashing. It is finished when the refresh icon is no longer flashing on the screen. Does yours happen to have that on the radio when you look at the details like for a specific artist or song?

 

I have my drive formatted to either fat32 or NTFS, i'd have to double check.

[redwngr]

There is also a limit on how much scrolling can be done when the vehicle is moving. 

 

Should also be able to store the audio files's on a phone and play thru usb OR wirelessly

[Transient]

I have never tried the thumb drive method.  Been using my phone for many years.  I have been storing must've on my phone for almost 15 years now.  If I'm not listening to XM, or streaming via Amazon Alexa, I use my phone.  I have over 2,100 songs, and constantly adding more.  My truck is a 2020, so I don't have wireless Android Auto.  I connect my phone to the truck via Bluetooth under MyChevrolet.  It's easiest to connect by touching the phone icon, then phone tab at the top of the page, and then connect phone.  Go through the process on both your phone and truck screen and it'll connect.

 

As for transferring the music onto your phone, you should be able to do it by connecting your phone and thumb drive to your computer via USB.

[bdallas]

On 8/26/2023 at 11:16 AM, SteveP45 said:

Vehicle tech is usually way behind. 

 

It is why I would never purchase a built it navigation or map system.  I just do my  mapping via the iphone connected to the vehicle and it works find through carplay on the vehicle display (whether it be apple maps, google maps or waze)

 

 

 

 

My thoughts exactly... Leave the tech to the tech companies.

[Olie Olsen]

Just downloaded music to a 16gb thumbdrive formatted fat32, doesn't work in my 2024 ltz either! Message says no media to support it. Yet it sees the thumbdrive

[redwngr]

2 hours ago, Olie Olsen said:

Just downloaded music to a 16gb thumbdrive formatted fat32, doesn't work in my 2024 ltz either! Message says no media to support it. Yet it sees the thumbdrive

 

What file format are you audio files? 

 

My 2023 will work with MP3's.

Haven't tried any other file types.

 

Most of my audio was cd's that were converted to mp3's using itunes on a descktop (a few years ago) 

 

About 16GB usb formatted with FAT32

About 4GB of data. (mostly audio)

Files organized with nested folders. Artist>album>song 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2024 by redwngr

[kickass audio]

How long did you let it try to index your files? It shouldn't take long with a small drive like yours but I have a 512GB solid state hard drive I plugged in and it will take over 15 minutes to start showing the new songs i add to it and I keep it with over 80GB of music. All the files are MP3 and right in the root of the drive.

 

I did try to make a playlist but it never worked in my favor so I just gave up. The playlist my old 2014 had would show as a playlist but had no content available within it.

[redwngr]

15 hours ago, kickass audio said:

How long did you let it try to index your files? It shouldn't take long with a small drive like yours but I have a 512GB solid state hard drive I plugged in and it will take over 15 minutes to start showing the new songs i add to it and I keep it with over 80GB of music. All the files are MP3 and right in the root of the drive.

 

I did try to make a playlist but it never worked in my favor so I just gave up. The playlist my old 2014 had would show as a playlist but had no content available within it.

 

Mine has no audio files in the root.

 

USB hadn't been used in this truck. (usb is old, I've used for years in other vehicles)

I didn't even start the truck. Just used acc mode.

I only stayed in truck long enough to verify that it would play and didn't wait for index to finish.

 

Once I selected usb as source it said it was indexing, and the audio started playing. 

I was able to use arrow controls to move between songs while this was going on. 

 

I think my 4GB is about 45 hours of audio.

Makes 80GB work out to 900 hours...that's a lot of audio!! 

 

 

[Wayne Black]

First, I've found usb flash drives to be a crapshoot. Some brands work, others are not recognized. They're not all equal.

 

Currently I've found success with a Samsung 32G. Formatted Fat32 and the files are either MP3 or Apple Lossless (MPEG-4). It is recognized and music plays 5 seconds after I plug it in and it is previously indexed.

 

I just leave it on "Shuffle" and it plays all 3,000+ songs from ACDC to ZZ Top with stops at Mel Torme and Keely Smith. (Yes I'm old)

 

Had a 16G Sandisk that worked and now it doesn't. No clue as to why. Arizona heat, maybe? Didn't bother to reformat it just tossed it.

 

Second, stick with brand names.

Foosungtaint or Songgobye and you're asking for trouble.

Currently Amazon is selling some fake flash drives (I know! Shocking right?). Listed as 1TB or 2TB and are only good for maybe 16G or LESS!

 

Gibson Research has a free program to test drives and find out if they're genuine.

https://www.grc.com/validrive.htm

 

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Edit: Forgot, this is in my 2020 Silverado LTZ.

Gotta have that music!

Edited March 17, 2024 by Wayne Black

[Olie Olsen]

Ok, I'll try a different brand of flashdrive. File format is MP3 to usb suppose to be fat32. Works in my fiat 500 but not the silverado

[redwngr]

I agree that name brand is likely a good idea -- but for this job I'm using a random freebee I've had for years. 

 

 

 

[diyer2]

I have been using thumb drives a long time. Fat32 has always worked. San Disk drives are my choice.

[Brian Ritter]

On 8/26/2023 at 9:57 AM, Dennis Hayes said:

When I got my '23 Silverado LTZ I was a little peeved that it didn't include a CD player. Then I discovered that it would play music from a thumb drive and I got happy. I took a 4 gig drive and put 225 of my favorite songs and thought it would be fine but then I found out it only plays about 25 of the songs. I haven't a clue why that happens, does anyone else?

 

I am so happy CD players are a thing of the past! Please do not bring them back!!!