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USB music playback problem

27K views 68 replies 22 participants last post by  mdem 
#1 ·
Wondering if anyone has encountered this same issue... I got a new XE 2019 R Sport model three weeks ago, and my previous car was a VW Golf, in which a SanDisk 32gb USB with about 17gb of music on it, played without issue for over three years. No matter if your journey was five minutes, five hours, or if the Golf was inactive for two weeks while you were on holiday, every time you returned to the car, the USB resumed playback at the exact spot you were at the last time you were in the car.

Using the same stick in the Jaguar has been nothing but problematic. The main issue being the system never resumes from the spot you were at. If you were listening to a particular artist you had about 80 songs by, and had listened to 3 of them before stopping at your local petrol station for five minutes, when starting the car again, the system plays the radio, and when you navigate back to USB, starts playing at the first track alphabetically on the stick. If you drive for an hour or so and get through 15 or 16 songs by your chosen artist - same thing. Annoyingly, it initially plays a radio station, and then never, ever, picks up where you left it. Same thing overnight. You might have been enjoying 25 songs by whoever is your choice, and simply wanted to pick up where you left off the next day - nope, system plays the radio on start up, and loses the place you were last listening to.

The car was in for a software update, no joy, same problem persists. The dealership are currently waiting for Jaguar technical dept to get back to them with a fix. I know it isn't the end of the world, but it is annoying that a 36k car's system cannot do what the one in the VW Golf did with ease for three years. With no CD player in the car, I need the USB to work as it did in the Golf.

I tried erasing the USB, making sure it was FAT 32 formatted, and tried simply having the MP3 files in one lump on the USB without arranging them in artist-specific folders. No joy, same issue. Every time you press the ignition button, the radio comes on, and after navigating your way back to the USB, you are immediately back to 'song one', which in my case happens to be '12 Fingers' by Young The Giant, as that is alphabetically the first song...and a song I am rapidly becoming sick and tired of hearing the opening bars of, every time I fire up the engine.

Any input or info' greatly appreciated!
 
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#4 ·
It is a USB 3 stick, and the same one that worked without missing a beat in the VW Golf. The same stick also works perfectly in my wife's VW Polo. I'll give the dealership a chance to get a response from Jaguar technical and get back to me. No point in buying a new USB stick yet. If Jaguar suggest that, then fine, I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the responses so far, appreciate it. It would appear that my issue is not common, as other people have no issue with the USB playback acting the way it does in my XE. Also, the staff at the dealership who drive Jags say the system in their car is fine.

I'll report back!
 
#5 ·
I also have this problem but have found a work-around that seems to cure the problem in my car, but I'm not saying it will work for you.

Before I turn off the ignition, I change the music source to Radio, then when I restart the car obviously the radio starts up, but if I then change the source back to USB, it starts playing again from where it last finished.

A bit of a faff but it seems to work in mine.

Incidentally, another issue mine has is if I'm listening to DAB and turn the ignition off, I instantly lose reception and have silence, but listening to any other source and turning the ignition off, the audio continues until I open the door to get out!
 
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#6 ·
Hi,

I assume that you have the ICT Pro (10" screen). I have almost the same issue as you and am using a 128gb Sandisk USB 3.0 Cruzer. The music files are mostly Apple Lossless format with a smattering of mp3 files as well.

It worked perfectly, as you described in your Golf, until the ICT Pro software was upgraded a few months ago. The upgrade gave me the reading of text messages and improved the overall stability of the system, however I also got this annoying music playing issue.

Mine tends to be a bit random though. I can stop for an hour or so and it starts playing where it left off. I can stop for 5 minutes and it starts at the same song as it always starts at when this happens (Lovely Linda by Paul McCartney) and the shuffle is off. So I put the shuffle back on and tap for the next track and we are back to shuffling all songs again. Then sometimes the radio will be on instead of the USB. At least then it remembers the last station that it was on!! Then when I switch to USB it may start playing Lovely Linda or it may remember where it was.

It's a total lucky dip really.

The only thing that I can conclude about the radio coming on rather than the USB is that at times the system is slow to recognise the USB on start up so it reverts to the radio.

Also, I have found that if I am playing just one LP rather than shuffling all music, it does remember where it left off. Although the radio on start up still happens at times.

