USB Music problem

[JonPaul]

I'm trying to play MP3 music files via a flash drive through the USB sockets of my "new" 2018 PHE V Outlander. When I switch to the USB option on the main panel it asks me to plug in the device. When I do this the message stays the same and nothing happens.

Am I being stupid? The manual says I should not plug the flash drive directly into the socket, but use an extension - so I do that, though I can't see what the point is. (Allegedly it avoids any risk of drive corruption.)

No fuses are blown as far as I can tell.

Any help appreciated.

 

[AndyInOz]

My first thought is that it is expecting a USB enabled media player rather than a USB memory stick.

Try connect a phone by the same USB cord and see if you can play music from your phone.

You may need an OTG cable to connect USB to your phone.

 

[JonPaul]

Thanks for this, I'll give it a go. But what is this cable you're talking about??? I'm also actually having trouble connecting my phone to the system as well, although theoretically it's linked with Bluetooth. I'm wondering whether some Outlander models have certain functions of the infotainment software disabled?

 

[DaveL59]

When you plug your phone in, does it charge?

It's possible that the cable in the back of the head unit has come adrift hence no connection.

On my MY2019 I have plugged a USB key in and it played fine, tho it isn't the standard SDA head unit. It is a Mitsu unit from a different model, so no hybrid info display and unfortunately only one USB so I can only run with the phone hooked up if I want android-auto displaying. Luckily my unit has a CD/DVD so I just wrote a music mix of MP3's to disc and use that rather than USB.

Pretty sure that my daughter's 2018 with SDA does play from SD card with no need for an OTG (on-th-go) cable and when I tried I plugged the USB key direct, no cable/adaptor.

 

[JonPaul]

Really grateful for the hints. No progress yet, but yes my phone does charge ok so I'm fairly convinced it's something to do with file formats, but I've not the faintest idea what to do about it!

 

[AndyInOz]

Aha!

File formats! You've reminded me of something that has come up before.

The interface used only allows a limited character set.

Something to do with the Blue tooth version? I'm trying to remember, but I ran into it when trying to play music over USB and via a memory card...

For example I had a folder labelled: "Sinéad O'Connor"

Neither the é nor the ' were allowed.

Many of the song titles had similar characters and every one had to be hunted down and replaced with plain text.

 

[AndyInOz]

I've found a few posts that talk about the issues.

Special Characters, expected folder structures, version of ID tags on the files, lengths of filenames and number of tracks are all mentioned as issues.

I found that I had to remove accents and odd characters from the MP3 filenames in order for files to be seen. Also if the names were too long they couldn't be seen.

Hope that helps.

You may need to dig into your MMCS manual to find out the restrictions for your model.

I've thought of a quick test you could perform.

Start with a blank USB stick and add one file in one folder, make sure that there are only letters and numbers in the file name and folder name.

Don't use any tone mark characters or any symbol like . ' @!%#@ etc.

 

[AndyInOz]

Looking in my MMCS manual, there are a lot of limitations...

Maximum level of folders is 8, with the root folder counting as the first level.

Maximum number of files is 255.

Maximum number of characters in file and folder names is 128 bytes (64 unicode characters)

For USB they recommend only one partition, and it should be formatted as FAT32.

Maximum supported size is 32GB (SDHC standard is supported)

From there it goes into the standards for each file type that is supported.

I can see that members have managed to get their music to play and display correctly, including tags and album art.

 

[JonPaul]

Thanks for all this interesting stuff. No progress yet, but the 2TB flash drive I'm using had only one experimental CD transferred to it with about 16 separate music tracks on it, so I can't believe such a small amount would overwhelm the brain! And another mystery to keep everyone going is that my Android phone, now paired with the car's system and recognised by it, won't do anything either!!!!

These are all minor niggles with a pretty sound vehicle.

 

[DaveL59]

Useful info Andy, thanks.

Did it give any limits on things like bitrate for the tracks at all? I noted on some previous cars that high bitrates , 256 as an example, wouldn't play but just be skipped. Will have to check if the Mitsi head unit in mine does the same playing back off DVD as I've a mix from 128-192 and 256 bit MP3. The DVD I cut has around 415 tracks and seems to work fine, same tracks as I had on a USB key that was 4 GB, using around 2.8GB but a lot depends on the head unit as you wrote. I'll have to go through and see how it is handling the track tags with ' etc in now.

