# Can you burn music to a USB Flash Drive



## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

I'm a little behind the times with cetain computer features. Can you burn music to a USB Flash Drive similar to the way you burn music to a CD? If you can, you can briefly tell me how to do it from my computer. I have a lot of music files saved on my computer in Windows Media Player. Do you use the burn feature the same way that I burn music to a CD? Or do you copy music files a different way to a USB Flash Drive? I've burned music to many CD's, but not a USB Flash Drive.

After the music is on the Flash Drive, I guess I would plug it into the USB Port in the center console and the Infotainment system would automatically read the music files. Is that correct?

Thanks for the assistance.


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## buckeyewalt (Mar 10, 2012)

Depends on how your computer is set up........I just drag and drop to the drive that the USB is connected too.......very easy to do!


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## titan2782 (Nov 4, 2011)

You copy the MP3 files to the USB flash drive. Then when it's in the car, the car will recognize it as an input device and will read the MP3 files and play them. You can control how it plays like a CD or you can search, sort and create play lists.

But no, you don't "burn" then to the USB drive. Burning is a term used to describe the process of writing data to a CD using a laser where it makes a series of divits or planes essentially translating to 1's and 0's.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

On my Mac all my music is in I-Tunes. I have gotten all my music from CD's so all I do is pick what I want and drag it onto the USB, works great. There must be a similar way on a PC?


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## silverls (Nov 12, 2011)

titan2782 said:


> You copy the MP3 files to the USB flash drive. Then when it's in the car, the car will recognize it as an input device and will read the MP3 files and play them. You can control how it plays like a CD or you can search, sort and create play lists.
> 
> But no, you don't "burn" then to the USB drive. Burning is a term used to describe the process of writing data to a CD using a laser where it makes a series of divits or planes essentially translating to 1's and 0's.


+1

Sent from my XT912 using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Using Nero or Windows Media, convert my CD's to MP3 files and tell the program where to write those files to. Typically unto my hard drive. A USB flashdrive is no different than a hard drive, with Windows Explorer, use to call it file manager that makes a lot more sense as Explorer is also used as a net browsing program.

But a hard drive is more of permanent storage device than flashram that can die in a car environment due to excessive temperature extremes.

You can make directories and subdirectories on your flash drive such as Classics for the main directory, and the names of different composers in subdirectories. Than just drag those file from your harddrive to that particular subdirectory on your flashdrive. Using Folder in your Cruze radio, let's you select that main directory, then the subdirectories on it.

What I do is create a directory on any drive besides drive C, I have three hard drives in my computer, create a directory say Cruze MP3 Files, and make all my directories and subdirectories under that, then copy my songs to that particular subdirectory or even a sub-subdirectory. By right clicking the Cruze directory and going down to Properties, tells you how many files you have loaded and the total size of those files. Good to know so you don't exceed the capacity of your flashdrive.

Click on Cruze in the left column, opens all the directories in the right hand size, clicking the top directory, holding down the shift key then clicking the bottom directory highlights all the directories. Right clicking any directory on the right, holding the mouse key down drags the entire files to the drive where your flashdrive is plugged into. For a 16GB flashdrive, may take quite a time to copy all those files, so I just take a nap and let the computer do the work.

I like the Sandisk Cruzer 16GB flashdrive, only sticks out a 1/4" when plugged into your Cruze. Hitting 
Search, then Folder, and quickly scroll to whatever directory you want, then shows all the subdirectories. Selecting that, then the individual songs. Very quick when organized properly.


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## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

NickD said:


> Using Nero or Windows Media, convert my CD's to MP3 files and tell the program where to write those files to. Typically unto my hard drive. A USB flashdrive is no different than a hard drive, with Windows Explorer, use to call it file manager that makes a lot more sense as Explorer is also used as a net browsing program.
> 
> But a hard drive is more of permanent storage device than flashram that can die in a car environment due to excessive temperature extremes.
> 
> ...


I used to have a program where you can copy music files as audio files, or MP3 files. With Windows Media Player, I can't find where to convert my existing music files to MP3 files. Would anyone know how to do that? These files are saved on my computer. I wouldn't be copying them from a CD. Unfortunately, the program that I used to convert my files to MP3 format is no longer supported. Can this be done in Windows Media Player? If it can, can you please describe briefly how to do it? I much prefer the MP3 format. You get the artist and music name on the Infotainment Screen. With regular audio files, it just says Track 1, Track 2, etc. with no artist or music name information.


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## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

One last observation I noticed when I was playing a CD in MP3 format. If the song name is too long, the name gets cut off. The screen is large enough to show the entire song name. And I noticed in FM and XM, if the song name is too long, it scrolls the rest of the name at the point it gets cut off. My Malibu would do that if you hit the information button for CD's only. If the song name was too long in FM or XM, it wouldn't scroll the rest of the name even if you hit the information button.

