USB Music

[dsr]

In my previous car, I had my offline music on a memory card, structured via directories and sub-directories. A couple of examples: Pop - Springsteen - then various CDs; Chamber - Beethoven - String Quartets - then individual quartets. I haven't counted how many individual music folders I have, but there must be well over a thousand.

Sadly, I think I am correct in saying that I cannot in the MG4 (I have the ER version) use directories, but only individual music folders containing the tracks of a particular music album or piece of music. Can anyone confirm this is so?

If correct, I need some logical system to allow my music to list sensibly. The only thing I can think of is to give each category a code, say 01 for Pop and 02 for Chamber Music. For Pop, I could then order music, by performer and release date, by something like: 01 Springsteen 01 Greetings from Asbury Park; 01 Springsteen 02 The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, etc. For Chamber, it would be 02 Beethoven String Quartet No. 1, Op 18 No 2; 02 Beethoven String Quartet No. 2, Op 18 No 2, etc. I hope that makes sense? I trust the software will allow me to create 1,000+ folders, but I don't like the idea of scrolling through them! Is there a better way than that I have outlined?

As a postscript, I think I do know how to ensure I can see the music title and artist while playing a track.

 

[Rolfe]

This thread may help, although the OP is a bit long-winded and you don't need to do all of it.

Missing your in-car CD player?

I’m not sure how many people will be interested in this, but since I figured it out (and then wrote down what I had done in case I forgot it), I thought I might as well share it. It’s probably mostly of relevance to classical music fans. Obviously the MG4 doesn’t have an in-car CD player...

www.mgevs.com

However, if you have the ER, I think that's a Trophy spec, and I think you can use folders in the Trophy, but the way to access them is not intuitive. Something about a "play all" button? Worth a play around. I recall a Trophy owner earlier complaining that she couldn't access folders and then finding that she could.

Unfortunately the SE doesn't do it, so we're stuck until a software update fixes it.

As for seeing the title and the artist, that happens in mine without me doing anything, and that's just on the SE.

 

[GaryMG4]

On my Trophy I tried a USB stick copied from my iTunes library. the structure is artist>album>track but even though the track file name had a track number prefix it still just played the tracks in alphabetical order. So it appears to sort track name embedded within the metadata rather than file name. I gave up in the end and use CarPlay where I can set up playlists by genre.

 

[Rolfe]

That's odd, because although that's what the SE does, other Trophy owners report two directory layers. Have you tried the "play all" thing?

 

[dsr]

Thanks, both. I now have some clues to allow me to try out some simple structures. I will report back; just give me a day or two.

 

[GaryMG4]

That's odd, because although that's what the SE does, other Trophy owners report two directory layers. Have you tried the "play all" thing?

Yes, I can view the artist layer and the album layer within that, but when I ask it to play an album it still plays them alphabetically within the album based on the track title not the file name.

 

[Rolfe]

Ah, that's what you mean. Yes, it's a pain. You still have to rename your tracks, but at least you can just put numbers in front of the existing names I think.

It's a problem I would love to have.

 

[JonnyG]

Thanks, both. I now have some clues to allow me to try out some simple structures. I will report back; just give me a day or two.

Try it with a few directories first and then add more if that works.

Mine initially spent a few minutes reading the USB C stick and read well over 1000 songs but then did'nt display any folders, songs or anything (even though it would randomly play tracks).

I then formatted the whole USB stick and added just 4 folders (albums) with all tracks and then it worked OK and displayed everything on the left hand side of the screen . It's a bit of trial and error getting it to play albums in sequence and even then it plays them in a different order sometimes like GaryMG4 says.

 

[dsr]

Try it with a few directories first and then add more if that works.

Mine initially spent a few minutes reading the USB C stick and read well over 1000 songs but then did'nt display any folders, songs or anything (even though it would randomly play tracks).

I then formatted the whole USB stick and added just 4 folders (albums) with all tracks and then it worked OK and displayed everything on the left hand side of the screen . It's a bit of trial and error getting it to play albums in sequence and even then it plays them in a different order sometimes like GaryMG4 says.

 

[CooperS]

I have a usb that I have used in my last few cars without issue, but I dont recall what the format is. So will be interesting to see if it works when I get the car.
I have a couple of ipods with a lot of music on, has anyone tried connecting one of those?

 

[JonnyG]

These work well ... I used it in my last car for 2 years with no problems and it works in the MG4. It can plug into USB A or C and is black, pretty small and inconspicuous

Amazon product ASIN B07PV6NZVW

 

[Rolfe]

I have a usb that I have used in my last few cars without issue, but I dont recall what the format is. So will be interesting to see if it works when I get the car.
I have a couple of ipods with a lot of music on, has anyone tried connecting one of those?

