iPad Pro Playing music from an external disk on iPad Pro 11

[Spinosaurus]

I tried to get a response from the Apple discussion forums and got no response so let me try here. I have an iPad Pro 11 (2nd Gen) and to save memory, want to play music from an external disk through the USB c port. I have tried loading music on a micro SD card and it will play it but only one song at a time and it gives no information as to what APP is playing the music. Has anyone tried an APP that will play music off of an external drive?
I see that FlacBox will play music using iXpand drive but apparently you need an iXpand disk which must have some proprietary software on it as you can't use the micro SD card apparently. What kind of experience has anyone had with this music player and external iXpand disk?
Thanks for any help.

 

[PowerMac5500]

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[PowerMac5500]

Deleted

 

[Spinosaurus]

Thanks for your response and you're correct you can play music from an external disk through the Files APP but you can only play one song at a time as far as I can tell, i.e. no album, no playlists etc. While Apple sees the need for some interactivity, if you look at other music platforms, the only one I could find that works is with the iXpand drive by SanDisk and so far I can't get it to work on the newer iPad Pro because of the Files APP. The iXpand drive App does not recognize the iXpand disk when it is connected. One of the big irritants about Apple products is their move to make you use everything Apple and although they are trying to sell the iPad Pro as a do everything machine, that isn't happening because you can't freely use things on an external disk. If someone can tell me I'm wrong, I would be grateful.

 

[PowerMac5500]

Deleted

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Another very different option that yields the same playback result sans external drive attached to your iPad: the service called Apple Match. Here's a pretty good description of it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204146

For $25/yr, it will match all of your music it can to iTunes store files, upload what it can't match and then you have access to your entire collection "in the cloud" to stream. It will play like it is in internal storage as long as you have a good wifi or cellular connection.

Match will make everything "just work" including playlists... again like the files have all been synched to your iPad. If you haven't purchased the hard drive yet, for the $100+(?) you might spend on that, you can probably get 4 years of Match and not have this super-sized dongle to carry around at all.

I've used Match before and it works great. It seems like it is a barely-talked-about Apple service these days... but it still exists and works fine.

Just an alt idea that you might like better.

 

[Spinosaurus]

That actually is a good idea for around the house and when visiting friends and family. Part of what I want though was to take on the road where my old iPod is biting the dust and it couldn't hold all the music I wanted. Thanks for the suggestion as I thought the only thing available was the iCloud or maybe that's what this service uses. For some reason I have stayed away from cloud services because everyone want access to information about you to sell you something else you don't need.

 

[rui no onna]

Caveat with cloud, if you need offline access to music then you'll need to have enough internal storage on the iPad to store what you want.

I wanted something similar for video (playback from external disk) and it just so happens one of the apps I tested works for music as well: nPlayer Plus.

nPlayer

nPlayer Web site

nplayer.com

Never actually tried using it for music before but I just dumped some MP3s and AACs to the following USB-C flash drive and it's working fine:

SanDisk 256GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type-C - SDDDC4-256G-G46, Black

Looking for stylish storage that works across your USB Type-C and Type-A devices? Whether youre taking amazing photos of your latest adventure or creating content in the office, the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe is the all-metal, 2-in-1 flash drive that lets you easily move files between USB Type...

smile.amazon.com

Even if you got the 1TB model for $115, that's still far more affordable than Apple's $700 up charge for upgrading from 128GB to 1TB. Much, much, much slower than internal storage of course but good enough for media playback.

Any USB mass storage device should also work fine (e.g. microSD+USB-C card reader). Mind, if in a moving vehicle, use flash-based storage. Mechanical hard drives and bumpy roads don't mix.

 

[sparksd]

Caveat with cloud, if you need offline access to music then you'll need to have enough internal storage on the iPad to store what you want.

I wanted something similar for video (playback from external disk) and it just so happens one of the apps I tested works for music as well: nPlayer Plus.

nPlayer

nPlayer Web site

nplayer.com

Never actually tried using it for music before but I just dumped some MP3s and AACs to the following USB-C flash drive and it's working fine:

SanDisk 256GB Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type-C - SDDDC4-256G-G46, Black

Looking for stylish storage that works across your USB Type-C and Type-A devices? Whether youre taking amazing photos of your latest adventure or creating content in the office, the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe is the all-metal, 2-in-1 flash drive that lets you easily move files between USB Type...

smile.amazon.com

Even if you got the 1TB model for $115, that's still far more affordable than Apple's $700 up charge for upgrading from 128GB to 1TB. Much, much, much slower than internal storage of course but good enough for media playback.

