[Rusty Arse]

Thx guys for all of the great responses.

- for @Erratikmind, yes we do have Amazon Prime. Does it offer an option for music?

- for those advocating the usb sticks, how many songs does a typical one hold? We tried it with the included Indian one and it only held 32 songs. And we want to save it for routes.



yep. That’s what puzzles me, too. And no way to synchronize them (No option to do so other than thru a pc and our pc does not have them either). Apple says “some songs may not be available due to contractual changes.” Ie if I downloaded Johnny Cash once in 2012 but their contract with his family lapsed in 2020, I cannot download them to a different device. And no downloads from iPhone or iPad to USB’s. So whatever I do not have on my PC I am going to have to purchase (Ie repurchase).

64 gig usb stick AC/DC to ZZ Top, thousands of songs.

 

[HINK]

i just went and pulled mine off the bike to check. It is a 16GB Kingston stick. i have 813 songs on it and that is using 4.72GB of space.

So a question based on other users who say their RC does not recognize where they left off. Ie if they gas up or make a stop then they can only start at the top of the list. Has that been your experience as well? And I take it a “shuffle” function is not available on a usb?

Ditto question for @Rusty Arse? And bonus points for mentioning ac/dc and ZZ Top since they are two of my “missing” artists from my iPad...

 

[KYJoe]

So a question based on other users who say their RC does not recognize where they left off. Ie if they gas up or make a stop then they can only start at the top of the list. Has that been your experience as well? And I take it a “shuffle” function is not available on a usb?

Ditto question for @Rusty Arse?

Naw, no "shuffle" on the USB stick--but on your RC screen there are two "symbols" in lower right corner of screen, one for repeat and one for shuffle and on mine the shuffle function does work. But, I just got the USB music set up a few days ago and the dealer has had my bike since Tuesday (500 service, extended reach bars, clutch adjustment--will pick up bike tomorrow afternoon) so I can't advise about starting all over if you stop then restart your bike. I wish this bike had an "ACC" option. On my previous two HD Road Glides whenever I stopped for gas I didn't turn the ign off--just switched to ACC while filling up. That way my music kept playing and the GPS didn't have to re-boot after I re-started the bike. Would like to do that on this Challenger.

 

[Dave H]

It does kinda randomize. I always start the bike with power button, wait until the bike is done coming up, then start and give it maybe 30 seconds before touching anything. It is somewhat random after that.

 

[Dave H]

and I never touch the stick.

 

[Kaz]

So a question based on other users who say their RC does not recognize where they left off. Ie if they gas up or make a stop then they can only start at the top of the list. Has that been your experience as well? And I take it a “shuffle” function is not available on a usb?

Ditto question for @Rusty Arse? And bonus points for mentioning ac/dc and ZZ Top since they are two of my “missing” artists from my iPad...

Hink when I use my USB it maintains the song where I left off; it doesn't start over again at the beginning or top of the play list whether I turn the bike off or change to the radio and back. Now my bike is a 2018 but I dont think that would change on a new model.
As for shuffle I cant recall

 

[MonkeyNuke]

Ughh.. what a mess. My '16 Chieftain plays the iPod no problem. Not sure what Generation its, but has the old 21 pin connector attached via USB port. I can thumb/scroll playlists, artists, albums or just shuffle. Also have a back up iPod that is bluetooth connected to the Chieftain and works just fine when I have it selected. Overall, the setup is good and clean.
So my main music souce/library is iTunes on my PC and I transfer to iPod(s) as needed. I am considering a new Indian later this year. Sounds like I'll probably have issues with iPod playback.
Is it possible to transfer iTunes to USB stick? Will the bluetooth iPod function with new Indian RC?

 

[KYJoe]

and I never touch the stick.

Yep, same here. The stick is plugged in and it's in the "glove box" and I have no reason (at this time) to unplug or otherwise remove it. Used to have to bring my ipod in after riding to charge the ipod battery but no more.

 

[Wyld_Stallyn]

So a question based on other users who say their RC does not recognize where they left off. Ie if they gas up or make a stop then they can only start at the top of the list. Has that been your experience as well? And I take it a “shuffle” function is not available on a usb?

Ditto question for @Rusty Arse? And bonus points for mentioning ac/dc and ZZ Top since they are two of my “missing” artists from my iPad...