I did get some advice from this forum some time back that if you turn the audio off before turning the car off, then when you turn it back on again after the next start up it will work fine every time. I think that this worked but to be honest, never got into the routine of doing this and have just put up with hearing the first few bars of Lovely Linda on most start ups.

I'll be interested to hear what your dealer says about this.
 
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#7 ·
Again, thanks for latest replies. As a control expeiment, I'll use the same USB stick but will try the 'switch the radio on' before exiting the car trick and see if it works. Can't hurt to try and is only a quick press on the steering wheel button...if I remember to do it.

I did try the 'switch infotainment off' before exitng thing, but that didn't work.

It seems a lot of flaffing about in a 36k car, when my wife's 12k VW Polo handles a USB stick the same way my Golf did - you just shove the stick in and choose the music you want, and every time you get back into the car and turn the ignition on, the thing plays from where you left it.
 
#8 ·
posbaird you didn't say if it was the ICT Pro or the standard system. Mine is standard and a 32gb card and always starts up where it left off either on USB or radio.

The only thing I have never worked out is how USB decides what it's going to play and in what order it does it. All tracks are in the root directory and recorded as "Artist - track name.mp3" and I would Have expected it would play them in alphabetical order. For the most part it does do that but then odd trackS are out of sync for some reason. It must pick up something embedded in the track I suppose.
 
#9 ·
BOBCDP said:
posbaird you didn't say if it was the ICT Pro or the standard system. Mine is standard and a 32gb card and always starts up where it left off either on USB or radio.

The only thing I have never worked out is how USB decides what it's going to play and in what order it does it. All tracks are in the root directory and recorded as "Artist - track name.mp3" and I would Have expected it would play them in alphabetical order. For the most part it does do that but then odd trackS are out of sync for some reason. It must pick up something embedded in the track I suppose.
Mine's the standard system and the folders are by artist and then album. Not had any issues with playing out of order.
Main issue i had is that it always repeated the album when ending the last track of that album, all others cars I've had moved to the next album.
I got round it by creating playlists for each artist.
 
#10 ·
Thinking back to my previous one with the standard ICT, there were issues getting tracks to play in album order and not alphabetically.
I seem to remember going into it and tapping on "files" then "albums" and it would play fine.

The thing to remember with either system is that it takes a little while for the USB to come up on the "source" list.
Radio is there straight away so if it was left playing off the usb on switch off then it may fry it's brain to start with until it's got it's act together.
 
#11 ·
In regard to latest replies - the car is a 2019 edition XE R Sport Landmark, with 350w Meridian sound, 10.5in display and no CD player.

I also forgot to mention another issue. When I created my own homescreen and dragged widgets to create it, I placed the analogue clock graphic in the middle, the mini media player on the left, and down the right side, three smaller widgets - USB as a favourite media source, my phone in the middle slot, and my favourite radio station at the bottom. I then designated this screen as my default home screen. Touching the USB widget does nothing. It never takes you to the USB source. It just gives a message 'USB unavailable'. Pressing the 'mode' button on the steering wheel works - it immediately switches between the three available sources.

Perhaps also worth mentioning is that over the four weeks of owning the car so far, I have had cause to remove and re-insert the USB a few times. To add new music to it, to try erasing and re-copying the music to it, and to try my USB in another car (it worked perfectly). Every time I have re-inserted the USB I have had a different result. Once, on insertion, I sat and looked at four coloured rectangles spinning around, and it took over ten minutes for the system to read the contents of the stick, another time on inserting it, there were no coloured rectangles, and in about twenty seconds, the stick was ready for use, and a couple of times, the system flat refused to read the contents properly. It simply did not pick up the contents whatsoever. The final thing I remember was that one other time, the system, on insertion of the USB, seemed to think there were eleven songs on it, rather than the 2,580 or so that are actually on it.

Perhaps the best thing is to hit it with a twelve pound sledgehammer, or at least, give it a sound thrashing with a large branch in a Basil Fawlty-esque fit of pique....

Or go to 02 and swap my basic crappy Samsung phone for an iPhone with at least 32gb capacity and use it for music playback via Bluetooth. This is now a battle of wills though. Me and my USB v Jaguar Land Rover's infotainment system.

VWs system, even in a Polo Match, is much better though, which I must admit, is disappointing. Anyway, as I keep saying, not the end of the world by any means, just an annoyance that we can find a way around.
 