Yes, although in the SE. It doesn't recognise .m4p files at all. What my SE did was to ferret out all the .mp3 files on the iPod, irrespective of where they were, and proceed to play these files in alphabetical order of track name.

Useless. My 2009 Golf could play iPod files and recognise iPod playlists. Although it was all pretty unintuitive.

 

[CooperS]

Useless. My 2009 Golf could play iPod files and recognise iPod playlists. Although it was all pretty unintuitive.

Progress in theory! Although it does depend on both the cars and ipods software being compatible. Have had issues with both older and newer cars and ipods in the past, you pays your money… as they say.

 

[Rolfe]

Progress.

1970s. No in-car entertainment, and I used to put my transistor radio on the passenger seat when I borrowed my dad's Ford Escort.
1980s. MW/LW radio in my first car, a Fiesta. Fairly crackly and overwhelmed by the Radio Albania call-sign at midnight. Had to be replaced with an FM radio when they turned off the MW signal.
1990s. FM radio and a cassette player in my second Fiesta, what luxury! At last I could play music of my choosing in the car.
Also 1990s, my Pegeot had a 6-CD cassette in the boot, I hadn't ordered it but it came with that extra in place. So long as I was prepared to load the CDs before I left, I had a playlist. Also FM radio, of course.
2000s. My Golf had an FM radio, a single-disc CD player and the capability to play iPod playlists. It also had a USB player I never investigated. What luxury!

2020s. MG4 has a radio, FM and DAB, so don't knock that. But the improvements in self-selected music have been brought to a screeching halt with a USB player that doesn't work, and a whole lot of sanctimonious lectures about getting with the programme grandma, Spotify and YouTube and if you don't want to listen to your music that way, tough.

 

[CooperS]

Have I touched a nerve….

 

[Rolfe]

Perhaps slightly!

 

[dsr]

My promised update on my attempt to install my USB music.

Three caveats. Firstly, I have Trophy spec on my ER; other posts suggest things may be different for non-Trophy people. Secondly, I have only used the ‘big screen’. I have yet to learn how to operate the controls generally on either side of the steering wheel; I guess I will find nothing different when using the right hand side controls, but this is a guess. Thirdly, I have a real issue about tracks - more about that, at some length, at the end of this post.

Subject to the caveats, the USB music works for me. I used Nero to set up the music for my previous Seat Leon - with folders, sub-folders and tracks. The MG4 recognised them and displayed the relevant information - track title, album/piece of music and performer(s). I could do with the last two bits of info in a larger font, but that is mentioned by others in relation to different screen information.

All I had to do was choose ‘Play all’ and I could then access my folders. Whether going up or down the directory structure, there is one fairly obvious button to press. Clearly, there is a slight safety issue in touching anything on the screen while driving and it might need three or four pushes to get from, say, a pop album to one with kids’ songs. I generally have my tracks starting 01, 02, etc., so I have no issue with them playing alphabetically rather than in album order. As a little aside, I experimented with a few tracks and was slightly surprised that they play A, B, 01, 02 rather than 01, 02, A, B, although this has no practical relevance.

Now for my third caveat. After finding that USB ‘works’, I then transferred all my current music to a USB. Worryingly, that gave me a “No tracks” message where I would expect the music information to be. After fiddling for a bit and getting nowhere, I found some posts on other model forums which talked of a limit to the number of tracks. I don’t think anyone knows the exact limit, but a figure of “about 5,000” is quoted. There are inevitably comments on the relevant threads along the lines of who needs more than 500, let alone, 5,000 but I, for one, do. I have adopted an unsatisfactory workaround of using three USBs, with different categories of music on them. I have a male-female C cable through the right hand slot, so that I can change USBs more readily, but (unless my wife is in the car to do,it for me) I will need to park up to make the change. I appreciate that, on a short journey it doesn’t really matter and I could also create another listing with selected music from the various categories I have, but it shouldn’t be necessary. The software on my 2014 Leon coped well enough with all my music. Why can’t MG do it nine years later?

 

[Rolfe]

Think yourself lucky you have folders at all! If you look on the left side of the second image I posted above, you'll see what I have to do to get every track in order.

 

[dsr]

Think yourself lucky you have folders at all! If you look on the left side of the second image I posted above, you'll see what I have to do to get every track in order.

 

[JonnyG]

You can also get album covers to show if you have the jpg in your folder