Any USB mass storage device should also work fine (e.g. microSD+USB-C card reader). Mind, if in a moving vehicle, use flash-based storage. Mechanical hard drives and bumpy roads don't mix.

+1 on nPlayer. I also use it for all of my local video media and that on external storage (SSD, etc.) & NAS.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

That actually is a good idea for around the house and when visiting friends and family. Part of what I want though was to take on the road where my old iPod is biting the dust and it couldn't hold all the music I wanted. Thanks for the suggestion as I thought the only thing available was the iCloud or maybe that's what this service uses. For some reason I have stayed away from cloud services because everyone want access to information about you to sell you something else you don't need.

Match is a service that leans on iCloud but I think it may date back to times before iCloud (MobileMe or something like that). Its been around for a long time.

If the iPad has cellular, it works over cellular too. So that's the easy way "for the road." If you check Tmobile options, you might be able to get the bargain 5GB for 5 months for $10 plan. If that's not available on yours, AT&T as a $30 for 3 months and 2GB plan that I think is available for all cellular iPads.

If your iPad doesn't have cellular:

• perhaps sync up enough favorites on the device for the road parts and then enjoy access to ALL of your music when in wifi zones? If you are taking your computer on the road too, you can alter the synched playlist at up to each stop so you have fresh tunes for the next leg of the road parts.
• If you have ANY cellular data source on the road, you can probably share that stream to make Match work through that source too. For it to work, iPad needs to be able to connect to the Internet... whether through wifi or cellular.

I was on Match for a year and did not feel like it was being used to pitch me new purchases. Apple probably was tracking what I streamed to recommend songs and/or Music subscriptions but I don't recall noticing and would have ignored any such upselling anyway. My purposes- which seem to mirror your wants- were nicely fulfilled this way for a seemingly bargain price... but I do have a cellular-connected iPad (no iPhone or other cellular data streamer) and I do sync a bunch of music too (one of those reasons to pay up for the bigger storage offerings that get debated around here all of the time). The big benefit is no relatively heavy "dongle" to also carry and keep connected.

 

[Spinosaurus]

That is a good possibility I should look into. So in the new iOS 15 you can use the Files app to play music on an external flash drive but it's one song a time etc. Do you know if nPlayer Plus allows you to at least play an album or possibly make a playlist as that's part of what I would like for my occasional long drives that would likewise work on my iPhone which of course also has limited storage space?

 

[sparksd]

That is a good possibility I should look into. So in the new iOS 15 you can use the Files app to play music on an external flash drive but it's one song a time etc. Do you know if nPlayer Plus allows you to at least play an album or possibly make a playlist as that's part of what I would like for my occasional long drives that would likewise work on my iPhone which of course also has limited storage space?

You can create a playlist in nPlayer. You can select a folder and add it to a playlist. Playlist playback supports looping and random order play.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Excellent, this is what I was looking for in the first place so hopefully it will work on external disks for me. Many thanks if this does the deed.

 

[rui no onna]

Match is a service that leans on iCloud but I think it may date back to times before iCloud (MobileMe or something like that). Its been around for a long time.

Nah. I think iTunes Match was released just as iCloud was introduced and MobileMe started getting shuttered.

 

[sparksd]

Excellent, this is what I was looking for in the first place so hopefully it will work on external disks for me. Many thanks if this does the deed.

I use it on 2021 12.9 and Mini 6 with flash drives, SSDs, & spinning HDDs. Should note that Apple-protected (DRM) content can't be played from external storage.

 

[rui no onna]

Do you know if nPlayer Plus allows you to at least play an album or possibly make a playlist as that's part of what I would like for my occasional long drives that would likewise work on my iPhone which of course also has limited storage space?

Yes to playlist. Albums via tags is a no but it will do continuous playback on a folder even without using playlists so if your albums are properly organized by folder, it will work.

iPhones still use Lightning connector so that one's more problematic to use with external storage.

If you don't wish to go the proprietary route with the iXpand or similar, you're going to need this:

Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter

Transfer photos and videos to your iPad Pro with Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter. Buy now with fast, free shipping.

www.apple.com

Personally, I feel that's too much hassle.

