QUick question regarding MyLink and my USB

SUMORYDR · May 22, 2014

Sorry guys and gals but I searched and searched but couldn't find answers to my questions so I had to start a new thread. Sorry.

So here's the issue, I've got a 32g thumb drive with all of my music on it and I've gotten everything on the thumb drive broken down into subcategories (genres if you will). The only issue is that no matter what I try I can't get the truck to recognize the formatting on the thumb drive.

Sure everything is there. Sure you can find it by browsing for it. Sure it plays. But, I'd like to be able to play the items on the thumb drive in the manner in which I formatted them to be played. Make sense?

As of this writing I've gone thru the trucks prompts 3 times to try to see if I can get it to recognize/play items like I'd like them to be played but no luck. Heck I can't even figure out how to tag music to add into playlists ( no idea how to build a playlist using the trucks feautures ). Ridiculous huh?

I've read and read and read and tinkered with the buttons until my eyes are crossed with no luck so I decided to join the forum and start asking questions. Sorry that this has to be my first post but I'm in dire need at this point. Thanks in advance for your patience and assistance....

Steve Ashe

Lake City, Florida

VMaxtastic · May 23, 2014

That is strange.. I'm sure you can browse like that, but not sure about USB. I use a 64 GB SD card, and I can browse both in the small display, and in the large display. If all else fails, I'd grab an SD card. It works very well.

SUMORYDR · May 27, 2014

That is strange.. I'm sure you can browse like that, but not sure about USB. I use a 64 GB SD card, and I can browse both in the small display, and in the large display. If all else fails, I'd grab an SD card. It works very well.

That's good news. Is the formatting the same in the truck as it is when you look at it on the computer? I'm just trying to make sure before I go duplicating the work I've already done.

You know what I mean? Full albums are loaded in their correct format but when I look at it in the truck it alphabetizes it ( instead of keeping it in the original album format ). Kind of irritating...

Thoughts?

Poltergeist · May 27, 2014

The only way I was able to do was to use Media Player to make playlists for me on my drive(64gig usb using what sounds like a similar sub-dir setup). Then I play the playlists.

Silverado Steve · May 28, 2014

You need to develop playlists for your music folders on yout thumb-drive as MyLink doesn't create them for you. It took me awhile but I finally got mine to work. I used Window's Media Player to make the playlists. I saved all my music onto a 32GB micro thumb-drive. Open Windows Media Player. Click on the "Create Playlist" link. On the right of your player, you should see a section where it states "Drag items Here" drag your root folder of your music off of your thumb drive into this section. Above the playlist you can click "Save Playlist" When you do that, make sure you name your play list and save it back onto your thumb drive. Also, you have to save it in the "M3U" format. From there, your playlist should break your music selection down in MyLink as it appears in your folders on your thumb-drive. This link explains it much better:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-41313.html

VMaxtastic · May 28, 2014

I couldn't have said it better than Steve.

SUMORYDR · May 29, 2014

Well, I guess I've got some work to do on the computer then.

I wonder how long it'd take me to transfer this stuff and make the necessary changes. I've only got about 8 or 10gb worth of music so I wonder how long that will take me.

surebuttercringe · May 29, 2014

One of the main things you have to do is make sure the MP3 files are correctly ID tagged. This is not the same as what is displayed on the computer when you look at the file, it is the hardcoded information filed into the MP3 itself. Once you make sure that the individual files are tagged in whatever genre you have chosen, then you should be able to tell MyLink to list by genre and then play that particular genre.

Silverado Steve · May 30, 2014

Well, I guess I've got some work to do on the computer then.

I wonder how long it'd take me to transfer this stuff and make the necessary changes. I've only got about 8 or 10gb worth of music so I wonder how long that will take me.

Based on my instructions, it took me 20 minutes. I built my playlists based off of the category of music. So my root folder is "My Music". My sub folders are "Country" "Rock"...etc. let Windows media player do all the work as opposed to going through every file to update the ID Tag, or better yet, let a program like ITunes update your tags for you. If you need help PM me. Edited May 30, 2014 by Silverado Steve

SUMORYDR · June 4, 2014

You need to develop playlists for your music folders on yout thumb-drive as MyLink doesn't create them for you. It took me awhile but I finally got mine to work. I used Window's Media Player to make the playlists. I saved all my music onto a 32GB micro thumb-drive. Open Windows Media Player. Click on the "Create Playlist" link. On the right of your player, you should see a section where it states "Drag items Here" drag your root folder of your music off of your thumb drive into this section. Above the playlist you can click "Save Playlist" When you do that, make sure you name your play list and save it back onto your thumb drive. Also, you have to save it in the "M3U" format. From there, your playlist should break your music selection down in MyLink as it appears in your folders on your thumb-drive. This link explains it much better:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-41313.html

Okay wait, I followed the directions to the letter and built another playlist and saved it and everything looks good but I'm not sure about the "M3U" format........ not sure what that is or how to convert something to M3U. I just did this as a test to see if I could even build a playlist and it seemed to have worked but I didn't re-save it to my thumb drive because I wasn't sure of the M3U thing.

Maybe I'll do it again and just try it out. I mean if it doesn't work it doesn't work. But if it does...... oh the joy!!!!!

steveved · November 21, 2014

The annoying thing about all of this is that my 2013 Camaro 1LE has the ability to play folders in MyLink. That menu choice does NOT exist in my 2014 Silverado. Why did they remove such a useful feature? That could NOT have taken up that many lines of code in the MyLink App...

GMCustomerService · November 21, 2014

Hey steveved,

We apologize for any frustration with your MyLink. Please know that your feedback will be documented within our system where it'll be available to all the appropriate departments in the company. Feel free to private message us any questions or suggestions you have in the future.

Sincerely,

Eddie A.

GM Customer Care

Algonkin · December 5, 2014

Ok here's a dumb question...first I never thought of copying my .mp3s to a USB stick (I will now ;)) but my question is: There are several USB ports in my truck. Do I need to select a particular port or do they all recognize the .mp3 extension?

Edited December 5, 2014 by Algonkin

Silverado Steve · December 6, 2014

Ok here's a dumb question...first I never thought of copying my .mp3s to a USB stick (I will now ;)) but my question is: There are several USB ports in my truck. Do I need to select a particular port or do they all recognize the .mp3 extension?

The system should recognize it...however mine seems to recognize some ports better than other....otherwise, be patient if it doesnt work consistently....your system isnt broke

steveved · December 6, 2014

Ok here's a dumb question...first I never thought of copying my .mp3s to a USB stick (I will now ;)) but my question is: There are several USB ports in my truck. Do I need to select a particular port or do they all recognize the .mp3 extension?

It isn't a dumb question. There are no stupid questions... Only stupid people... :-) And most of them drive Fords.

Anyway, here is a direct answer to your question...

If your Silverado is like mine, there are 5 USB ports. 3 are under a black cover beneath the ventilation controls. These 3 are for power only. They can power a cell phone, GPS receiver, etc. Inside the center console, there are 2 more ports on the right side... Those are data ports. Those are where you want to plug in a USB stick with music on it.

Edited December 6, 2014 by steveved