Want CD player for new truck
I'm excited about my 2021 Ford F350 diesel, but it has no CD player. I suppose that only old folks listen to CDs, but that's what we like to do. I have the Lariat entertainment system with a USB in...
Forum Discussion
I do want to add some extra information to help make the conversion process a bit easier.
You can't just copy CD audio files directly to a USB drive.
CD audio files need to be "ripped" (converted) to a computer sound file format.
That is typically done via a third party ripping software or you can use Windows Media player.
Now, here's the rub, depending on the ripping software you use, it will automatically create a file name for each song on the album, some albums may contain additional information with album name, artist and the song name.
To get your radio to play each song in the album in the order of play of the CD can be challenging but it starts with the ripping software and setting the file names in the order of play.
Side note, MP3s use not only the file name but also hidden "metadata ID tags" for playback order, if you rename the MP3 file but not change the Metadata ID tag the file may not play in the new order.. CD rippers typically will copy the filename info into the hidden MetadataID tag for you.. However, if you decide that you don't like the filename after the rip, you will need to manually edit that Metadata ID tag and that may require additional software depending on your PC and what you are using for a ripper.
The software I use is from an old Creative MP3 player, when I start the process it gives me the options to name the folder that it will rip the album to.. I adjust that as needed before ripping.
Then it will show all the songs and if no song title data was found it will list them as T1, T2, T3 ect..
That will not play correctly if you have T11, T12, T13..
Why?
Think as a computer, It will see T1 and the next logical file is T11, T2 will play after T11 but T12 will play after T2..
On edit, the flip side, the computer may see T1 as T10 or T2 as T20 so to speak which is why a leading zero before T1, T2, T3 is needed..
It is a computer logic issue, computer logic sees T11 as T1.1, T12 as T1.2..
To fix that you need to use a leading zero.. So, T1 becomes T01, T2 becomes T02, T3 becomes T03..
Folders also follow same logic..
Some players also play the folders and files not in alpha numeric order but by the date and time stamp which can get extremely frustrating.. I haven't really noticed car stereos doing that so much but have seen that with portable MP3 players.
Now back to music file names..
I will typically use the first letter or two of the album name or the artist name at the beginning of each song, keeping this consistent for each song is important for proper play order).
Then T or Track followed by song order (01, 02, 03) and then the song name.
Doing this BEFORE ripping to your PC is critical step that many folks miss.
The next key step is not putting all the files directly on to the "root" of the flash drive..
Root is the "base" letter of your USB stick as seen by the computer..
So, if your USB stick shows as the letter "i" you need to have only FOLDERS showing in letter "i", no music files should be there, all music files should be inside the FOLDERS. The folders can be named as the album name if you don't mind the player playing album starting with "A" before album named starting with "Z".
With most car stereos you do not use or need "playlists" so forget about that "feature" that you may be used to, it doesn't exist on most car stereos.
I rarely have any issues getting the ripped files to play in the correct order by following this method.
Once you have all of your music ripped and in folders, you can just copy the folders to the USB drive.
Then insert USB drive into the radio's port, the radio should automatically detect and start playing starting folders with A and ending in Z..
If you want to only play ONE folder, the radio should have the option to let you search for that folder and play all files inside or just one file. That is the SAME as inserting a CD and playing it.
You should also have the option to play all files on the entire drive, this is the same as having a CD changer with the exception a CD changer it plays the order of CDs from positions of the CDs.
You should also have a random play option which basically is the same as "shuffle" you would have found on a CD player.
For better sound quality, you can rip to WMA (Windows Media file format) but the downside is WMA files are larger so you can fit less music per Gig of space.
You can also rip MP3s at a higher "bitrate" to get better sound quality, typical default of MP3s is 128Kbs, that can be set to a higher bitrate if you are looking for better sound quality.. But you do have to be careful of the rate you choose, not every car stereo may be able play all possible bitrates.
WMA files come with some baggage, called DRM (Digital Rights Management) that many car stereos cannot play. Typically only purchased and downloaded WMA files will have this enabled and you will have to filter the DRM out of the files before a car stereo will be able to play it. Car stereos typically do not have any way to play DRM protected files.
