# USB Music



## testar (Dec 17, 2020)

I was curious how many Tesla owners use USB for their music. I have always liked to play my own music in my car. It started with tapes and then CDs and now a USB flash drive. In the two years I have been driving my Tesla, the USB music player has gotten worse. It rarely remembers the song I was playing when I leave and come back into the car. It doesn’t seem to remember that I was even using the USB player. And I really hope that album art comes back someday. Gapless playback would also be nice as a prog rock fan. It would be really great if Tesla showed the USB music player some love in the upcoming major update.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

Some of these items are not unique to the USB music source, Bluetooth behaves the same way for remembering source and picking back up where it left off. I agree, there was a time where it did this better than it does today. 

I did load my personal music to a USB drive to try it, but the interface wasn't worth it and truly I don't buy a lot of music these days so I prefer streaming or Pandora from my phone so I get more variety than of just that which I have of my own.


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## Blue Meanie (Sep 25, 2016)

I prefer listening to my album collection and use USB Audio most of the time. My albums have been collected over a lifetime of listening and it's a wonderful feature to be able to enjoy them in my car as I drive about town or while on a road trip. The sound quality in my care is great and ease with which I can amend my collection via the thumb drive is fantastic.
(NOTE: I use a SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive for USB Audio)
That being said, here are my issues with USB Audio after two years of Model 3 ownership:

First of all, the selection of music should be a "fun" process. Tesla seems to ignore this for USB Audio (as opposed to the other audio options.) Since day one of owning my Model 3 I've longed for a better way to access and enjoy my collection (and yes, this includes album art.) For a company that that emphasizes the FUN of owning and driving a Tesla, this is a notable blind spot.
The graphic user interface (GUI) is abysmal: selecting from my audio library via a series of nested folder icons is not "user friendly". The listing of items in the various folders is problematic: for instance, under "Artists" a single artist may be listed several times rather than once. The work-around for this is to utilize the "Folders" folder… ugh, not fun. Creating a smooth and attractive GUI for USB Audio should be a relatively straightforward task: there are lots of examples out on the market already to emulate.
The album art has gone missing in the latest software releases. This is greatly missed by me!
Often the song being played when last leaving the car is not remembered. This is quite "hit and miss" and I have been unable to detect any pattern to this.
There are intermittent hesitation gaps during playback lasting from 1 to 3 seconds. I have noticed when making changes to my library by adding or removing songs that sometimes this eliminates this gap issue; only to resurface later with another amendment to my library.
The "Favorites" folder and the "Favorites" strip no longer remembers or displays my starred favorite songs. This occurred quite recently after update 2020.44.25.
The "Recent" strip no longer remembers or displays my recent selections. This occurred quite recently after update 2020.44.25.
As you can see, some of the above may possibly be related to the flash drive I use: I don't know. But most of the items are clearly in Tesla's in court and it would wonderful if they would dedicate a tech resource and resolve USB Audio "once and for all".


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## Malaromane (Jul 5, 2020)

In my previous car (2015 Chevy Volt), I used USB to listen to my music collection all of the time but since I picked up my Model 3 back in July, I haven't managed to get around to setting up a USB device with my music. The Volt didn't have the streaming options that are available to me now in the Tesla. I probably will eventually get all of my music loaded onto a drive and installed in the car but the posts about the current state of support for USB music playback doesn't prompt me to hurry to get it done.

One question to those of you who are commenting about the lack of cover art: have you experimented with having the cover art embedded in the metadata of the individual .mp3/.flac/.whatever file vs. having a "coverart.jpg" or "album.jpg" image file in the same directory as each album? I once had a mid-range Fiio Android portable music player that steadfastly refused to show cover art embedded within the individual music tracks but had no issue displaying cover art when it was in a separate .jpg image in the same folder as the .flac files.

