• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

MP3 on a car stereo

B

bearcat44

New Member
2020 Kia Forte GT-Line, with Premium Package (including Harman Kardon stereo, factory model, not aftermarket)

Belongs to a friend, very anxious and busy woman, not willing to deal with any type of conflict. Buzzy and distorted Bass in rear speaker, and she considers it "fixed" when charged Fifty Dollars to just disconnect it.

Now, she wants to play her CDs in the car, and I'd like to, at a distance, find out what the car's system is capable of before buying something to send her as a solution:

The manuals here are not answering the questions listed below:

https://owners.kia.com/content/owners/en/manuals.html


What type of USB port is it on the console? 3.0? 3.1, or some other?

What size plug fits the Auxiliary Input port?

Will each port do double duty, inputting information while at the same time powering a connected device?

If a Flash drive were connected to the USB port, would the entertainment center be able to play MP3 format music from it, and if so, would that be in any way a difficult process, for example pushing buttons to skip a track?

Would either the Auxiliary or USB port function to power and accept input from a "Diskman" style mini CD player?

If one were to go shopping for a CD player with Bluetooth that was compatible with this car's specific stereo, what specifications would be sought? In other words, how to be certain a CD player will be compatible, before purchase?

I read something horrible, a man said he had to pair his CD player to the car stereo all over again each time he changed to a different CD. How to avoid this nightmare situation? Asking about pairing because so many "Bluetooth CD players" have reviews saying "my car wouldn't pair with it"

You would think that the dealer, the car manufacturer, and/or the stereo manufacturer would be ready willing and eager to help. Exactly the opposite.
 
Register to hide this ad
Simplest option would be to rip her CDs to MP3 on a smartphone or other Bluetooth media device, pair said device with the vehicle and use the steering wheel controls for playback. Works in my 2018 Soul. Phone automatically connects each time I get in.
 
Stillhouse said:
Simplest option would be to rip her CDs to MP3 on a smartphone or other Bluetooth media device, pair said device with the vehicle and use the steering wheel controls for playback. Works in my 2018 Soul. Phone automatically connects each time I get in.
Click to expand...

That is a good answer, but I'm pretty sure her phone is already overcrowded with saved material. Thank you for the suggestion.
 
If it is anything like my friends Kia Rio which has two input ports, one is a regular USB that accepts your regular flash drive memory stick and the other is a 1/8 in jack just like the headphone jack on phones.

You can either use a regular Walkman CD player with a connecting cable from the CD player headphone jack to the 1/8 inch input jack, or as mentioned, just transfer files from her computers playlist directly to a flash drive and just use the USB port.

I did the USB option for my friend a few years back. He bought a 16GB flash drive and I put over 2000 songs on it for him. He enjoys it every day and has had no problems. If he leaves the flash drive connected in the port, the radio automatically detects it every time he turns it on. He can also listen to the radio with it left in the slot but has to remember which button to push to select it.

EDIT: It looks like it has the same two ports as my friends Rio so either option should work for her. :thumbsup:
 
Last edited:
cademan said:
If it is anything like my friends Kia Rio which has two input ports, one is a regular USB that accepts your regular flash drive memory stick and the other is a 1/8 in jack just like the headphone jack on phones.

You can either use a regular Walkman CD player with a connecting cable from the CD player headphone jack to the 1/8 inch input jack, or as mentioned, just transfer files from her computers playlist directly to a flash drive and just use the USB port.

I did the USB option for my friend a few years back. He bought a 16GB flash drive and I put over 2000 songs on it for him. He enjoys it every day and has had no problems. If he leaves the flash drive connected in the port, the radio automatically detects it every time he turns it on. He can also listen to the radio with it left in the slot but has to remember which button to push to select it.

EDIT: It looks like it has the same two ports as my friends Rio so either option should work for her. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Where did you find your info? I specifically want to learn WHICH specific USB port type the car has. 3.0, etc?
 
