USB Audio Voice Commands

Mikali

Member
:
2018 Mazda CX-5 GT
Hi All:

I have a 2018 CX-5 GT and I can't seem to get the voice commands to work properly on USB audio. For instance, I will speak the command "Play Artist-Bob Dylan". My screen will go to a list called artists, show the names of the artists, and the voice will answer back "There are no artists in this list". Then the system will do nothing and ask for a new command.

The system responds to other commands such as go to FM or go to XM but will not recognize artist or album names and execute the commands. It has executed the commands in the past, but only with USB sticks under 8 GB. When I tried to load more songs from my library onto a 16GB USB drive and use that, it wouldn't work.

In desperation, I recently upgraded Gracenote to the latest version and voice commands stopped working on the 8GB stick as well. I don't think it has anything to do with the main infotainment software as this was upgraded when I recently had the Apple CarPlay /Android Auto upgrade installed. Can anyone help me get these damn voice commands to work? My wife is driving me crazy about this as the CX-5 is her car. Thanks.

BTW, I drive a 2014 Mazda6 and the voice commands work perfectly on my car using the same exact USB sticks.
 
Have you tried this over multiple start-up (software load) sessions, and given time for the S/W to fully load before trying the commands?
In other words, turn the car off and restart it to reload the software and wait for it to reload fully to see if this is an intermittent s/w loading issue.

My salesguy also tells me that his tech people told him to hold the Start button a second or 2 when starting up in order to fully load the s/w (in other words, don't just tap it). He claims this fixed intermittent Bluetooth issues with his phone. Take that for what it's worth. It has not fixed my VR issues.

I have found that the software for Entertainment Voice Commands does not always load properly in my 2019 CX-5 GTR.
I do not use USB devices. My issue is with inconsistent functionality of Voice Commands for XM Radio.

When they work, they work the entire driving session (meaning the S/W loaded properly when I started the car that time).
When they don't work, they do not magically start working as I'm driving (meaning the S/W did NOT load properly that time).


My issue is that when VR works, I say "XM Lithium" and the radio will go to that station.
When VR does not work and I say "XM Lithium," it either goes to a random station or the voice tells me that I need to connect a USB device that contains audio files.

100% of the time VR works when I say the Station ID# ("XM 46"). This has never failed.
"GoTo FM" always works.

I have not taken my car in to be looked at. I am waiting to accumulate other issues or need other service.
Besides, what are they gonna do but reload the entire program (if they can even do that).

edit to add: I find that the documentation for Voice Commands is woefully lacking; however, I must admit that I have not gone through the in-car voice tutorials embedded in the system. I just never seem to remember.
 
Last edited:
I have tried every which way to get the voice commands to work properly on USB audio, to no avail. They work just fine on everything else, bluetooth phone, Nav, etc. I think it might have something to do with the way the audio files are loaded on the USB, though, as I mentioned before, all of the USB drives I've tried function perfectly well on my 2014 Mazda6 system which has the previous audio system to the current Mazda Connect.
 
SOLVED! I did a deep Google search and found a thread on a Mazda3 forum that discussed USB music playback problems. I implemented one of the suggestions which was to create a folder on the USB drive and drop all of the music files into it. That solved the problem. I am now using a 16GB USB drive that responds to full voice commands and displays all up to date Gracenote information. The writer of this post summarized all of his findings in a 3 page word doc which I will attach to this post.View attachment USB Music Playback.doc
 
SOLVED! I did a deep Google search and found a thread on a Mazda3 forum that discussed USB music playback problems. I implemented one of the suggestions which was to create a folder on the USB drive and drop all of the music files into it. That solved the problem. I am now using a 16GB USB drive that responds to full voice commands and displays all up to date Gracenote information. The writer of this post summarized all of his findings in a 3 page word doc which I will attach to this post.View attachment 220788

Congratulations!!!

Gotta love the Box of Truth. ;)
 
Back