MP3 files do not support DRM data so that typically will not be an issue.
Hope this helps!
You can't just copy CD audio files directly to a USB drive.
CD audio files need to be "ripped" (converted) to a computer sound file format.
That is typically done via a third party ripping software or you can use Windows Media player.
Now, here's the rub, depending on the ripping software you use, it will automatically create a file name for each song on the album, some albums may contain additional information with album name, artist and the song name.
To get your radio to play each song in the album in the order of play of the CD can be challenging but it starts with the ripping software and setting the file names in the order of play.
Side note, MP3s use not only the file name but also hidden "metadata ID tags" for playback order, if you rename the MP3 file but not change the Metadata ID tag the file may not play in the new order.. CD rippers typically will copy the filename info into the hidden MetadataID tag for you.. However, if you decide that you don't like the filename after the rip, you will need to manually edit that Metadata ID tag and that may require additional software depending on your PC and what you are using for a ripper.
The software I use is from an old Creative MP3 player, when I start the process it gives me the options to name the folder that it will rip the album to.. I adjust that as needed before ripping.
Then it will show all the songs and if no song title data was found it will list them as T1, T2, T3 ect..
That will not play correctly if you have T11, T12, T13..
Why?
Think as a computer, It will see T1 and the next logical file is T11, T2 will play after T11 but T12 will play after T2..
On edit, the flip side, the computer may see T1 as T10 or T2 as T20 so to speak which is why a leading zero before T1, T2, T3 is needed..
It is a computer logic issue, computer logic sees T11 as T1.1, T12 as T1.2..
To fix that you need to use a leading zero.. So, T1 becomes T01, T2 becomes T02, T3 becomes T03..
Folders also follow same logic..
Some players also play the folders and files not in alpha numeric order but by the date and time stamp which can get extremely frustrating.. I haven't really noticed car stereos doing that so much but have seen that with portable MP3 players.
Now back to music file names..
I will typically use the first letter or two of the album name or the artist name at the beginning of each song, keeping this consistent for each song is important for proper play order).
Then T or Track followed by song order (01, 02, 03) and then the song name.
Doing this BEFORE ripping to your PC is critical step that many folks miss.
The next key step is not putting all the files directly on to the "root" of the flash drive..
Root is the "base" letter of your USB stick as seen by the computer..
So, if your USB stick shows as the letter "i" you need to have only FOLDERS showing in letter "i", no music files should be there, all music files should be inside the FOLDERS. The folders can be named as the album name if you don't mind the player playing album starting with "A" before album named starting with "Z".
With most car stereos you do not use or need "playlists" so forget about that "feature" that you may be used to, it doesn't exist on most car stereos.
I rarely have any issues getting the ripped files to play in the correct order by following this method.
Once you have all of your music ripped and in folders, you can just copy the folders to the USB drive.
Then insert USB drive into the radio's port, the radio should automatically detect and start playing starting folders with A and ending in Z..
If you want to only play ONE folder, the radio should have the option to let you search for that folder and play all files inside or just one file. That is the SAME as inserting a CD and playing it.
You should also have the option to play all files on the entire drive, this is the same as having a CD changer with the exception a CD changer it plays the order of CDs from positions of the CDs.
You should also have a random play option which basically is the same as "shuffle" you would have found on a CD player.
For better sound quality, you can rip to WMA (Windows Media file format) but the downside is WMA files are larger so you can fit less music per Gig of space.
You can also rip MP3s at a higher "bitrate" to get better sound quality, typical default of MP3s is 128Kbs, that can be set to a higher bitrate if you are looking for better sound quality.. But you do have to be careful of the rate you choose, not every car stereo may be able play all possible bitrates.
WMA files come with some baggage, called DRM (Digital Rights Management) that many car stereos cannot play. Typically only purchased and downloaded WMA files will have this enabled and you will have to filter the DRM out of the files before a car stereo will be able to play it. Car stereos typically do not have any way to play DRM protected files.
MP3 files do not support DRM data so that typically will not be an issue.
Hope this helps!