As far as I know, most factory USB ports are universal and accept any flash drive and since my friends car is a Kia, any flash drive should work fine. Even if the flash drive has other files on it like pictures or PDF's, it will automatically only read the music or MP3 files.

Maybe have your friend try someone else's flash drive before she buys one. It should work fine. My mom's Cadillac has both and so does another of my friends Toyota. They are all pretty much universal. Wouldn't really make any sense if I were to use my flash drive in another car and it didn't work.
 
cademan said:
As far as I know, most factory USB ports are universal and accept any flash drive and since my friends car is a Kia, any flash drive should work fine. Even if the flash drive has other files on it like pictures or PDF's, it will automatically only read the music or MP3 files.

Maybe have your friend try someone else's flash drive before she buys one. It should work fine. My mom's Cadillac has both and so does another of my friends Toyota. They are all pretty much universal. Wouldn't really make any sense if I were to use my flash drive in another car and it didn't work.
Click to expand...

It was my understanding that there are several sizes of USB.....MicroUSB, whatever that is, for example, and all sorts of numbers.

Thank you so much for your helpful replies. I'm so curious to know how this works. Does the car's multimedia console let you navigate the contents of the flash drive? If you put ten CDs on it but wanted to play a specific song, what would be the mechanics of that?

I am mailing her a flash drive tomorrow, to test out. I have read comments from people that when they send MP3 music from a Walkman style CD player to the car, the car often is "fussy" and won't recognize the file.
 
bearcat44 said:
Thank you so much for your helpful replies. I'm so curious to know how this works. Does the car's multimedia console let you navigate the contents of the flash drive? If you put ten CDs on it but wanted to play a specific song, what would be the mechanics of that?
Click to expand...

Its a computer so it automatically alphabetizes every song regardless of which order you put them in. It also depends on the property's info that is associated with each song or album. The music from the computers playlist will also put the property info on the flash drive but you won't be able to access it on the cars audio system but if you plug the flash drive into any computer, it will show all of the property info associated with each song or file. You can scroll through any song or album on the cars stereo and play any one you want to.

EDIT: My mom's and my friends car will also read and play WAV files however these take up more memory space than MP3 files.
 
Last edited:
cademan said:
Its a computer so it automatically alphabetizes every song regardless of which order you put them in. It also depends on the property's info that is associated with each song or album. The music from the computers playlist will also put the property info on the flash drive but you won't be able to access it on the cars audio system but if you plug the flash drive into any computer, it will show all of the property info associated with each song or file. You can scroll through any song or album on the cars stereo and play any one you want to.

EDIT: My mom's and my friends car will also read and play WAV files however these take up more memory space than MP3 files.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, you've already been so patient and helpful. I'm a little confused by your last answer. "It's a computer"....are you referring to the desktop PC, or to the Car Stereo console?
I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I think you are saying that the car console is just going to display a list of numbers, not a list of names of songs.
I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I think you're saying that when the flash drive is plugged in, even though the flash drive has segregated files of individual CDs, the console will refuse to navigate among that information.
I'm pretty sure she would not accept that limitation at all.
 
Unless it is a custom built stereo system, all factory car audio systems today are computers but like I said, it depends on the info entered into the property's file via the home computer where the music was downloaded or uploaded to begin with.

All my files are in "All Caps" and the names of the songs always come up first before any album info but that is because of how I have them stored in each of their property files from the computer (lap top or tower). There really is no limitation on what you can do. In the property's, if the songs were actually numbered with numbers first, the audio system will usually automatically put them first before playing something which starts with the letter "A".
 
I think I understand. What you mean by "properties" are whatever I put into that chart thing Windows asks me to optionally fill out: Artist, Album, Title, etc. I just looked at a YouTube video of a guy teaching this, and I am hoping to find an actual KIA Forte stereo demo of the same thing, because HIS tracks all show up as names on the console.

This video has a scary warning to ONLY insert the flash drive when the car is Already Running...but it looks like a really old video

 
Last edited:
The car stereo will automatically read the info on the flash drive to be able to play the music correctly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom