The USB drive plays on everything but my 2014 ultra limited.

 

How is the usb drive formatted? (FAT32, NTFS, etc.) Are the files of the proper type (MP3, etc.) and are they stored in the root of the drive rather than in individual folders (I suspect this may be the problem if the drive plays on "everything" else).

 

Won't be because of individual folders. I've used artist, then album sub-folders on my USB drive since day one w/o issue.

 

I've never tried playing media files directly from a USB stick on the BoomBox, I use my iPhone, so I'm passing on what the manual says. The OP still may have a level or two too many folders on his drive, perhaps one main folder at the root named "music" or some like that?

 

Well OP didn't provide much description to go from? Might have FLAC format or Ogg Orbis? Several unsupported formats out there.

 

Has your working career been in software related endeavors? You seem to know a helluva lot about all this electronic stuff. You throw out terms I've never heard before. Very Impressive!

You sound like our "go-to guy" here for all this software related info and instruction.

And your tagline in your profile somewhere should read:

" REad the Friggin' Manual!!! " LOL!!!

 

Spent 35 plus years in General Motors Research Labs working in the Fuels & Lubricants Department. Before that spent my time in the USAF as a Communications Equipment Repairman & graduated from a Tech School as an auto mechanic.

While with GM, my work assignments included emissions equipment maintenance & calibration and troubleshooting software bugs in Fortran & later in Advanced Basic for our unique (as in the only one like) emissions test site. Glad to have those headaches behind me!

Big believer in RTFM. Saves a lot of frustration!