Like so many others I am buying a new car without a CD player. Copying my CDs to a USB stick seems to be the way forward, but how is this done? As a novice user of a MacBook Pro it all seems baffling. I need to buy an external drive. What sort of stick does one need, does it need formatting and how is this done? Could anyone explain the process of copying then transferring the CDs to the stick?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 14.7
Songs on CDs are in AIFF format. Copying them directly to a flash drive will not work in a car player. Most car players only support MP3, AAC and/or WAV formats. Check your owners manual for the required formats.
IMHO the easiest way to convert your CDs is to import the CDs into Music (iTunes). In Music/iTunes, under Import Settings, select MP3, AAC or WAV depending on what your car player supports. After importing the CDs, use the Finder to navigate to your music folder and copy the song files to your flash drive. The default location of the music folder is /Users/<yourusername>/Music/Music/Media and each CD's songs are usually in a folder of their own in that location.
Songs on CDs are in AIFF format. Copying them directly to a flash drive will not work in a car player. Most car players only support MP3, AAC and/or WAV formats. Check your owners manual for the required formats.
IMHO the easiest way to convert your CDs is to import the CDs into Music (iTunes). In Music/iTunes, under Import Settings, select MP3, AAC or WAV depending on what your car player supports. After importing the CDs, use the Finder to navigate to your music folder and copy the song files to your flash drive. The default location of the music folder is /Users/<yourusername>/Music/Music/Media and each CD's songs are usually in a folder of their own in that location.
1. Drag the song files to the drive.
2. Any, unless noted in the documentation for the car or other unit you'll be putting the drive into.
3. If it's not already preformatted in a compatible one, choose MS-DOS or FAT32.
4. If it's not already preformatted in a compatible one, choose Utilities from the Finder's Go menu, open the Disk Utility, and erase it.
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Novice user! How do you copy CDs to a USB stick?