Mine has always recognized where i left off. The only time i have ever had it reset back to the beginning is when i removed it to plug my phone in that USB plug. In fact i just had my USB stick in the house to check stats on it, and when i just plugged it back in it picked right up where i left off. I love using the USB because i have zero problems with it but fight with the bluetooth on my phone every once in a while. Again i think you will see fewer issues with the USB sticks if you get the name brand ones. I cant tell you how many issues i see with the off brand ones. I am a cheapskate and will use the sub $5 USB sticks if i dont care about what is on the stick and i dont care if it gets broken or lost. But in any case where i care about what is on the stick or where i want to make sure things read the stick, it is always Kingston, Sandisk, Samsung, etc. It is maybe the off brand sticks that people have issues with the bike remembering where they left off. And be careful buying them on Amazon and eBay as there are plenty of knock-offs with the name branding on them.

Disregard the dirty bike. Just got back from a trip to New Mexico. It got filthy and i have not washed it yet.

I let my music play through the songs in alphabetical order (the ultimate shuffle), and you can see i am still on "W" Wanted Dead or Alive when i just plugged it back in:

Also shuffle works just fine. i selected the shuffle button on the screen and hit skip and it went to another random song instead of the next song on the list:

If you hit the button on the screen with the 3 lines it takes you into Browse where you can select a song or an album or and artist to play.

 

[HINK]

Mine has always recognized where i left off. The only time i have ever had it reset back to the beginning is when i removed it to plug my phone in that USB plug. In fact i just had my USB stick in the house to check stats on it, and when i just plugged it back in it picked right up where i left off. I love using the USB because i have zero problems with it but fight with the bluetooth on my phone every once in a while. Again i think you will see fewer issues with the USB sticks if you get the name brand ones. I cant tell you how many issues i see with the off brand ones. I am a cheapskate and will use the sub $5 USB sticks if i dont care about what is on the stick and i dont care if it gets broken or lost. But in any case where i care about what is on the stick or where i want to make sure things read the stick, it is always Kingston, Sandisk, Samsung, etc. It is maybe the off brand sticks that people have issues with the bike remembering where they left off. And be careful buying them on Amazon and eBay as there are plenty of knock-offs with the name branding on them.

Disregard the dirty bike. Just got back from a trip to New Mexico. It got filthy and i have not washed it yet.

I let my music play through the songs in alphabetical order (the ultimate shuffle), and you can see i am still on "W" Wanted Dead or Alive when i just plugged it back in:


Also shuffle works just fine. i selected the shuffle button on the screen and hit skip and it went to another random song instead of the next song on the list:




If you hit the button on the screen with the 3 lines it takes you into Browse where you can select a song or an album or and artist to play.

Very informative — thx for the help.

 

[saxmaniac]

Someone do Hink a favor and mail him a 64GB dongle with a zillion tunes on it. For all he does for us...

 

[Jeff in Wisconsin]

Someone do Hink a favor and mail him a 64GB dongle with a zillion tunes on it. For all he does for us...

Coming right up and as an added bonus, I have removed all traces of Enya.

 

[Wharf Rat]

Someone do Hink a favor and mail him a 64GB dongle with a zillion tunes on it. For all he does for us...

Bonus #2
Add a bunch of routes or waypoints he can import.

For me, on a '17RM, Bluetooth to the Droid and Pandora, content on the droid, or the USB full of tunes and waypoints/routes. Audible isn't quite as satisfying as in a vehicle. I suppose the brain needs to process your surroundings on a bike with the same resources that listen to and interpret dialog. Hence, I either loose out on the book content, of find mysellf distracted on the bike. Music, just soothes the beast.

 

[Big Dawg]

Thx guys for all of the great responses.

- for @Erratikmind, yes we do have Amazon Prime. Does it offer an option for music?

- for those advocating the usb sticks, how many songs does a typical one hold? We tried it with the included Indian one and it only held 32 songs. And we want to save it for routes.



yep. That’s what puzzles me, too. And no way to synchronize them (No option to do so other than thru a pc and our pc does not have them either). Apple says “some songs may not be available due to contractual changes.” Ie if I downloaded Johnny Cash once in 2012 but their contract with his family lapsed in 2020, I cannot download them to a different device. And no downloads from iPhone or iPad to USB’s. So whatever I do not have on my PC I am going to have to purchase (Ie repurchase).

Like a coupled of others noted, you can keep tons of music on a USB. I've got about 1500 songs on a 16 GB drive and that's using was less than 50% of the space.

Since I have the pre-Ride COmmand setup, I can't do "random."

