Need a solution for this particular situation

I have a 2020 Tundra and this is the situation:

The truck has 1 USB port for DATA and 2 USB ports for charging the phones.

I use the USB port for DATA to plug in a USB drive to listen to my MP3 music (I make my own mixes which are 4 hrs long and therefore cannot upload to any cloud).

I do have an iPhone and I want to connect CarPlay (which is not wireless it seems). But to do so I have to use the USB DATA port, therefore I cannot listen to my music.
At the same time, if I needed to charge the phone, I had to move it into the charging port, therefore I can’t use CarPlay since I unplugged it from the DATA port (what a stupid set up this is if you ask me).

If I get a wireless CarPlay, the thing has to connect to the DATA port therefore I cannot use my USB drive. So that doesn’t help.

What is the solution for this particular situation? Probably add another data port but then the unit may not recognize it. And that means tinkering with factory cables and not sure i (or audio place) if i want to do that.

Suggestions please? ty!

 

It’s 2024. Might be time to modernize the music organization. I can build lists on Spotify of whatever I want and even download them to the phone for offline listening. Thumb drives, iPods, flash drives, memory cards or sticks or whatever are becoming (became) obsolete.

 

+2 Its too confining using an external drive to hold music (to me). Even this boomer moved onto using apple music (on an android) - I can constantly add or delete from library and just BT it to my deck - home speakers - headphones - whatever device its all the same source that I happen to carry with me all the time...

 

i get it. but as i explained my mixes are 4 hrs long. no cloud will allow such heavy file. i dont care if an usb drive is obsolete. it still works.

 

I can have 12hr+ long playlists on Spotify. And it all comes from the cloud.

 

is NOT a playlist guys... it's a song. 1 file. i made a mixing (as a DJ) mix. Its is close to 500MGBs...

 

Let the newbie hostilities begin.

Ask for help >>>> bitch at the help. Hang on. I'm checking the calendar. Yep. It's 2024.

 

Carplay will charge at the same time as playing. So your phone will charge while playing CarPlay.

as for the music - you can use itunes to load mp3s onto your phone to play them from Apple Music while you are in CarPlay.

 

Not sure there is a solution for what you're looking to do. Basically you want your stereo to pull from two sources at once. Even with built-in wireless Apple CarPlay I'm not sure you could still connect CarPlay and then listen to your music.

You've probably looked into this, but I'll ask anyway...can you load your mix to your phone and access thru Apple Music or maybe another app?

 

As for mixing a single 4 hour song - I’d hate to have to try to recall where I was in the middle of it if I needed to restart the play. Seems like at least breaking it into a series of tracks (even without a pause between tracks) would make navigating it easier.

 

FWIW - I’m not even sure that aftermarket radios with two data ports will pull from one data port for audio while also running CarPlay for navigation/phone/etc. I’ve never needed to try that because I too went the way of streaming services years ago.

though I do have a bunch of obscure live mp3s from various artists that I have loaded into Spotify. There is a way to load your own MP3s into it on your mobile devices and be able to play them. It requires some extra steps (and a premium subscription) but it can be done. And they are not loaded into the cloud at all - they only live locally on the device.

 

Connect your phone through Bluetooth and then select your audio source for your thumbdrives as the USB. I believe your phone should cut in when directions are necessary just like it would if your playing the radio (different source than your phone)and the phone steps over the song.

 

Probably needed to specify that in the original post as that’s kind of a one of one situation. So you made a 4hr long mix, cause you’re a DJ, saved it to a thumb drive, and that’s the only thing you ever listen to in your truck. Got it.

 

Imagine going on a road trip with op and he gets to pick the first song

 

A 4hr song. Woah you are right there is no cloud in the world that could handle that type of data. Imagine if the whole internet had to traverse the cloud. That would be insane.

 

MP3? Lmao. You must have VHS too? You need to stream dude.

 

Don't let these Gen Z'ers get to you OP, I still listen to MP3 music on a daily basis. Hope you can find a solution.

These teenagers think they know everything!

 

Agreed, I always ripped my music using lossless settings for everyone of my music sources. If you don’t know what you are listening for it means nothing but I like to feel and hear the music as it was intended by the artists. Bluetooth is getting better but the technology is not quite there yet.

Interesting reading…
https://ds18.com/blogs/blog/the-battle-for-clarity-bluetooth-audio-vs-wired-audio?_ab=0&_fd=0&_sc=1

 

But he’s playing it on a Tundra system…. Don’t think it can adequately take advantage of lossless compression

 

In wife's 22 Sequoia (gen 2) I ran a USB cable to the back of the console, pried it open, added a small USB hub (there's a small niche in there) powered from 12v socket, plugged a wireless Android Auto adapter and ran another USB cable back to the data port. The head unit's data cable behind the dash is not connected to the port, it goes to the hub. Luckily, the JBL head unit she has does not mind seeing a hub. Now she has both wireless Android Auto and USB stick.

 

I upgraded my HU/Amp and I love the sound I now receive

 

I think your solution is what 1up suggests OR an aftermarket head unit. Crutchfield is a good place to research. Sometimes, depending on how much you want to spend, you will loos some functions, like steering wheel buttons to scroll through the radio, etc., but they do have adapters for that. You should be able to find a head unit that has its own USB and media card slots and even wireless or wired carplay. There are a lot of options.

 

Can you convert it to an MP3 and drop the bit depth to reduce the size of the file and move it to your iPhone?

500MGB or GB? Megabytes should be no issue on an iPhone. Airdrop it if you have a Mac.

 

Streaming services have nothing for my music taste.

Also nothing beats 1 TB SSD with MP3

 

500 MB? Why can't you just store that on your phone? I have 20 GB of music stored on my phone.

 

Welcome from NY.
What type of music?

 

Gen Z? Good one. I’m 56 years old and stream lossless files on 9k DSP system in my Tundra. I am an audiophile.