Playing Music via USB Thru Car Stereo

[erickste]

Hey guys, just looking for some tips or general advice about this topic. I'd posted in another forum but I wasn't getting much of a response, so I'll try here!

I have the Samsung Galaxy S3, love the phone, but have done my research and sadly, Android devices aren't always good friends with USB-ready car stereos. I tried it before, no recognition, no nothing. So, after updating to Jelly Bean 4.1, and being terribly OCD about these things, I tried again. I plug my phone into my in-dash stereo via USB, and tada! Give it a few seconds, and it'll play files that are in my Music folder. Great! So here's the thing; if it's reading files from the phone itself, do you think there's any way to get it to read my SDcard instead? I really wanted to get a 32GB SDcard so I can throw my whole iPod on it, and be able to use my phone as my media device as well, but I'm not sure if that's possible at this point.

Keep in mind that I can't just choose files to play; it plays automatically. If I choose a file, it just plays through the phone speakers. So has anybody else played around with this yet? Tips are appreciated! Thanks!

 

[schreiby]

Wow! It worked? Gotta try it tomorrow.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Android Central Forums

 

[erickste]

Yeah! Definitely didn't work before the update. And the sound is so much deeper than my iPod where I have to crank the volume all the way up. I wonder if it has anything to do with this new Audio Output option...what would happen if I checked this box? Would my car speakers count as "external speakers" and I could play what I want? I should experiment with this tomorrow...

 

[repligation]

I think your results are going to be entirely dependent upon the stereo model you have. my suggestion is to list your stereo model along with replies to this thread. I'd like to know if anyone gets full functionality from a particular model as in being able to search and play media that is in internal storage and the extSdCard from the stereo.

 

[erickste]

I don't know the exact model but it's a Sony, not bluetooth ready or anything, just your general in-dash installment with USB and AUX. I played around with other options, like the Audio Output mode, just cause I was curious, tried playing things through the music player and Google Play, and nothing. So right now, all I'm capable of doing is playing only what's on my phone when it automatically picks it up. Well, so much for that, guess I'm stuck with my iPod.

 

[Sailindawg]

@OP

I would think that since your car stereo head is reading the music files on your phone, it should also read music files on an external sd card as well. The stereo head is seeing your phone as an external hard drive. If you have an external sd card for extra storage, then it should be seen as a separate storage drive as well by the stereo head.

 

[Mac.World]

If you have a usb port, but no BT, why bother with the phone at all? Get a mini usb drive, load up your music and pop it in the port. Only sticks out a quarter of an inch and all your stereo controls function properly.

 

[erickste]

If you have a usb port, but no BT, why bother with the phone at all? Get a mini usb drive, load up your music and pop it in the port. Only sticks out a quarter of an inch and all your stereo controls function properly.

Yeah, that's an easy escape but I like to be able to choose and shuffle through songs and playlists. If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have issues playing music off my phone's memory. I want iPod-like capabilities, all while not sacrificing the sound quality.

 

[linuxhippy]

I didn't like the default music program in Android because I wanted to be able to shuffle my music on my 32 GB SD card. Go to the play store and get another free player...I use Music Folder Player and it shuffles all my songs on my mini SD.

 

[armax]

I got my music to play on the Galaxy S3 though my car stereo by using the cars mp3 mode. Just plus the S3 in with a usb cord and set the stereo mode to mp3. This will play music from the phone not matter if its on the disk or phone. You will have to change tracks with the phone though. For some reason it doesnt let you use the stereo next controls. It works though. You will also have to turn up the phone volume along with the stereo volume.

 

[captainkirkw]

This is one of the main things I hate about my Nexus 4. I had iPhones before this and could just plug them into my JVC KW-XR810 and it would charge the phone and I would usually stream di.fm or Pandora but could also play music stored on the phone. I didn't even think about checking on this with Android and only found out when I tried usuing my Nexus 4 for the first time in my car. I wish there was an updated list of phones that worked because I would have chosen something else if I had known this. I know I can stream via bluetooth but it does not sound as good, I get volume fluctuations, and BT drains the battery. I will wait until later this year for a few more new phones to come out and once I find one that I like and that I know that this deature will work with, then I will be switching.

 

[Derrick Martin1]

Ok a lil help is needed here. I have a JVC CD player with an AUX and USB port and the USB port is not letting me play my songs off of my Motorola Electrify II through my car speakers. It will only play through my phone speaker. Any advice? 3

 

[darkfibre]

Hi. I am using my s3 playing through a USB dac (24bit/96khz dual d/a converter made by Zero) and its happily playing music off the 64gb microsd. You will need to make sure whatever program your useing looks for music on the card, but you shuold be good.

 

[mignon71]

When looking for the app Jelly Bean 4.1 there are keyboard apps and many more but not sure which one exactly helps play music (from my phone on my car radio with USB), specifically Pandora. I am going out of town tomorrow and would love to have some tunes! Help please

 

[Josh Bebb]

dont know if you sorted this or not yet
but i have a usb/ipod/AUX cd player in my car..
and i also have a s3
it was easy to be honest
i plugged the aux cable into my phone and cd player and just played music like normal and the aux cable treats the cars speakers like headphones
sorted hope this helps

 

[Saumilpp]

Some of users have suggested using AUX to connect the Android phone (galaxy S III) with the head unit. The problem is in that case the sound card (Digital - Analog) converter of samsung is used which is of very poor quality. When you can connect it through USB, the sound card of the head unit is used like you are connecting a pen drive and in most cases head unit is much better.

I researched net and someone suggested forcing your phone into mass storage mode. There is an app for that called Mass Storage Enabler. My head unit can detect the music on phone after that.

Saumil

(Elantra 2013 & Galaxy S III)

 

[stylez619]

This may or may not be of any use to you because I have a different set-up. But here are my options.

- Alpine IDA-x100 Media Receiver/Stereo
My HU is designed to recognize any FAT32 formatted storage. NTFS is not recognizable to it.
I can play and control my iPod with a full speed data transfer cable.
I can plug in a USB Thumb Drive and the HU will recognize and play files directly from it.
I can format or partition an external HDD into FAT32 and my HU will recognize and play files directly from that.

The only downside to using mass media storage is that my HU will not pick up where it left off after I turn the car off. Even if the drive is externally powered and perpetually "on", my HU will automatically start from file 1 every time I turn my car on.

I know most of this is not specifically related to your question, but there may be some info in there that could be of use for further troubleshooting.

 

[HeyStoopid]

I have a Nexus 5 also and bought the Sony DSX-A40UI, while it says it supports Android devices clearly, apparently it doesn't and only works with iPhone's! Now i want to send this back and buy a different one, not too expensive, anybody got a recommendation?

 

[cosmogenesis]

USB sound quality is much better than bluetooth allows.