So, what I've did was put "track numbers" in front of each song based on the artist. So, I have my ZZ Top songs listed from 01-37.

Then I have ten folder (01-10) and put in the songs based on the second digit of the track listing. So in folder 01 I have 01, 11, 21, and 31.

Each folder has between 120 and 160 songs by various artists. Inside each folder, the songs play in alphabetical order. That means that all of 01s play first, then all of the 11s, then the 21s, and finally all of the 31s.

It's not true random, but it basically ends up sounding like my local Classic Rock station minus the commercials.

Also, mine remembers where it was when I switch off. In fact, even if I take it out, say to add more songs, when I plug it back it remembers the song it was playing.

 

[HINK]

Like a coupled of others noted, you can keep tons of music on a USB. I've got about 1500 songs on a 16 GB drive and that's using was less than 50% of the space.

Since I have the pre-Ride COmmand setup, I can't do "random."

So, what I've did was put "track numbers" in front of each song based on the artist. So, I have my ZZ Top songs listed from 01-37.

Then I have ten folder (01-10) and put in the songs based on the second digit of the track listing. So in folder 01 I have 01, 11, 21, and 31.

Each folder has between 120 and 160 songs by various artists. Inside each folder, the songs play in alphabetical order. That means that all of 01s play first, then all of the 11s, then the 21s, and finally all of the 31s.

It's not true random, but it basically ends up sounding like my local Classic Rock station minus the commercials.

Also, mine remembers where it was when I switch off. In fact, even if I take it out, say to add more songs, when I plug it back it remembers the song it was playing.

Wow — that is brilliant. Saves me some brain cells. That’s what’s great about this forum — no need to reinvent the wheel...

 

[FutureE9]

@HINK On my 2017 Chieftain, I use a Samsung FIT 32Gb mini USB drive with over 6300 songs on it.... the only thing is, there's no playlist option. You can play songs by album, artist or song. Somewhere on the forum, someone figured out that it reads the tags embedded into the mp3s and it goes by the album name.
Did you try to rip the songs from the old iPad and/or ipod by creating an audio CD? If you can, you could then rip the audio CD and make those songs MP3s, and then add them to your new device.

Good luck!
Ed

 

[dalejr23]

On my 2015 I used a then-brand-new iPod. It worked flawlessly for six years. My new (and beloved) Roadmaster doesn’t recognize the old iPod. I plug it into the USB port and it spools up, changes tracks visually, but no sound comes out. Volume is up. The iPod says it’s connected. Ride Command recognizes that a device is hooked up — just won’t play.

- alternative: iPhone. Tried that via Bluetooth but apparently that only works when you are in internet or cell tower range. No WiFi, and it just goes silent. It won’t restart automatically when I go back in range. You have to stop the bike, restart the music on my iPhone, then resume riding. PITA

So then I hardwired into the system via the usb port with my iPhone. The problem is that my iPhone does not have about sixty of my tunes that I had previously loaded on my iPod. All music was purchased on iTunes. These songs are just “lost” somehow, even tho I am using the same iTunes log-in. They are on my iPad (not talking about my iPod here) but I cannot download from my iPad to a usb stick (just not possible, allegedly). We cannot synchronize these devices via PC, either. What is on missing from my iPod and iPad simply don’t show on the PC, even tho it’s the same iTunes log-in.

Apple has of course come up with a paid solution called “Imatch.” For a nominal fee of $25 / yr (sheesh) you can synchronize everything across ten platforms. They store it in the cloud, but it sounds to me like that leads you right back to the same problem: lose your internet or cell phone coverage and you’ve lost your music.

For my techie friends, is the only solution to either do Imatch, a streaming service, or repurchase my lost tunes and then download to a USB? And i assume the streaming services go away with lost cell coverage and internet, right?

Final question: does anybody know if the latest iPod version will play on Ride Command? It may be worth another $200 to get my tunes back (but then there’s the additional download fee to pay again for tunes I have already bought once). $200 for the iPod (yes, they still make them) and then another $100 or so for my missing tunes.

whew! Life was certainly much simpler on the old bike, at least from the music angle. But I wouldn’t change the handling and power of the new bike just to have music back... Any help appreciated, folks!

I use Soundike. 15 cents per song. Download as mp3 on a usb. If you put money in the account during a holiday, they give bonus cash which is free music. Good luck

 

[Zorba22]

On my 2015 I used a then-brand-new iPod. It worked flawlessly for six years. My new (and beloved) Roadmaster doesn’t recognize the old iPod. I plug it into the USB port and it spools up, changes tracks visually, but no sound comes out. Volume is up. The iPod says it’s connected. Ride Command recognizes that a device is hooked up — just won’t play.

