Music, mp3, etc help an old guy out

Forgive me, my 1st car had a 40 pound am only radio.

I've done searches but most of the info is over my head.

I'm looking to put my old CDs onto some sort of thumb drive that I can play in my 24 Tundra SR5 double cab.

I have a laptop windows 10 with a CD reader so I think I can buy a USB type of thumb drive and load my CDs onto it.
My main concerns:
1. I want it to work
2. I want quality sound
I've read about size of the thumb drive as well as formats I've never heard of before.
What do you guys suggest and thanks in advance if you can provide a link to the product....double thanks if it links to Amazon.

Edit: forgot to inform everyone that my phone is a Samsung S22 using Android

Thanks
From an old fart

 

@1lowlife - I do believe you have good insight on this. From one old fart to another.

 

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

Your CDs have WAVE files on them and they are huge.
You'll need to convert them to mp3 files.
Then you can put mp3 files on a usb drive and your vehicle can play them.

The purists will tell you to convert them to FLAC files, but I doubt you would hear the difference..

You need to search 'ripping CDs to mp3 files'.
I haven't done it in years..
It was pretty time consuming back then, maybe there is a faster way these days..

I have over 5K songs on one of these and leave it plugged into the USB all the time.

$21 SanDisk 32GB 3-Pack Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (3x32GB) - SDCZ430-032G-G46T, Black

Amazon.com: SanDisk 32GB 3-Pack Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (3x32GB) - SDCZ430-032G-G46T, Black : Electronics

Depending on your cell phone, you can also keep mp3s on your phone either physically (space permitting) or thru the cloud.
Then run them off your phone thru bluetooth.
I have over 4k songs on my phone..



BTW, my first car had one of these under the dash..



It was mounted next to the AC..



Good luck...

 

I just spent 2 days scratching my head trying to figure out how to connect and play my iPod to my new Tundra. In my last Tundra, it was just a simple cable- nice and easy. All of my CDs were on that thing and it worked perfectly.
Can’t use it with the new Tundra. Luckily, my iPhone has a huge amount of storage, so I just loaded my entire music library onto it.
Here’s some BS I found out last night though: My ‘24 Tundra won’t let me see all songs and artists on the screen while I’m driving. The entire library only shows up when I’m in Park. That forces me to select music from my phone while I’m driving.
That safety feature ain’t so safe.
Can you connect your phone with Bluetooth in your ’14?

 

Since you are asking for links to Amazon, I am going to assume you have account? You would get free Amazon music through their app. Just throwing that out as an option.

 

Just updated my Truck info to a 2024. Yes, my android galaxy s22 connected to the 2024 Tundra.

 

Thank you!

 

I'm jealous. Your 1st car had A/C. My "A/C" was crank down windows with those little triangular windows you could also crank. My car was so old when I sold it, that the rear seats only had carpet under the feet.....no metal under the carpet.
Thanks for the link. I will be ordering shortly.

 

With Windows Media Player Legacy you can rip cd's to MP3 easily.

 

That's what i did to convert my CD's.

took a while, but it works.

sent to my phone & bam.

 

I have a similar setup - 2023 Tundra and Samsung 22 Ultra - I used the windows media player to move my music files to my Samsung, I play them on the samsung via either Samsung music, I created playlists in Winamp but you can do it in windows media player too. I use Android Auto wireless for my GPS /music while driving. I have samsung in there as one the apps I use. I also have spotify/pandora if I want something different then what I have on my phone. My wife uses apple play for her gps/music - she uses itunes I think it is, for her music on the iphone.

I had a radio shack 8-track back in my first car...

 

https://youtu.be/HaF-nRS_CWM?si=4TBBv7yU4ru6j8dP

My God I used winamp for YEARS..
I used to make mix CDs and fade one song into another.
Made a TON of playlists using it as well..

Wow does this bring back some memories...




These days when I need to merge 2 or more mp3s I use Audacity.

 

Just add a standalone CD player

$120 POSSPO Jupiter CD DVD Player for Car with USB Port AUX Port, Portable External CD Player That Plugs into Car Laptop Desktop TV Mac Computer, Plug & Play –Upgraded with Extra USB Extension Cable

https://www.amazon.com/CD-DVD-Playe...09&mcid=28650e7b1a063b1e9c639381eeb817f8&th=1

 

Yup, I've played with Audacity - but it's been a while, - I've played with a lot of different music players over the years.

 

The good old days....