Having said that, I really wish the Model 3 had a line-in socket so that I could just use my current portable music player to play my high-res .flac files and output the audio to the car. I know I can do it with Bluetooth but that wouldn't be the same. Failing that, it would be nice if I could connect the player to USB and use it in "car-mode" but Tesla doesn't support that.


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## Groenendael (Jan 19, 2018)

I don't normally listen to music but I do have a USB filled with classic radio programs from the 30's, 40's. and 50's that make the commute go a lot easier. iTunes let me modify the metadata so I could get cover art, put each show into an "album" using the broadcast year as the album name, and so on.


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## rrollens (Sep 10, 2017)

The only way to listen to the best quality music is by using a dedicated Astell & Kern DAP or secondarily listening to flac and above quality files (no mp3 files thank you) through the USB stick. The only streaming music service worthy of consideration is Tidal Premium. The Model 3 oem sound system is just OK as is, but with speaker replacement, real amp power, a DSP, and adding a dedicated 10-12" separately powered subwoofer you can have a really great system in one of the most quiet cars on the road today.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

I've been using USB since i got the car, although it didn't really work at all for the first 6 months, but I kept trying. Eventually they fixed enough things so that's it's mostly useable. The interface is abysmal - it's pretty clear they "borrowed" some old code from 2003 or so and adapted it. Almost every other digital player platform fixed the gaps between tracks in 2005 or so, that tesla still hasn't fixed this gives away how old their code is.

It IS possible to get usb playback to remember where it is over power cycles, although it takes a bit of dedication and experimentation, as it seem our cars come with different usb interface chipsets depending on when they were made. And these chipsets are not very good, and tesla doesn't use any kind of buffering of the usb audio data stream. So you don't want to use partitioned drives, or cheap hubs between your audio drive and the car. I use a pair of Navak hubs, especially designed for these cars, which are essentially a smart splitter that keep the power side limited so that the data side always has enough regulated power to do its thing. So after that, you want a really fast drive, with a really fast interface chip - regular usb flash drive may or may not work - in my car they just don't. Well, they work, but have all the problems we're trying to avoid. I did some experimentation with external ssd drives, and while my preferred sandisk extreme ones almost worked, it was still forgetting where it was over power cycles one out of four times - not good enough. Someone suggested building a m.2 drive, so I did some research, and while nvme drives seemed like the best choice, I ended up getting a crucial sata - and this case - . And I have it formatted as ext4, the native format of the car. This combo works well, and is actually a bit cheaper than buying a premade ssd drive (or was when I bought it). This setup works - it remembers where it is over power cycles - I'd like to say 100%, but it's a tesla, nothing works 100%, but it's pretty close - maybe 95%. It gets flummoxed by updates still.



Malaromane said:


> One question to those of you who are commenting about the lack of cover art: have you experimented with having the cover art embedded in the metadata of the individual .mp3/.flac/.whatever file vs. having a "coverart.jpg" or "album.jpg" image file in the same directory as each album?


Album art has been broken in the last 4 updates, since the start of the 2020.44 series. This is a widely acknowledged bug. FWIW you have to have the album art embedded in the tags, it doesn't work otherwise.


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## rrollens (Sep 10, 2017)

sduck said:


