Thumb drive?
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,761
Likes: 240
From: Saint Louis MO
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
This stuff is soooo complicated, just to play music. I'm looking at my laptop which has 3 usb ports but they are not colored. Also the above drive from Walmart can hold 36000 songs, I only have about 10000, so why would I need two of them. I would like to buy a thumb drive tis weekend but I still don't know what to buy. I'm wondering also if this would be compatible with a 2015 vette? Who knows. Thanks for your help.
USB is and has always been backwards-compatible. If you have a USB port, you can use any USB memory stick. Period. The speeds are affected by the revision (2.0 vs 3.0, etc) - the connector is the same. So let's not worry about that.
There was a bit of an error before in bitrate calculation. I would suggest using a single 128GB stick to give you room for expansion plus handle moving everything over from your iPod.
A 64GB stick would be equivalent to having a 60GB iPod, and if you're moving from something approximately that size, there's no room for growth.
So, pick a well-reviewed and reliable 128GB stick (remember, if the stick dies, there goes all the music), fill it with MP3s, and plug her in!
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,939
Likes: 14
From: Baltimore Md.
It's really not complicated at all - I promise!
USB is and has always been backwards-compatible. If you have a USB port, you can use any USB memory stick. Period. The speeds are affected by the revision (2.0 vs 3.0, etc) - the connector is the same. So let's not worry about that.
There was a bit of an error before in bitrate calculation. I would suggest using a single 128GB stick to give you room for expansion plus handle moving everything over from your iPod.
A 64GB stick would be equivalent to having a 60GB iPod, and if you're moving from something approximately that size, there's no room for growth.
So, pick a well-reviewed and reliable 128GB stick (remember, if the stick dies, there goes all the music), fill it with MP3s, and plug her in!
USB is and has always been backwards-compatible. If you have a USB port, you can use any USB memory stick. Period. The speeds are affected by the revision (2.0 vs 3.0, etc) - the connector is the same. So let's not worry about that.
There was a bit of an error before in bitrate calculation. I would suggest using a single 128GB stick to give you room for expansion plus handle moving everything over from your iPod.
A 64GB stick would be equivalent to having a 60GB iPod, and if you're moving from something approximately that size, there's no room for growth.
So, pick a well-reviewed and reliable 128GB stick (remember, if the stick dies, there goes all the music), fill it with MP3s, and plug her in!
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,939
Likes: 14
From: Baltimore Md.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,761
Likes: 240
From: Saint Louis MO
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
Good news: That's FAT32 formatted from the factory. 
Copy a few songs over to it first, then stick it in the C7 to confirm playback. If all works as planned, load up the rest of your music!
Copy a few songs over to it first, then stick it in the C7 to confirm playback. If all works as planned, load up the rest of your music!
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,939
Likes: 14
From: Baltimore Md.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 4,661
Likes: 67
From: Ocean Springs MS
Seriously, there is an input jack so you if you can find a portable CD player with a headset jack, a connector cord will hook you up. Of course, then you need a power cord or batteries.
On the other hand, I got in the wife's C7 today, said "play Eagles," and had all their albums available. In an auto exterior environment, I'd be hard pressed to tell any difference between a CD and the same song ripped to a 256bps MP3. Our 32GB SD card is only about 2/3 full and has over 4500 songs.
Last edited by fdxpilot; Jan 7, 2014 at 10:42 PM.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,939
Likes: 14
From: Baltimore Md.
Questions:
1. is it possible to transfer "playlist" from itunes to flash drive?
2. when you plug in the flash drive in your C7, does come up on the screen and you scroll to what you want to play?
3. If you plug in an Ipod in the C7, how do you choose music. Do you have to scroll the Ipod or does the info come up on the screen in the car? This is all such a PIA!
1. is it possible to transfer "playlist" from itunes to flash drive?
2. when you plug in the flash drive in your C7, does come up on the screen and you scroll to what you want to play?
3. If you plug in an Ipod in the C7, how do you choose music. Do you have to scroll the Ipod or does the info come up on the screen in the car? This is all such a PIA!
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Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,761
Likes: 240
From: Saint Louis MO
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
Questions:
1. is it possible to transfer "playlist" from itunes to flash drive?
2. when you plug in the flash drive in your C7, does come up on the screen and you scroll to what you want to play?
3. If you plug in an Ipod in the C7, how do you choose music. Do you have to scroll the Ipod or does the info come up on the screen in the car?
1. is it possible to transfer "playlist" from itunes to flash drive?
2. when you plug in the flash drive in your C7, does come up on the screen and you scroll to what you want to play?
3. If you plug in an Ipod in the C7, how do you choose music. Do you have to scroll the Ipod or does the info come up on the screen in the car?
2. When you plug the USB in, there will be a USB option that appears on the screen that you may select. From there, you can select the folders, files, etc.
3. The iPod functionality is built-in; you can select songs from the screen.
Not really... it's really a simple design, and I've tried to spoon-feed you along the way.
Be glad that you have (or will have) a car that can interface with newer technology. Many only support simple file interaction (USB is still a luxury to most vehicles even in this day) - and even then, most have limited M3U (tags) reading, which merely shows file name and no other information.
All that, and you have high-quality A2DP for Bluetooth devices (that even works with displaying artist/track names on the windshield HUD) - overall, out of all of my cars, I like this integration the best. Spotify in 4G LTE on max bitrate streaming = perfect. For those that prefer Pandora, that's even built-in to the car directly. Well done, GM.
Intermediate
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Ok, I've read a number of threads and still confused. My wife's car is a Buick Enclave, a GM product, plays my cruzer 4GB thumb drive (w/folders) without issue, its a nightmare in my C7, about to give up and buy 1GB thumb drives (smaller if they got em) and forget the folders. Guess it will be like the old days, instead of having a number of CD's I'll have several thumb drives in the side compartment.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,761
Likes: 240
From: Saint Louis MO
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
I've not had an issue with folders - perhaps it's something else.
If you can, grab an 8GB (or 4GB if you can still find any - the days of 1GB are long gone since 8GB is dirt cheap), and try testing with files only in the root. If that works, then move on to folders. And if that works, you may just currently have a 4GB stick that's incompatible or has a different format type.
If you can, grab an 8GB (or 4GB if you can still find any - the days of 1GB are long gone since 8GB is dirt cheap), and try testing with files only in the root. If that works, then move on to folders. And if that works, you may just currently have a 4GB stick that's incompatible or has a different format type.
Instructor
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 126
Likes: 7
From: Macon Georgia
Everything David said. ^^
The C7's dash unit will play MP3 for sure, and it may also play AAC and M4A. However, lossless codecs such as FLAC, M4A lossless, etc. are not playable (as expected, of course).
I suggest buying a SanDisk Cruzer Fit, as they're essentially invisible when installed (only a few mm tall when plugged in). Cheap - 16GB is less than $10.
Amazon example: Amazon.com: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ33-016G-B35: Electronics
The C7's dash unit will play MP3 for sure, and it may also play AAC and M4A. However, lossless codecs such as FLAC, M4A lossless, etc. are not playable (as expected, of course).
I suggest buying a SanDisk Cruzer Fit, as they're essentially invisible when installed (only a few mm tall when plugged in). Cheap - 16GB is less than $10.
Amazon example: Amazon.com: SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16 GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ33-016G-B35: Electronics
Tech Contributor
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,761
Likes: 240
From: Saint Louis MO
St. Jude Donor '14-'15
The car only uses a USB 2.0 interface, but USB 3.0 would be faster in loading files on your PC, assuming your PC has USB 3.0 ports (blue).
USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, so there's no issue either way.
USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, so there's no issue either way.
