[Skins88]

There are some very capable devices that will transmit music to the car sound system using an available FM radio frequency. These devices use 12 volt power, so they would plug into the Volvo 12 volt power socket. Most of these device descriptions suggest a Bluetooth pairing to your smartphone to access your music (MP3) files, however they can also access music files from a USB thumb drive and / or SD card. It seems easy enough to set up for transmitting music to an FM frequency, which I expect would work great. What might be better is if I can pair the FM transmitter device directly to the car system via Bluetooth. Does anyone know if the XC40 Recharge system will PAIR with this kind of device & thus allow me to play MY music in MY car ??

I have USB thumbdrives already loaded with MY music. They used to be plugged in directly in our 2019 XC40 & played great, but the XC40 Recharge has done away with USB inputs completely, trying to force us to be all GOOGLE (apps) & AT&T ( LTE data). I do NOT want to be locked in with these corporations, so I am searching for options / flexibility.

 

[goatsweater]

Getting a bluetooth device to stream content to the vehicle requires that the device have the right kind of “bluetooth profile”. Modern phones will reliably have this, which is why they use them as examples in documentation. It doesn’t have anything to do with the phone though - two devices just need to agree to talk using the correct profile. I don’t have anything other than my phone, but I’m confident such devices exist. You can learn about the different profiles here.

The USB inputs question is a matter of having an app that knows how to read those devices. Who knows if there will ever be such an app in the play store, but that is the missing component right now. It is possible that the ports in the car are all “dumb” in that they only provide power, but I highly doubt that is the case since at least one of them is clearly marked for future carplay/android auto, which will require the transmission of data. Also, Volvo probably uses USB sticks to load software and they need to plug them in somewhere.

 

[afung]

Hi, I am playing media on my iPhone set up as a bluetooth media player, so you should be able to do what you want. Search for "MP3 player with bluetooth and sd card" on amazon or google, and then read through some of the specs to make sure that you can set up the MP3 player on a car stereo. I only did a quick search, but it looks like the "SanDisk Clip Sport Plus" can do what you want, as can many others. See page 15 of their manual here: http://downloads.sandisk.com/downloads/um/clipsportplus-um.pdf

 

[Skins88]

Getting a bluetooth device to stream content to the vehicle requires that the device have the right kind of “bluetooth profile”. Modern phones will reliably have this, which is why they use them as examples in documentation. It doesn’t have anything to do with the phone though - two devices just need to agree to talk using the correct profile. I don’t have anything other than my phone, but I’m confident such devices exist. You can learn about the different profiles here.

The USB inputs question is a matter of having an app that knows how to read those devices. Who knows if there will ever be such an app in the play store, but that is the missing component right now. It is possible that the ports in the car are all “dumb” in that they only provide power, but I highly doubt that is the case since at least one of them is clearly marked for future carplay/android auto, which will require the transmission of data. Also, Volvo probably uses USB sticks to load software and they need to plug them in somewhere.

Everything I read about the USB type C ports is that they are for charging only - one way - no input. The info about Bluetooth profiles is very helpful & I see that Amazon have many devices to choose from. The one I like so far is the NULAXY NX09 - very compact - Bluetooth 5 - USB drive & SD card inputs - 12 volt power. Cheap enough to give it a try.

 

[afung]

I don't think you want a "bluetooth FM transmitter" - that kind of device puts the sound through an FM signal that your car radio will pick up. This is going to be a low quality signal compared to bluetooth. the bluetooth FM transmitter is designed to go (bluetooth player [like phone] -> bluetooth FM transmitter -> (FM signal) -> Volvo car radio).

I think what you want is a "MP3 player with bluetooth". That kind of device goes:
MP3 from player or SD card -> (bluetooth signal) -> Volvo "bluetooth media player" car interface

Hope this makes sense.