2024 C8 Stingray with the new infotainment system. I just plugged in a NTFS formatted 128GB USB 3.1 drive with about 77GB of music (13,000 tracks in 1,150 folders). The system immediately started indexing the files and I can play music. All good on this front.

I was wondering is there is a way to have the system display the entire folder structure instead of the Album/Song/Artist structure. My 2016 Camaro was able to display folder view, which is the way I prefer to search for and access albums/track. I cannot seem to find a similar view in the C8.

Any ideas?

 

Let me know when you figure it out because I've yet to have the C8 system play even one of my flash drives. I've tried several flash drives but even then it seems to only recognize MP3 tunes. BTW all my flash drives had no problem playing on my C7, my Chevrolet SUV or my wife's Hyundai Tucson ! Go figure?

 

My thumb drive (65 gig) has my entire collection of music, nearly 8000 songs coming in at 53 gig.

BUT my Stingray only recognizes about 1500 songs. I put the thumb drive in my Challenger they're all there and playable.

Any ideas why?

 

It's probably a difference in the way the computer looks at the directory structure. Possibly a 'number of folders' limitation. Or a file format issue?
Try putting all the individual songs in one folder and see if it makes a difference.

 

Lately when I start the car I get a message that says “indexing files” or something like that for the thumb drive. It will still be playing my music but it is in the background reindenting the files. It does it every time. Sam

 

That's normal. It's checking to see if you've added or deleted anything from the drive.

 

I took the flash drive out of my C7, plugged it into my C8, and it worked fine. How are your drives formatted? How large are they? Do you have the music in folders, or are all the songs in the root directory?

 

Thanks Red Mist! I just never noticed it before. Sam

 

We used a USB stick in our C6 and C7. Neither had Apple Car Play. 2022 C8 has wireless Apple Car Play and for me it is a far more useful music source. I get folks are proud of their million songs on a 256G stick. But seriously, how many songs can you listen to in the short time you are in the car? And recall when you hear a duplicate. We have 2000 songs playing in Car Play Shuffle from a 256G iPhone. All the phone and music controls display on the Info touch screen. Dare I mention our BFF Siri. And never have to take the phone out of my pocket or her purse. Get in, start the car, Car Play connects, voila the music starts. Its magic eh? Too convenient to not use.

Give or take, we have 100 hours of entertainment on our iPhones. My guess is we will maybe hear our entire tunes library by Christmas 2024. But I can't remember all that I listened to yesterday. As ever more frequent AARP moments intervene.

 

All good points. I use all of the above. That said, the USB with my music library is free of charge. Already have it. Just another source if I feel like listening to a full album or something. Great on long drives in the mountains, where cell coverage is not perfect.

At any rate, these are not mutually exclusive.

 

I’ve read that the music / sound off of the USB as a source is actually better but I can’t say I have ears to be able to discern that nor can I corroborate that statement. I did read that statement on the internet and I believe it was attributed to Thomas Edison so I think it probably is valid. I just have the USB as an alternative to my iTunes and Spotify. Sam.

 

Compared to what?

Music on the USB can be anything from really low bit-rate, highly compressed mp3s to uncompressed FLAC files at the same bit-rate as CDs. Satellite radio has become an audiophile's nightmare. They've crammed so many channels broadcasting simultaneously they've had to implement monstrous levels of compression, and it's pretty low bit rate. It's on par (or maybe even worse) than the lowest quality mp3s. HD radio falls in between, as does regular FM (but HD is better). Depending on how the the files on your thumb drive were encoded, HD radio may be close.

IIRC, spotify has high and "regular" quality streams, too. So it could be better or worse, all depending.

All that said, the C8 is hardly an audiophile's music room. It's pretty noisy, and making really good sound in that small a space is hard. I've listened to the same music encoded as FLAC and as high bit-rate mp3s, and really can't tell the difference in the car. I can definitely tell the difference between those and satellite radio with the top closed. With the top open and moving, noise masks so much of the music it hardly matters.

 

Just for general information, I used the method in the attached file to download my iTunes to a thumb drive that played on my C7 and also my C8.

 

I've just been going through this over the last several months. I bought a 128GB USB3 device for the Corvette, and it works great.. I tried to duplicate with an identical flash drive and it wouldn't work in my '14 Silverado. I got a 32GB USB2, and that's working in the truck.

 

Anyone figure this out? I have MANY folders on my usb stick, that's how albums are organized. How can I just play ALL without having to keep selected an album/artist/genre etc, etc

 

A workaround that I use is to create different playlists using Foobar2000. I then just select the playlist I want to play.

 

77G of music, OMG you must have every song that was ever recorded.
I have 4G on a USB because years ago that was all my Ipod would hold.

That is 13 hours of music so I can drive all day without a repeat song. That works for me.
You can probably go a month without a repeat?

 

You should be able to choose songs in the menu. That will display all your songs alphabetically.

 

The problem is that I can't scroll through all those playlists or songs while driving. It limits to just the first 9.