Is there a way to get the song name to scroll if the name gets cut off in the Cruze? I have the My Link system with the 7 inch touch screen.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Sure don't know how to work around this, just posted on the lack of standards. Studying Windows Media, you can add the name of the song, the artist, and appears that way when you play that MP3 on your computer. Copying that song to a flashdrive and playing it on my Cruze radio, comes out as Track 6.

Perhaps there is some other program on the net that let's you do this in a more generic fashion, but how much time do you want to spend on this.

Since I love Beethoven Sonatas, three movements that would get scattered all over the place, did find a freeware program called MergeMP3 that combines all three movements into one MP3 file. That works great.

Another program that I found is called, MP3GainGUI that lets you equalize the gain or volume of all your MP3's, thought there was standards on this, also lacking, either couldn't hear an MP3 or it was blasting my ears off.

Many such programs on the net, most of them may even crash your computer, so did take awhile and playing around to find good working programs. And we don't have All the time in the world.

There are also deprotect programs, was about five years ago my wife wanted an MP3 player, first was choosing a player. Itunes wants 90 cents a track just for the license to use it, so went generic to a Sandisk, was over 200 bucks for this eight buck to manufacture MP3 player. We signed up for Rhapsody, went on a trip, and that locked up on her. While we had access to a computer, wouldn't let us unlock it, had to be done on her computer to unlock it, but that was thousands of miles away. So I found a good deprotect program that converted protected *.wma files to standard mp3's. 

We are still paying Rhapsody ten bucks a month, so I hope they don't mind. She got a Motorola Electrify cell phone. Got her a 32GB class to Micro SD chip. Copied her songs to that, about the same size as that overpriced Sandisk, still expensive, but works great for her. Not only that, has a great still and video camera, can access google maps, a GPS, play FreeCell on it, can access the internet, has an FM radio, send text messages, and even make calls. Also copied her files she spent hours making a playlist for, works great with the Cruze radio. Can even adjust the bit rate to jam a lot more music on a chip if not fuzzy.

We only used the CD player on our Cruze radio once, just to make sure it worked. But it does take awhile to learn all this stuff. Still a lot better than converting LP's to MP3's or even copying them to an 8-Track player.

Also see a lot of MP3's on youtube with programs that let you download first rate MP3's, wonder about that since college kids were fined over a quarter of a million bucks for sharing music over the internet.


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## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

NickD said:


> Sure don't know how to work around this, just posted on the lack of standards. Studying Windows Media, you can add the name of the song, the artist, and appears that way when you play that MP3 on your computer. Copying that song to a flashdrive and playing it on my Cruze radio, comes out as Track 6.
> 
> Perhaps there is some other program on the net that let's you do this in a more generic fashion, but how much time do you want to spend on this.
> 
> ...


Yes, I would like an MP3 Program. I was able to burn some music files in MP3 format to a CD and it displays the name of the CD, the Artist Name, and the song name. If I just copy it as a regular music file, it doesn't display any of that information - just Track 1, Track 2, etc. I will look for an MP3 program on the internet and download it. I had a very good MP3 program, but they don't support it anymore, so most of the music that I saved in different libraries are only previewed for 30 seconds.

It appears that Windows Media Player does not have the ability to burn CD's in MP3 format. So I will have to look for a different program that can do that. Does anyone know if there's a free MP3 program that's available for download on the Internet?


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## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

One last question. If I copy music files to a USB Flash Drive, can I delete those files if I want to? When you burn a CD, it closes the CD, so you can't delete or make changes to the CD, even if it is a rewriteable CD.


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## Richard (Dec 1, 2012)

Richard said:


> One last observation I noticed when I was playing a CD in MP3 format. If the song name is too long, the name gets cut off. The screen is large enough to show the entire song name. And I noticed in FM and XM, if the song name is too long, it scrolls the rest of the name at the point it gets cut off. My Malibu would do that if you hit the information button for CD's only. If the song name was too long in FM or XM, it wouldn't scroll the rest of the name even if you hit the information button.
> 
> Is there a way to get the song name to scroll if the name gets cut off in the Cruze? I have the My Link system with the 7 inch touch screen.


I see how to get the entire song name to display. You hit the info button and it shows the entire song name, etc. even if it doesn't fit on the first screen. It just makes the letters smaller so that they fit on the entire screen. It doesn't scroll the name, it shows the entire name after you hit the info button. Nice feature.


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## Dennis_Mn (Jan 20, 2012)

Richard said:


> Yes, I would like an MP3 Program. snip...it doesn't display any of that information - just Track 1, Track 2,
> It appears that Windows Media Player does not have the ability to burn CD's in MP3 format. So I will have to look for a different program that can do that. Does anyone know if there's a free MP3 program that's available for download on the Internet?


