Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

I just purchased a 2012 Civic EX Sedan and I want to play MP3s through the car stereo. Inside the center console there is a USB connector that Honda states you can use to plugin either an MP3 player such as the IPod or a USB Flash Drive.

I puchased a 16 GB USB Flash drive from Best Buy the other day. I copied a bunch of MP3 files to the drive and then plugged the drive into the center console. I then selected Aux to choose the USB as the audio source and, after about 20 minutes of "reading" the flash drive I got an error saying "Unsupported." That's it. No other details.

I called the dealership and they really had no idea about what could have been the problem so I called the Honda America technical support number. The people at Honda told me that the flash drive was NOT the problem it was the fact that the MP3s I was trying to play did not have the correct "copywright info" on them (whatever that means, perhaps DRM?).

So I take the flash drive back upstairs and copy only 2 or 3 MP3s from my computer. These are MP3s that I "ripped" myself from the original CD (which I still own). I again took the flash drive down to the Civic and tried to play the MP3s. Same problem.

A few questions:

1. Do you guys think Honda is giving me the right information?

2. If so, what is this copy protection they are talking about? Wouldn't you think that the copy protection would have to be removed for the car stereo to play the MP3? (I thought the whole point of copy protection was to prevent MP3s from being played on foreign devices/programs other than the one used to purchase the MP3, eg. ITunes.

3. Is there a program out there that would allow me to "inspect" the MP3 to make sure it has all the correct "stuff" to play in my Civic instead of having to do this by trial and error?

Any other suggestions, comments, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you so much!

Jan

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

- What's the bitrate of the MP3s?
- Is the USB flash drive formatted to FAT and not NTFS?
- Try another flash drive.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

1. not sure about the bit rates, did not think to check that. is there a minimum (or maximum) bit rate that the stereo supports?

2. it's formatted FAT32

3. good idea. it's back to BestBuy again then :)

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

It doesn't say in the manual, but for my 8th gen, I think it plays 128kbps-320kpbs.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Also try formatting it to NTFS. FAT16/32 was used back in the DOS days and it's severely outdated :p

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

:agree:



Also, I didnt know that the 9th gens came with a USB connector.

And also, I dont think the copyright issues should be a problem. Its a car radio that's playing the mp3's and reading them--not a freakin' super computer from the FCC that backtraces your GPS location because you are playing an illegitimate MP3.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Refer to this thread.....

http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/civic...interface.html

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

thanks for the link above

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

I think I have the same problem as Jan. I have a 2013 Civic Ex-L and was excited to use my MP3 Player. When it seemed to be stuck in "Loading" forever, then displayed that it was "Unsupported", I resorted :-) to reading the manual. It said that it would only play songs that which came from ITunes. I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player filled with hundreds of songs which came from Amazon and my own cd's, legitimately purchased, and not pirated. I hope this is not true, I do not want the expense of repurchasing songs from ITunes that I already have on my Walkman! Help, is this what is seems to be? If so, what a major disappointment! Help?

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

I have a 2012 SI. I have plugged in a 4gb flash drive and played nothing but "pirated" music with no problems. I have deleted those and put new songs on. I have played my 2nd gen 8gb Ipod touch with music from the same source. I have not yet to have a problem with any of it. Now, I do have the SI with navigation, so I don't know if that may be the reason or not. Also, maybe its the size of the flash drive thats causing the problem. Have you tried a 4gb or maybe an 8gb? I haven't tried my 16, but maybe I will just to see.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Well I tried my 16g today and all was well. I even had files that I know to not work and all the mp3's still played flawlessly. Is it possible that your system may need to be reflashed? Is that even possible with that model stereo system? I would ask the dealership and see. Does anybody know who makes the factory head units for Honda? In particular, the 2012 Navigation system.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Might just be that it can't support that USB. I use my USB in my 9th to upload wallpapers onto the dash I-MID but just solely for that.

I use my Iphone to play music, and even that sometimes reads an error saying unsupported and I have to replug it in or turn the car on and off.

this could also differ because I don't have a navi :P

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

I had a similar problem with my 2010 Honda Civic EXL ... I think it has more to do with the fact that your vehicle can't connect to internet and download the appropriate drivers. Remember, the first time you plug a flash drive into your PC, a pop-up window shows up on your desktop telling you it is loading the appropriate drivers, so I assume its not doing so from a file on the flash drive.

From my Amazon review:

I I purchased 3 Transcend flash drives (16, 32 and 64GB). They work as expected for shuttling files between PC / laptops, but there is one application where they fail. These drives generate an "UNSUPPORTED" error message when using with the USB port of my 2010 Honda Civic EXL radio; the radio is able to recognize and operate these flash drives for about 2-5 min of playing music files, before hanging up and displaying the above error message. Not sure why, but one guess might be that the Honda audio systems lack a fully compatible driver? Anyway, these drives are suitable for most other purposes.

NOTE: If there are other Honda drivers out there, you don't need to spend 5-10X as much money for an iPod with only 2GB capacity. Instead, you can purchase a 16GB SanDisk Cruzer Glide USB Flash Drive SDCZ60-016G-B35 for only $12 and it'll work great with the Honda USB port.


Not sure if it was necessary, but I reformatted this flash drive (default settings) to completely remove all preloaded SanDisk files. After reformatting, I checked the flash drive by right-clicking and selecting Properties:

General Tab: File System = FAT32
ReadyBoost Tab: Do not use this device

Then I created a Playlist Folder on the flash drive and moved the desired MP3 files into that folder.

I should also mention that an online search indicated the actual song files can only be 1 level down from the main window, so MP3 files within a playlist folder is fine, but NOT within sub-folders of that playlist folder.

Anyways, my music is playing great now in the car, at minimal cost for a TON of storage capacity.

:wave:

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Stop assuming. You don't look too smart when you do because that is all nonsense. If an aftermarket deck can play from a USB stick without downloading drivers then that cannot be the case because I do it all the time.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

I have a new Honda Accord and what I notice is it will not play music in MP3 format. I tried converting it to M4A format and it played. A music converter can be downloaded free.

Re: Unable To Play MP3s On My 2012 Civic
 

Thanks to everyone. I loaded my music (all kinds) onto a 16gb flashdrive as None2Slow suggested and the car loaded up and played it in seconds. Not sure why the Sony Walkman doesn't work, though. I am also surprised that there is no way to select music (as you would from MP3 directories) other than scrolling one album and one song at a time. But hey, I'm still happy! I'm sure they'll figure that out in time. Or am I missing something? Love my new 2013 Civic!