[Ngunguru]

Apologies if this is already common knowledge, but after discovering that my old iPod didn't work in my new F31, I have been searching around to work out the best way of using a USB stick for music instead.

I had been able to get the tracks onto a stick, which played in the car with album art and I could search by artist, album, etc. What I was struggling with was getting playlists to show up in the car.

I've now discovered a small piece of software that can be downloaded from the Mac app store called 'Playlist Export' by Eric Daugherty. Stating the obvious but this does what it says on the tin and 'syncs' nicely between my existing iTunes on the Mac and a USB stick.

Once the software has done its thing, plug the stick into the car's USB, wait a few seconds for it to be read (and a few more to allow it time to then read additional data) and voila! - my playlists show up under the 'Playlists' menu item in the car!

I now have music in the car in exactly the same way as with an iPod, but without the need for an iPod or compatible cable.

Ok, so it's the little things, but has made me happy!

[d4springer]

Sounds good, I'm getting annoyed with my iPod at the moment, battery keeps dying on me so might be better to switch to this to reduce complications

[Boxsterfeet]

I was thinking of swapping from ipod classic to usb to get higher res album art, but have about 140GB music collection, so quite a high price for a USB drive! Is the album art clearer than that using the ipod classic?

[mproudfoot]

Sounds good, just a shame using a USB stick doesn't support gapless audio. Nothing more annoying than an album where all the tracks blend straight into the next, instead end up with 2 sec gaps between each one

[Silurian69]

I also plan to export my music from iTunes onto a USB stick. How did you do the export? Did you copy the iTunes/music folder directly in Finder, or did you drag and drop the music from within iTunes onto the USB stick? Where on the USB stick did you put the playlist export files?

[Ngunguru]

Originally Posted by Boxsterfeet

I was thinking of swapping from ipod classic to usb to get higher res album art, but have about 140GB music collection, so quite a high price for a USB drive! Is the album art clearer than that using the ipod classic?

Couldn't get the iPod to work so not sure on the difference. Didn't notice any real change between stick and my iPhone, but had assumed the image quality would be the same (same image file embedded somewhere?).

[Sedan_Clan]

Originally Posted by Ngunguru

Apologies if this is already common knowledge, but after discovering that my old iPod didn't work in my new F31, I have been searching around to work out the best way of using a USB stick for music instead.

I had been able to get the tracks onto a stick, which played in the car with album art and I could search by artist, album, etc. What I was struggling with was getting playlists to show up in the car.

I've now discovered a small piece of software that can be downloaded from the Mac app store called 'Playlist Export' by Eric Daugherty. Stating the obvious but this does what it says on the tin and 'syncs' nicely between my existing iTunes on the Mac and a USB stick.

Once the software has done its thing, plug the stick into the car's USB, wait a few seconds for it to be read (and a few more to allow it time to then read additional data) and voila! - my playlists show up under the 'Playlists' menu item in the car!

I now have music in the car in exactly the same way as with an iPod, but without the need for an iPod or compatible cable.

Ok, so it's the little things, but has made me happy!

Nice find.

[Jools-Devon]

Originally Posted by Silurian69

I also plan to export my music from iTunes onto a USB stick. How did you do the export? Did you copy the iTunes/music folder directly in Finder, or did you drag and drop the music from within iTunes onto the USB stick? Where on the USB stick did you put the playlist export files?

Just copy the mp3 files from the music folder to the USB stick.....

I started transferring mine tonight, but found I had duplicate files in iTunes, so now I have 2 of every track in my car.....

I need to tidy up my music folder, and then start again

[Ngunguru]

Originally Posted by Silurian69

I also plan to export my music from iTunes onto a USB stick. How did you do the export? Did you copy the iTunes/music folder directly in Finder, or did you drag and drop the music from within iTunes onto the USB stick? Where on the USB stick did you put the playlist export files?

I used the above mentioned software to export directly onto the stick. When you launch the software it should show your playlists on the left - select the ones you want, make sure the drop down menu on the right is set to 'copy music' and hit the 'export' button. I exported straight to the stick (no folders/sub-folders required).

You can copy tracks across in Finder from the iTunes/music folder, but I couldn't get my playlists to show up unless I used the software.

[Kick.doc]

Will AAC's play from a memory stick or just Mp3's. Most of my files in iTunes are AAC

Cheers

[Ngunguru]

Originally Posted by Kick.doc

Will AAC's play from a memory stick or just Mp3's. Most of my files in iTunes are AAC

Cheers

You should be ok with AAC files - from BMW's website:

"The USB audio interface...All common formats are supported (MP3, AAC, WAV and WMA) as well as M3U-format playlists."

[Firecrest]

I've transfered the files, but It plays one track at a time (over and over again), how do I get the tracks to follow one to another like on a iPod?

[mlnblhl]

Originally Posted by Silurian69

I also plan to export my music from iTunes onto a USB stick. How did you do the export? Did you copy the iTunes/music folder directly in Finder, or did you drag and drop the music from within iTunes onto the USB stick? Where on the USB stick did you put the playlist export files?

You can download the songs first and then import them to a USB stick. You can find many useful tools to download the song, such as AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter.

[Pentland]

Originally Posted by mlnblhl

You can download the songs first and then import them to a USB stick. You can find many useful tools to download the song, such as AMusicSoft Apple Music Converter.

I suspect he might have managed this and probably sold the car since the OP was 8 years ago!

[DaveA]

Holy thread revival, Batman...