The REALLY good old days..

 

Man, WINAMP was the shit. Even got my old man rippin' music on it back in the day. Haven't thought about that in decades!

 

Excellent thread for us old-timers!!!!

Thanks everyone for contributing!

 

How many Gigs does that 4,000 songs take up on your phone?

I ripped all my CD's (probably 250 of 'em) onto iTunes, then put most of them onto an iPod.

I have the iPod plugged into the truck.

I also have XM radio, and Spotify that I can bluetooth from phone to crappy Tundra stereo.

 

Which iPod do you have? I have an old Nano that won’t work with CarPlay, however it Bluetooth’s right in. Even so, you should be able to cable in through the usb on the dash.

 

There are all sorts of free MP3 converter apps online. Just search for "MP3 converter"

 

An account*. Doh!

You probably have a friend or family member that has room on their family streaming service to add you, if you don’t opt for Amazon music as an option.

 

I have an iPod Classic from like 2005(?). I have to say, I’d rather have all of that on my phone. It’s almost seamless that way.

 

Subscribe to Spotify, download the CD's into a Playlist. When your phone connects via bluetooth all your CD's are there in your phone in Playlist on Spotify . Easy peasy.

 

Correction, Spotify just went on a rampage recently and banned accounts for sharing outside of their household. I use Apple Music and just heard about this today.

I don't know any details, other than it involved an email sent to members asking them to confirm they're in the same household. If you didn't respond, it could have ended your subscription and possibly banned you for a year from their services.

 

I haven't used Windows to any extent in 20 years after becoming a Linux fanboy, but the process should still be the same.

Provided OP has original CDs, Microsoft support has laid out the process here. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/burn-and-rip-cds-235021d5-e1c7-8616-4efd-4f4965fe6b91

There are...were, ample free software versions that would perform this task that work with Windows. WinAmp seems to be around still. Audacity mentioned above is free, EXCELLENT for many tasks, but may be overwhelming in its depth of features and will not rip the content.

https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_how_to_import_cds.html

For those concerned about Copy Right, Piracy and such: Copying CDs

However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won't usually raise concerns so long as: The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own. The copy is just for your personal use.

Sauce: https://www.riaa.com/resources-learning/about-piracy/

Your Galaxy likely has ample storage space, even if it's the not the Ultra. 128 Gigabytes of data vs 256 is still A LOT!!! I currently have 2000+/- songs that reside in tens of folders that utilize approximately 18 gigabytes

I would download a free version of a ripper. Literally, just (search engine) free windows cd ripper and start trying one until you find one you like.

I would suggest to keep your bit rate At Least 196k. Any reasonably decent software will give you the option to choose the bit rate. The more data, the better (in theory) the quality. This is especially true when compressing your audio file MP3. Just keep in mind, the higher bit rate you choose, the more space the file you create takes on your phone/USB/etc.

In my opinion, and only my opinion, 196k sounds better than what passes for FM radio in most areas of the US these days, unless you're fortunate enough to have HD FM which sounds like FM did when AM lost it's grip in the 70s. *I'm old too

Where was I?

Oh! So we now have some files ripped. Hopefully, your software gave you the option to rip as individual tracks from the CD, and didn't create a single file of the CD. Having the album is nice, but, it's a pain in the keister when I only want to hear track 4 of the 9 track cd. Audacity will shine here, but, that's another topic entirely.

So, how do Ii get my newly minted tunes to my phone?

It's somewhat hardware specific,but if your computer has Bluetooth, you can literally Share it to your phone if you have them set to see each other. Otherwise, connect your USB charging cable to your computer. You will want to ensure you read this link and follow it. There are options to how your phone 'sees the cable's. You need to make a simple selection on your phone.

https://support.google.com/android/answer/9064445?hl=en

This is to enable your phone to be seen as a mass storage device. Using your computers file explorer, your phone will show up as a device a'la a CD/DVD drive, hard drive. Selecting it will permit you to view the user accessible files as any other folder on your computer and it's simply a matter of copy and paste/drag and drop to transfer your music/photos/videos between the computer and your phone.
So I took time to rip my music, placed my music in a folder, transfered said folder to my phone and I'm ready to go.

Yes you are! If you can play your music on your phone and provided you have previously connected your phone to your truck via Bluetooth, when you select a track on your phones music player, you Should also have the audio when you select Bluetooth audio in the Entune system vs FM/CD/etc.