Main reason I bought the $115 SanDisk 1TB flash drive when I already have much faster 1 and 2TB Samsung T7 SSDs is because having cables hanging off the iPad is a pain. At least the flash drive doesn't really get in the way much. The SSD with cable is also far more prone to getting unplugged accidentally versus a smaller, self-contained flash drive (or microSD+tiny USB-C card reader).

P.S.
Looks like the cheaper nPlayer will work fine for your needs. Only thing the Plus version adds is Dolby decoding via built-in software codec. Back when iOS didn't have built-in Dolby support, I needed it for playback of full quality Blu-ray rips (via local network). Now, it's not really necessary. For music playback, I don't think you even need Dolby at all.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Thanks, I know I need an adapter for my iPhone but in my car, it's not a problem having a dongle sticking out of the lightning connector. I don't really listen to music on foot or cycling etc. so that doesn't bother me. I have a dongle to attach an external disk as well as lightning power input. All I really need is the software that works and I"m hoping that nPlayer will do the trick.

 

[Spinosaurus]

rui no onna says you can do the same thing in nPlayer as you can in nPlayer Plus except Dolby decoding which is not important to me, can anyone verify that nPlayer will play music from an external disks on iPad and iPhone?

 

[sparksd]

rui no onna says you can do the same thing in nPlayer as you can in nPlayer Plus except Dolby decoding which is not important to me, can anyone verify that nPlayer will play music from an external disks on iPad and iPhone?

It does - I have the lower-cost version.

 

[Spinosaurus]

OK, I now have nPlayer on my iPad and it does see my files on external disks. However, when I try to create a playlist, it only lets me load them as an album since that's how they were copied and then when you try to play the playlist you only can play an album at a time. Anyone help me figure out how to play the whole playlist. Do I have to make a separate file of songs I want on the playlist and then load that as a file. Seems pretty untenable as a useful App for playing individual songs. Part of the problem is when I go to the external disk and click on the music file it shows an album but won't show anything in the album until you access it in nPlayer and then I don't see how you can put those songs into a playlist. I obviously need to play around with it a lot more but maybe someone has a suggestion to streamline this process.

 

[rui no onna]

OK, I now have nPlayer on my iPad and it does see my files on external disks. However, when I try to create a playlist, it only lets me load them as an album since that's how they were copied and then when you try to play the playlist you only can play an album at a time. Anyone help me figure out how to play the whole playlist. Do I have to make a separate file of songs I want on the playlist and then load that as a file. Seems pretty untenable as a useful App for playing individual songs. Part of the problem is when I go to the external disk and click on the music file it shows an album but won't show anything in the album until you access it in nPlayer and then I don't see how you can put those songs into a playlist. I obviously need to play around with it a lot more but maybe someone has a suggestion to streamline this process.

Looks like you're adding the entire folder to the playlist. When you click the ... menu, choose Select and you can then choose the specific songs you want to add to the playlist.

Also, don't use the Files app for choosing songs. From within nPlayer, open External Documents and you can point it to your USB drive from there. Select either the USB root or your main music folder and not the album folder directly.

 

[rui no onna]

 

[Spinosaurus]

Excellent, you guys rock. I finally figured out that you could select individual items to add to the playlist. So the only thing I couldn't figure out is how to delete the playlist that I have the album files in. If I click on an individual item in the playlist and delete it, it deletes it off of the external drive. That doesn't seem very intuitive.

 

[rui no onna]

Excellent, you guys rock. I finally figured out that you could select individual items to add to the playlist. So the only thing I couldn't figure out is how to delete the playlist that I have the album files in. If I click on an individual item in the playlist and delete it, it deletes it off of the external drive. That doesn't seem very intuitive.

Are you sure you're deleting them from the Playlist and not from folder (Local) view?

I tried just now with a 32GB FAT32 flash drive and deleting an item from the playlist didn't delete the actual file.

 

[Spinosaurus]

Sorry I should have clarified that statement. I did figure out how to delete out of a playlist but it didn't seem intuitive to not click on an item in the playlist and then delete it, but you are right if you just click on an item it takes you back to the local directory and I didn't notice that initially and deleted from there and of course that deleted it off the external drive. What I couldn't figure out is how to go to the playlist directory and delete a playlist from there. I thought the 3 dots would appear on that screen and you could then select, but that isn't the case so I couldn't figure out how to delete the empty playlists from there as I was playing around. Thanks though, you are absolutely correct.