- alternative: iPhone. Tried that via Bluetooth but apparently that only works when you are in internet or cell tower range. No WiFi, and it just goes silent. It won’t restart automatically when I go back in range. You have to stop the bike, restart the music on my iPhone, then resume riding. PITA

So then I hardwired into the system via the usb port with my iPhone. The problem is that my iPhone does not have about sixty of my tunes that I had previously loaded on my iPod. All music was purchased on iTunes. These songs are just “lost” somehow, even tho I am using the same iTunes log-in. They are on my iPad (not talking about my iPod here) but I cannot download from my iPad to a usb stick (just not possible, allegedly). We cannot synchronize these devices via PC, either. What is on missing from my iPod and iPad simply don’t show on the PC, even tho it’s the same iTunes log-in.

Apple has of course come up with a paid solution called “Imatch.” For a nominal fee of $25 / yr (sheesh) you can synchronize everything across ten platforms. They store it in the cloud, but it sounds to me like that leads you right back to the same problem: lose your internet or cell phone coverage and you’ve lost your music.

For my techie friends, is the only solution to either do Imatch, a streaming service, or repurchase my lost tunes and then download to a USB? And i assume the streaming services go away with lost cell coverage and internet, right?

Final question: does anybody know if the latest iPod version will play on Ride Command? It may be worth another $200 to get my tunes back (but then there’s the additional download fee to pay again for tunes I have already bought once). $200 for the iPod (yes, they still make them) and then another $100 or so for my missing tunes.

whew! Life was certainly much simpler on the old bike, at least from the music angle. But I wouldn’t change the handling and power of the new bike just to have music back... Any help appreciated, folks!

I had the same problem with my 2nd generation iPod. Just loaded the songs from my iTunes library to my iPhone. Works fine now.

 

[Mutant]

On my 2015 I used a then-brand-new iPod. It worked flawlessly for six years. My new (and beloved) Roadmaster doesn’t recognize the old iPod. I plug it into the USB port and it spools up, changes tracks visually, but no sound comes out. Volume is up. The iPod says it’s connected. Ride Command recognizes that a device is hooked up — just won’t play.

- alternative: iPhone. Tried that via Bluetooth but apparently that only works when you are in internet or cell tower range. No WiFi, and it just goes silent. It won’t restart automatically when I go back in range. You have to stop the bike, restart the music on my iPhone, then resume riding. PITA

So then I hardwired into the system via the usb port with my iPhone. The problem is that my iPhone does not have about sixty of my tunes that I had previously loaded on my iPod. All music was purchased on iTunes. These songs are just “lost” somehow, even tho I am using the same iTunes log-in. They are on my iPad (not talking about my iPod here) but I cannot download from my iPad to a usb stick (just not possible, allegedly). We cannot synchronize these devices via PC, either. What is on missing from my iPod and iPad simply don’t show on the PC, even tho it’s the same iTunes log-in.

Apple has of course come up with a paid solution called “Imatch.” For a nominal fee of $25 / yr (sheesh) you can synchronize everything across ten platforms. They store it in the cloud, but it sounds to me like that leads you right back to the same problem: lose your internet or cell phone coverage and you’ve lost your music.

For my techie friends, is the only solution to either do Imatch, a streaming service, or repurchase my lost tunes and then download to a USB? And i assume the streaming services go away with lost cell coverage and internet, right?

Final question: does anybody know if the latest iPod version will play on Ride Command? It may be worth another $200 to get my tunes back (but then there’s the additional download fee to pay again for tunes I have already bought once). $200 for the iPod (yes, they still make them) and then another $100 or so for my missing tunes.

whew! Life was certainly much simpler on the old bike, at least from the music angle. But I wouldn’t change the handling and power of the new bike just to have music back... Any help appreciated, folks!

I have a 2018. Not iPod compatible. Have to use my iPhone

 

[clerkjane]

I have Sirius XM in my car and this past year I was offered it free on my Android phone. Now I just pair my phone to my 2018 Chieftain Limited via Bluetooth and I have Sirius XM channels on my bike...works great, and I can plug my phone into the charger in the right saddlebag so my phone can charge while playing music. I can pick the genre and listen all day without commercials, etc. Love it!