But Bluetooth audio Sux! Not really. Any relatively modern phone will have Bluetooth 5.0 or better, many 5.2 as OPs and will provide a satisfactory listening experience provided the track was sampled well while being ripped.

Idk if any of that helps? I hope it does. Who else grew up with AcDc and Kiss on 8 track? 78 RPMs on vinyl?

Edit: bits to Bytes

 

All music streamed via your phone to the truck will use your cell phone's data "minutes". As an old fart and retired and to keep my costs down, I do not subscribe to unlimited data. I load the music files on my phone or the USB stick to avoid the Verizon data usage. Wish the Tundra's stereo system had built in data storage.... our other cars have up to 40GB. Just another factor to consider.

 

As mentioned above, if the music was being streamed form the phone storage (stored on the phone, and not the internet), then it should go through the "local" wireless/wire connection, without using the phone's data plan. To be sure, you can also turn off cellular data for your music app.

 

from multimedia owners manual

■ Formats and specifications of USB flash drives
The formats and standards of the USB flash drives that can be used,
and the restrictions for use, are as follows.
USB communication format USB2.0 HS (480MBPS)
File format FAT 16/32
Communication class Mass storage class
Maximum number of folders 3000 (including root)
Maximum number of folder levels 8
Maximum number of files 9999 (maximum of 255 files per
folder)
Memory capacity Up to 32 GB
Maximum size of one file 2GB
● Files other than the formats above may not be played correctly,
or information such as the file or folder name may not display
correctly.
● Please understand in advance that this device may not be able to
play your USB flash drive.
● Depending on the computer used to save files on a USB flash
drive, hidden files may be saved in addition to the playback files.
Deletion of such hidden files is recommended. They may have
a negative effect during playback and prevent files from being
switched correctly.
Format information

The specifications of the music data that can be used are as follows.
■ MP3
Supported standard MP3 (MPEG1 LAYER 3, MPEG2
LSF LAYER 3)
8-1. Appendix
224

■ File names
The only files that can be recognized as MP3/WMA/AAC and
played are those with the extension ".mp3"/".wma"/".m4a". Save
MP3/WMA/AAC files with a ".mp3"/".wma"/".m4a".
■ About ID3 tags, WMA tags, AAC tags, tags, and Vorbis comments
● MP3 files have ancillary character information called ID3 tags that
can store song artist names, title names, album names, and more.
● WMA files have ancillary character information called WMA tags
that can store song artist names, title names, album names, and
more.
● AAC files have ancillary character information called AAC tags
that can store song artist names, title names, album names, and
more.
● WAV (LPCM) files have ancillary character information called tags
that can store song artist names, title names, album names, and
more.
● FLAC files have ancillary character information called tags that
can store song artist names, title names, album names, and more.
● ALAC files have ancillary character information called tags that
can store song artist names, title names, album names, and more.
● Ogg Vorbis files have ancillary text information called Vorbis comment
that allows saving of the song artist names, title names,
album names, and more.
■ High resolution sound sources
This device supports high-resolution sound sources. The definition
of high-resolution is based on the standards of groups such as the
CTA (Consumer Technology Association).
Supported formats and playable media are as follows.
Supported formats
WAV, FLAC, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis
Playable media
USB flash drive
8-1. Appendix
227

USB flash drive
■ Music files recorded using a computer
The following music files can be played.
● MP3
● WMA
● AAC
● FLAC
● WAV
● ALAC
● OGG Vorbis
MP3/WMA/AAC
Certain restrictions apply to the standards of the MP3/WMA/AAC
files that can be used, and the media and formats that store such
files. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Media are the registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the USA and other countries.
The specifications of the music data that can be used are as follows.
MP3
MP3 (MPEG Audio LAYER 3) is the standard format related to
audio compression technology. When MP3 is used, the file can
be compressed to approximately 1/10 the size of the original file.

 

If you have a paid Spotify (or apple ) account, you download your playlist and It gets stored in your phone. When you leave the house, you do not need data to listen to your playlists. For example you can listen on an airplane in the middle of the ocean where there is no data

 

like krusty said, i do the same. i use to keep around 3500 mp3's on my phone and used to use playerpro music player and poweramp pro and stream thru the headunit via bluetooth. but since we have a family spotify plan just easier to make a playlist for different genre and then set that playlist to download and play thru the head unit.

spotify family plan lets you have 5 users at $15 dollars a month with no ads. not as cheap as using a phone app and keeping mp3's on that thru BT.