I use two programs to copy cd's to a flash drive 1) is I Tunes from Apple. I needed that on my pc to sync my IPad, but it will copy cd's and convert them to the mp3 format, and it was free. I had to register it and I do purchase music on occasion. 2) someone on this list recommended a tool called "tag scanner" to eliminate the track 1, track 2 problem. It takes a while to get good at using this, but it works for the purpose. I see the name of another tool in this thread to even out the volume, so I'll need to try that, thanks to Nick. You can use up to a 16gb flash drive, but I only use 4 gb's because it doesn't take so long to index. My favorite mode from the car menu is to search by album name, and I'll pick something starting with "A" and it plays them in order. It was interesting with my Christmas music flash because we would get about 6 versions on Jingle Bells at one time.


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

I use RealPlayer to do all of the audio and video on my home PC. It's a free program and it has a Pro version that is something like $30. RP will convert files to MP3 from others and write them where you direct. I make a folder to hold the songs I want to put on the flash drive. That way I have a back up of it for future reference. Also, you need to format the flash drive as a FAT32 format rather than an NFST format so that the Cruze can read it properly. When you first start using a USB stick for this purpose, do a complete format rather than a quick on to make sure you clear any manufacturer supplied files that could mess up the Cruze access to it.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Aussie said:


> On my Mac all my music is in I-Tunes. I have gotten all my music from CD's so all I do is pick what I want and drag it onto the USB, works great. There must be a similar way on a PC?


Its really that easy on the PC as well, most if not all music programs put all ripped music on the music folder of the user account you are on, all you need to do is open that folder & drag the folders of music you want onto the USB drive(open in another window). 

You can use windows media player to rip MP3 files, but by default its rips WMA format. Just a simple setting change to get it to rip MP3 format & there is even a quality setting from 128-320kbps. Windows Media player is included on most current version of windows, this works on XP,Vista, win 7 & 8.

As with most music programs files ripped to the PC with windows media player will automatically add the music name info tags when connected to the internet while ripping that way it will display properly on the cars display. I'm not saying this is the best or easiest method, but wanted to let people know there is ways to do this included with most versions of windows.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Richard said:


> One last question. If I copy music files to a USB Flash Drive, can I delete those files if I want to? When you burn a CD, it closes the CD, so you can't delete or make changes to the CD, even if it is a rewriteable CD.


Is a program called InCD by Nero, doesn't come with the Nero package, but once registered can download it. Treats any read-write CD just like your hard drive. Disk has to be formatted first, after that you can add or delete any file that you want. Can create directories and any number of subdirectories.

Flashdrive is no difference in function, has to be formatted just like a hard drive but the data is stored in gated field effect transistors, trapping in electrons to tell the difference between a logical 0 or 1. Unlike conventional random access memory, keeps that data when power is removed or at least its suppose to. And can use the same directory structure. Excessive temperature extremes can completely delete all that data, so never consider it a form of permanent storage.

It takes organization skills to store data in a computer, most people I know depend on just one hard drive for that really important data. Is an electro-mechanical device that can fail at any time, so best not to trust any form of media. For important stuff, may back it up on an external hard drive, dual layer DVD for the big stuff, one one, but several DVD's.

Three things I hate about Windows, first they changed the meaning of a personal computer to a public computer, that really makes a mess, second, came up with that crazy registry that stores all kinds of nonsense, grows faster than weeds in your back yard. Third, they try to store all your key data on drive C, the home drive. That constant writing and rewriting on the drive can generate errors. Seen more people cry when they lost all their data. Stepson did that listening to his biological dad, changing the OS his computer was even capable of running, crashed his computer with one drive and lost over 5GB of key data with all of his architectural designed files. 

If the disks are still good, would cost him over $5,000.00 to have that recovered, but with no guarantees. Then running that one computer on the internet with all those hackers and virus's one can encounter.

Another danger is power surges, if you apply just 4 V to a 3.3V microprocessor, will burn it up. What I really consider insane is using flashdrive to store all the firmware that runs our vehicles, started this in 1996. Using the term burn is quite correct with a PROM, cost under a buck, but was considered by those idiot bean counters that money could be saved by upgrading firmware over the internet. Then with an alternator that can kick out over 150 volts with a shorted field driver transistor, all those inductive relays and motors generating spikes, and a 40KV ignition system.

In theory, solid state should last forever, but only if the chips are properly passivated, a thin layer to keep impurities out of that chip. Thermal cycling will cause that thin layer to crack, I don't even want to think about stuff like this when driving on a lonely road during a blizzard.


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