#12 ·
JiggyJag said:
Mine's the standard system and the folders are by artist and then album. Not had any issues with playing out of order.
Main issue i had is that it always repeated the album when ending the last track of that album, all others cars I've had moved to the next album.
I got round it by creating playlists for each artist.
Oooow what's a playlist Jjigglyjag and do you need software to set it up?
 
#13 ·
pozbaird said:
In regard to latest replies - the car is a 2019 edition XE R Sport Landmark, with 350w Meridian sound, 10.5in display and no CD player.

I also forgot to mention another issue. When I created my own homescreen and dragged widgets to create it, I placed the analogue clock graphic in the middle, the mini media player on the left, and down the right side, three smaller widgets - USB as a favourite media source, my phone in the middle slot, and my favourite radio station at the bottom. I then designated this screen as my default home screen. Touching the USB widget does nothing. It never takes you to the USB source. It just gives a message 'USB unavailable'. Pressing the 'mode' button on the steering wheel works - it immediately switches between the three available sources.
Hells Teeth!! I'm glad I only have a standard system. Widgets, mini media player, moving clock graphics. Sound like an absolute nightmare to me but then I suppose that's progress.....Or is it?? :D :D
 
#14 ·
BOBCDP said:
JiggyJag said:
Mine's the standard system and the folders are by artist and then album. Not had any issues with playing out of order.
Main issue i had is that it always repeated the album when ending the last track of that album, all others cars I've had moved to the next album.
I got round it by creating playlists for each artist.
Oooow what's a playlist Jjigglyjag and do you need software to set it up?
It's essentially a formatted text file that contains a list of what you want to play.
I use Windows media player to rip my CDs and copy the files to a usb stick.
I then use Windows media player to create the playlists, one for each artist in my case.
Essentially I drag each album, on the usb, to the playlist. It copies the file locations etc. rather than the actual files.
I then copy the playlists to the usb.
In the car I then browse playlists and select the on I want.

I'm sure there are other playlist creators out there, just I've found that Windows media player works for me.
 
#15 ·
BOBCDP said:
Hells Teeth!! I'm glad I only have a standard system. Widgets, mini media player, moving clock graphics. Sound like an absolute nightmare to me but then I suppose that's progress.....Or is it?? :D :D
Don't worry Bob!
:lol:
I have only one widget on my custom screen which my salesman set up and that's for connectivity to see how my sim is doing as that takes a few presses to get there otherwise.
Most of the other stuff is just saving a couple of taps but you still have to go to the main screen.
The source button on the wheel is best for swapping between radio and usb etc.
 
#16 ·
JiggyJag said:
I'm sure there are other playlist creators out there, just I've found that Windows media player works for me.
Yep.
By far the easiest one for me.
Just load albums onto the media player then pop in the usb and sync them onto it.
I also binned that annoying "Carousel" display on the screen as I was forever going past the album I wanted.
:roll:
 
#17 ·
[/quote]

Hells Teeth!! I'm glad I only have a standard system. Widgets, mini media player, moving clock graphics. Sound like an absolute nightmare to me but then I suppose that's progress.....Or is it?? :D :D
[/quote]

Indeed, and in my humble opnion, that's the problem. The Jaguar system is trying to be too fancy for its' own good. I have no technical knowledge, no expertise, just a gut feeling. In a move away from buttons on the dashboard actually doing stuff, the infotainment system does a plethora of tasks, from Sat Nav to media, customisable widgets and homescreens, to airflow, heated seats, telephone, rear camera, blah, blah de blah.

My suspicion is the software isn't up to the task, whereas in my Golf and my wife's Polo, the system is simpler, performs fewer tasks, but performs them perfectly. I'd be happier with more buttons on the dash and less flaffing about navigating menus and sub-menus, but if I feel that strongly about it, I could still buy a simpler car if I wanted. Maybe it's me being an old fart, but as an example... automatic climate control. Sheesh, who needs it? What was wrong with three dials...one was marked blue to red for changing temperature, one was for fan speed, and the third one chose airflow direction. Boosh, job's a good un'. Are we incapable of twirling a knob these days? Ooh err missus! Titter ye' not.

The move to less buttons and more big screens doing stuff is not, in my opinion, necessarily a good thing. Too much fannying around and taking your eyes off the road.