> I've been using USB since i got the car, although it didn't really work at all for the first 6 months, but I kept trying. Eventually they fixed enough things so that's it's mostly useable. The interface is abysmal - it's pretty clear they "borrowed" some old code from 2003 or so and adapted it. Almost every other digital player platform fixed the gaps between tracks in 2005 or so, that tesla still hasn't fixed this gives away how old their code is.
> 
> It IS possible to get usb playback to remember where it is over power cycles, although it takes a bit of dedication and experimentation, as it seem our cars come with different usb interface chipsets depending on when they were made. And these chipsets are not very good, and tesla doesn't use any kind of buffering of the usb audio data stream. So you don't want to use partitioned drives, or cheap hubs between your audio drive and the car. I use a pair of Navak hubs, especially designed for these cars, which are essentially a smart splitter that keep the power side limited so that the data side always has enough regulated power to do its thing. So after that, you want a really fast drive, with a really fast interface chip - regular usb flash drive may or may not work - in my car they just don't. Well, they work, but have all the problems we're trying to avoid. I did some experimentation with external ssd drives, and while my preferred sandisk extreme ones almost worked, it was still forgetting where it was over power cycles one out of four times - not good enough. Someone suggested building a m.2 drive, so I did some research, and while nvme drives seemed like the best choice, I ended up getting a crucial sata - and this case - . And I have it formatted as ext4, the native format of the car. This combo works well, and is actually a bit cheaper than buying a premade ssd drive (or was when I bought it). This setup works - it remembers where it is over power cycles - I'd like to say 100%, but it's a tesla, nothing works 100%, but it's pretty close - maybe 95%. It gets flummoxed by updates still.
> 
> Album art has been broken in the last 4 updates, since the start of the 2020.44 series. This is a widely acknowledged bug. FWIW you have to have the album art embedded in the tags, it doesn't work otherwise.


Very ingenious on your part. I have had no problems using the USB port for my audio. Plays up to 192/24 files with no problem. No album art as you mentioned, and sound quality is limited by inferior DAC in the OEM system. Cannot play native DSD or 32bit files as well. I send sound via the analog output from my A&k Kann Alpha directly into my Helix DSP/Amp. The only way to fly!


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## Rob D (Jul 7, 2018)

I voted No because the USB music interface is so unfriendly to use. The limitations have been documented well by others above. One additional problem is alphabetical scroll list on the right side is offset from the displayed items. For example, press "S" and you see items that start with "P".

I have a large music collection and would really like to use it. I hope Tesla improves this area. This poll might be even more informative if there was a third option:

No - but I would if the USB music interface was better​


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## atca (Dec 23, 2020)

Hi,

I voted for yes. I collected in the past 30 years about 700 CDs. I digitized them to flac and mp3 with lots of work using the REACT-tool with EAC (exact audio copy). And there is a significant part in my collection which I won´t find on spotify. Despite of that:Why should I pay for spotify and use streaming data which I don´t afford and which causes unneeded electric energy consumption for the streaming-servers?

So, I miss the album art/covers on my screen badly. 

And I would be so glad, if Tesla would optimize the USB-Music-User Interface. 
What I really miss, is the possibility to search my USB-music via Tesla-Screen and Voice-Commands. 

So, over all, USB isn´t old. USB-Music has it place beside of Music-streaming-offers like spotify etc..
Therefore Tesla should repair and optimize the USB-Music Interface, which shouldn´t be too much work for their softwareteam.

Regards from germany,
Markus


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## Numbersix (Feb 23, 2019)

I do use USB music but not as my main source, I usually listen to the radio or streaming or podcasts. But I do have basically my entire library “burned” onto a partitioned SSD, half for Sentry, half for USB music. Two separate partitions. What I’d really like to know if there is a definitive list of supported audio file types to include exactly what you have to do to get album art to show up. I can’t find anything like that from Tesla and it keeps changing.

When I first picked up my 2018 Model 3 in July 2018, it literally played any format/resolution/filetype I threw at it, album art still hit or miss but it played Apple lossless, flac, high resolution wav, aiff, flac. Uncompressed, Anything! But at some point Tesla dropped support for Apple lossless and some other formats. So I transcoded everything to Flac. But I still had to re-insert album art. My Mac displayed it correctly but in the car it wouldn’t unless I used a utility (tag editor) to paste back in the album art. And then the album art will work sometimes, then it won’t later on for the same files. It would be so helpful for Tesla to have a utility to scan a folder you intend to use for USB audio and either tell you exactly what the files are missing, or maybe even fix them or transcode them. Or maybe Tesla needs to fix their own audio file support to be more robust, or at least be very specific what formats/resolutions/filetypes it supports and how album art gets properly displayed.