Now if I could get it to remember to start in RDM mode as the DVD playback seems to keep switching to loop disc after a long shutoff, annoying.

 

[JonPaul]

Thanks again Dave, but your latest post is technically completely beyond me! I think I'll just end up buying a cheap portable CD player!!!!!!

I don't really need to make hands free phone calls or receive them when driving either! I just thought that the capabilities of such an expensive and electronically clever car should actually be functional.

 

[DaveL59]

Agreed JonPaul, there seem to be a few limitations, such as current delivered for charging on the USB ports. I find my Samsung Note10plus actually loses charge over distance when its USB connected and running AndroidAuto and TomTom Go for Nav. Negates me putting in a Qi charge pad on 2A USB outlet as you can't do both at the same time. Music playback from the phone works via the head unit tho which doesn't seem to be the case with yours?

Out of interest, which head unit is yours, the older MMCS or the later all-touch SDA?

The later touchscreen only SDA that came in around 2018/19 does support AndroidAuto, wired mode only, the bigger 10-inch perhaps does wireless but not sure if we got those here in the UK, maybe on the last 2020 model.

When I picked up my used 2019 it had a completely different head unit, touch screen plus buttons down both sides like the MMCS, but its from a later L200 or the small compact car. Result is I have a CD/DVD player but only the one (front) USB is connected as it has a microSD slot in the front which is for the NAV/Map only, unfortunately. Upside is 360 camera and other functions work as they should but no hybrid info displays. I've not bothered so far to try source an SDA to swap it out as I quite like the real buttons along the sides, touch screens seem plain dangerous to me if you need to use them when driving, no tactile feel so you have to look away from the road.

 

[JonPaul]

No idea what MMCS and SDA stand for ! But the screen is large and entirely controlled by touch. My wife fiddles, as it were, while I drive. The car is a 2018 model and I'm in the UK.

 

[DaveL59]

OK sounds the same as my daughter's 2018 model then.

What phone are you using? She's able to use android auto (same note10plus phone as me) OK when plugged into the front USB. Things can get confused if they then plug another phone into the rear port at the same time. Recent update on the phone has given split screen display too. Should work OK with the fruity phones as well I think, tho neither of us use those so can't verify.

Might sound obvious, but is the USB cable you are using a full data one or power/charging only? You want a reasonable quality data one to get a stable connection, esp given the low-ish power output from the head unit. My daughter and mine are USB-C rather than the older mini/micro-USB phone connectors, not tried my older note-3 to see if that'd work.

 

[JonPaul]

Phone is Vodafone N10; not brilliant but not old either. I've tried various different cables normally used for file transfers from external hard drives so should be ok.

 

[DaveL59]

No knowledge of that phone but android 9 so I'd expect it should work ok, as should an USB key. Makes me wonder if the USB socket or cabling to the head unit are at fault. Perhaps worth checking those out if you aren't getting anywhere and can't try another device. Do you get the same result from both USB inputs, front and rear?

 

[JonPaul]

Both inputs produce messages saying things like "USB device not supported" . Both are definitely live because they charge my phone ok.

 

[AndyInOz]

I think you need a manual for your model.

The size of your USB device definitely could be an issue though, there's a big difference between 32 Gb and 2 Terabytes.

I'd hope that yours recognises larger devices than mine, but that's a massive USB thumb drive.

 

[JonPaul]

Yes Andy you may well be right. A friend well familiar with IT has said the same thing. I'm going to try a much smaller flash drive when I have time. I Bought a large capacity one for reasons other than just the car because I thought if there was only 1 CD on it there'd be no problem, but I misunderstood how this stuff (formats etc) work. My PC recognises it (and the files) without a problem, but of course it's altogether larger than the car's brain.

 

[DaveL59]

Ahh I'd assumed your 2TB was a typo for 2GB so yes that is likely to be an issue. I have used 2/4/8GB USB keys without a problem so if you aim for 16GB or less that may well work OK. No idea what the SDA limit is but you would want it default formatted (FAT). Can't veryfy as my daughter lives a distance away but hopefully your manual would tell you.