I took advantage of the 0% finance offer to change to the XE, and the Landmark we bought was in dealer stock in Glasgow, so we didn't get to build the car for a factory build, otherwise I would have wanted a system with a CD player. A wallet of CDs in the glove box, that can each contain about 125 songs as MP3 files would have done me fine. The dealer also discounted the car as it was already in stock, so we got a great deal and are absolutely loving the car, which is class and drives beautifully, looks great, and aside from the wonky USB issue, is the dog's danglies.

Bloody progress. :?
 
#19 ·
At last - I'm not alone!

I have a MY18 Portfolio with ICTPro and since it was updated to version S18B_18.25.3-174880 a few weeks back to resolve multiple other issues, the Media Player component has struggled, mainly with USB playback. I have a 128GB USB 3.0 Stick, formatted as FAT32 with 7101 tracks in MP3 format sampled at 320Kbps/VBR and prior to the update it played on shuffle with no issues whatsoever. Now every other time I start the car it will revert to the first track in alphabetical order, so annoying due to the fact it takes a minute before I can reselect random and skip to the next track..

I've dug out my old 160GB IPod now - which is mostly fine apart from not showing Album art - but still there are other issues, like randomly switching back to radio, all USB inputs "shutting down", poor sound quality and so on.

I'm hoping the 18D release - which is imminent I understand - will address these issues with the Media Player - fingers crossed.
 
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#20 ·
I have a slightly different problem with my ICT Pro Meridian running a USB stick - it plays most tracks perfectly fine but every so often "drops out" for a couple of seconds. All of the files are in the same format, so I am a little perplexed by this. Other than that it's fine.
 
#22 ·
PhilB said:
JiggyJag said:
I'm sure there are other playlist creators out there, just I've found that Windows media player works for me.
Yep.
By far the easiest one for me.
Just load albums onto the media player then pop in the usb and sync them onto it.
I also binned that annoying "Carousel" display on the screen as I was forever going past the album I wanted.
:roll:
Thanks both. I'll give that a whirl
 
#24 ·
Update time. Man and his USB v Jaguar Infotainment system...

In response to previous suggestions, I bought a new USB 3.0 32gb stick to try, and I also tried the suggestion of switching from USB playback to the radio before exiting the car. No joy. Same old, same old. USB playback either reverts to the first track on the stick alphabetically, or the system acts like its never seen a USB stick before and the infotainment screen simply shows four coloured rectangles constantly spinning around, as if trying, and failing, to pick up the contents of the stick.

Another issue that I have only just picked up on as I was trying the old and new USBs and was therefore removing them from inside the centre console - the sticks become very hot. Very hot indeed. This is not good, nor is it right. I have removed the USBs permanently and will get right onto the dealership.
 
#25 ·
pozbaird said:
BOBCDP said:
radio.JPG

Never had a problem with one of these in my old MK 2 3.8 :D :D
Who did you listen to on that? Churchill speeches? Glenn Miller? Radiohead when they were good? :D
Winston was busy painting in France and Glenn had disappeared I'm afraid. :) :)
It was late 60s, early 70s and we had Radio 1 by then. On the medium wave of course!
I was just looking at the buttons on that radio and they don't ring any bells. Looks a bit foreign to me. I think mine had 1 to 5 on

pozbaird said:
Update time. Man and his USB v Jaguar Infotainment system...

In response to previous suggestions, I bought a new USB 3.0 32gb stick to try, and I also tried the suggestion of switching from USB playback to the radio before exiting the car. No joy. Same old, same old. USB playback either reverts to the first track on the stick alphabetically, or the system acts like its never seen a USB stick before and the infotainment screen simply shows four coloured rectangles constantly spinning around, as if trying, and failing, to pick up the contents of the stick.

Another issue that I have only just picked up on as I was trying the old and new USBs and was therefore removing them from inside the centre console - the sticks become very hot. Very hot indeed. This is not good, nor is it right. I have removed the USBs permanently and will get right onto the dealership.
Oh dear you are having a bad time of it. Can't help with the random tracks I'm afraid, but as for the USB sticks, the mini ones do get very hot so don't blame your beloved XE for that :D :D
 
#26 ·
I have one of those mini ones and it does get very hot. It's been in there for about 10 months and hasn't managed to melt anything. I've read that this is normal, especially with the mini ones as these is not as much metal to dissipate the heat.
 
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