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## rrollens (Sep 10, 2017)

Numbersix said:


> I do use USB music but not as my main source, I usually listen to the radio or streaming or podcasts. But I do have basically my entire library "burned" onto a partitioned SSD, half for Sentry, half for USB music. Two separate partitions. What I'd really like to know if there is a definitive list of supported audio file types to include exactly what you have to do to get album art to show up. I can't find anything like that from Tesla and it keeps changing.
> 
> When I first picked up my 2018 Model 3 in July 2018, it literally played any format/resolution/filetype I threw at it, album art still hit or miss but it played Apple lossless, flac, high resolution wav, aiff, flac. Uncompressed, Anything! But at some point Tesla dropped support for Apple lossless and some other formats. So I transcoded everything to Flac. But I still had to re-insert album art. My Mac displayed it correctly but in the car it wouldn't unless I used a utility (tag editor) to paste back in the album art. And then the album art will work sometimes, then it won't later on for the same files. It would be so helpful for Tesla to have a utility to scan a folder you intend to use for USB audio and either tell you exactly what the files are missing, or maybe even fix them or transcode them. Or maybe Tesla needs to fix their own audio file support to be more robust, or at least be very specific what formats/resolutions/filetypes it supports and how album art gets properly displayed.


The audio system never allowed DSD or higher audio files to be played. The DAC in the OEM system is just OK. The whole system needs to be reworked for true audiophile listening.


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## Numbersix (Feb 23, 2019)

rrollens said:


> The audio system never allowed DSD or higher audio files to be played. The DAC in the OEM system is just OK. The whole system needs to be reworked for true audiophile listening.


Oh yes, I did not have DSD or MQA to try but those might be the two longest shot formats to get support for playing. I'd be happy if it was limited to Flac or something else with a higher quality, but at the very least I just want to know the exact limitations or proper format especially with album art. I've keep a source folder for my music library and have transcoded the entire thing more than once due to Tesla's moving target of USB music format support.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

Numbersix said:


> I do use USB music but not as my main source, I usually listen to the radio or streaming or podcasts. But I do have basically my entire library "burned" onto a partitioned SSD, half for Sentry, half for USB music. Two separate partitions. What I'd really like to know if there is a definitive list of supported audio file types to include exactly what you have to do to get album art to show up. I can't find anything like that from Tesla and it keeps changing.
> 
> When I first picked up my 2018 Model 3 in July 2018, it literally played any format/resolution/filetype I threw at it, album art still hit or miss but it played Apple lossless, flac, high resolution wav, aiff, flac. Uncompressed, Anything! But at some point Tesla dropped support for Apple lossless and some other formats. So I transcoded everything to Flac. But I still had to re-insert album art. My Mac displayed it correctly but in the car it wouldn't unless I used a utility (tag editor) to paste back in the album art. And then the album art will work sometimes, then it won't later on for the same files. It would be so helpful for Tesla to have a utility to scan a folder you intend to use for USB audio and either tell you exactly what the files are missing, or maybe even fix them or transcode them. Or maybe Tesla needs to fix their own audio file support to be more robust, or at least be very specific what formats/resolutions/filetypes it supports and how album art gets properly displayed.


Album art needs to be embedded in each track to work. If it's not too big (I use 450x450) it works all the time. Get familiar with a tag editor and you can get great results. Be aware that album art is currently broken anyway - it's not going to work no matter what you do.


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## GTinOZ (Aug 12, 2021)

For what it's worth, I have a Tesla 3 from the first batch sold in Australia (September 2019), and I guess you'd call me an audiophile. After considerable experimentation, I'm currently successfully accessing and playing around 40,000 tracks all formatted FLAC at 24 bit/48khz from a 2Tb WD SSD formatted exFat. I started with a 500Gb SSD formatted FAT32 and with all music formatted ogg vorbis at the top rate, and compared to that, the exFat disc seems to update the database quicker, and I believe (placebo effect?) that I can hear a very slight difference in SQ - mostly an ease in listening and better decay on high frequencies (cymbals etc). I have also experimented with 24/192, which played OK, but given the limitations of the equipment (especially the DAC) and the environment - even without a noisy ICE there's tyre and wind noise - I think 24/48 is the sweet spot. In my experience, 24 vs 16 bits makes more difference than 48khz vs (say) 192 khz, even in my very high-end home system.

I'd love Tesla to fix the album art problem. For me it's not just about aesthetics, it's a safety issue: given that the track info is the bottom left of the screen the less time your eyes spend there the better, and identifying an album cover is quicker than reading.

I'm aware of people updating amplifiers and speakers, but always prefer to start at the front end - so anyone know anything about updating the DAC?


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

GTinOZ said:


> I started with a 500Gb SSD formatted FAT32 and with all music formatted ogg vorbis at the top rate, and compared to that, the exFat disc seems to update the database quicker, and I believe (placebo effect?) that I can hear a very slight difference in SQ - mostly an ease in listening and better decay on high frequencies (cymbals etc).


That's interesting - I have never heard anyone mentioning that format might make any difference in the sound, but who knows? Oh, and I should throw another card into the format pile - you should try ext4 - that's the format that the native car system uses, and it definitely catalogs and loads stuff faster - worth trying if you have a way to do so.


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## skriefal (May 21, 2021)

The sound difference would be due to lossy OGG files versus lossless FLAC files. If I'm reading that correctly. 

Faster updating of the database (faster scanning?) is what caught my attention.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

skriefal said:


> The sound difference would be due to lossy OGG files versus lossless FLAC files. If I'm reading that correctly.
> 
> Faster updating of the database (faster scanning?) is what caught my attention.


You may be correct, I may have misread. There would certainly be a sound difference between oggs and Flacs.


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## GTinOZ (Aug 12, 2021)

Apologies - my writing could have been clearer - I did mean flac formatting of music files, rather than underlying disc formatting. So, yes, the difference is that ogg is lossy (relatively good lossy, but lossy nevertheless), and at a lower resolution anyway, being based on 16/44.1. But whereas the difference is night and day on my home system, in the car it's marginal (to my ageing ears anyway).

On the other comment, I played with ext4, but as my entire system is Windows based, and I often buy new music, and want to play it in the car, and therefore regularly update the USB drive, it was a pain in the neck.


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## danfromvan (Oct 29, 2017)

My 2015 S85D recently updated to 2021.24.28 and the icon for playing from USB disappeared from my display. I have 128GB of recorded music that I can no longer play. Where can I now find the icon or has Tesla removed it completely?


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## Groenendael (Jan 19, 2018)

Think there’s a pull down now where you can select the source. Click on the current source then the down arrow. Should be there.

My problem with the latest build is that it doesn’t remember the last file it played nor where int the file it was. I have a ton of classic radio shows from the 30s through the 50s and most are 30 minutes long. If I get home and the show isn’t over, it doesn’t remember where to pick playing. Not having a way to scroll into the show also sucks.


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## danfromvan (Oct 29, 2017)

Groenendael said:


> Think there's a pull down now where you can select the source. Click on the current source then the down arrow. Should be there.
> 
> My problem with the latest build is that it doesn't remember the last file it played nor where int the file it was. I have a ton of classic radio shows from the 30s through the 50s and most are 30 minutes long. If I get home and the show isn't over, it doesn't remember where to pick playing. Not having a way to scroll into the show also sucks.


Thank you for the quick response. I figured it out, the USB stick had become corrupt somehow and wouldn't play. The icon doesn't show unless there is a valid USB stick in the socket. I guess I'd been streaming instead and hadn't used it for a while. My USB stick wouldn't play on any device, just had to use a new stick and re-download for a while from my backup music drive.
I agree it's not the greatest player and Tesla should put some resource into modernizing it with all the best features.


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