Transferring music files to SD card from Windows laptop - how to?

[Tim Curtis]

Windows (and MacOS) won't be able to read the Linux ext4 formatted partition on the SD Card that contains all the application, data, and music files. You will need to use a USB drive for storing or transferring the files.

Option 1 - Music files on a USB drive

1. Create a Fat32 formatted USB drive
2. Plug it into your Windows box
3. Copy your music files onto that USB drive
4. Using a micro USB adapter, plug that drive into your Zero
5. Menu > Update Library

USB adapter (micro to standard)
https://www.amazon.com/Ksmile®-Female-Ad...262&sr=8-4
USB drive (format it as Fat32)
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-512GB-Ult...r=8-3&th=1

Option 2 - Music files on the SD Card

Similar to Option 1 except instead of step 5 do the following:

1. Menu > Configure > System
2. Turn on the WebSSH terminal
3. OPEN the terminal and enter the userid and password that you setup in the Pi Imager
4. Copy the files from the USB drive to the SDCARD directory on the SD Card

The commands would be something like below

1. Create a music directory on the SD Card
sudo mkdir /mnt/SDCARD/Music

2. Determine the USB drive mount directory
ls /media

3. Copy the files from the USB drive to the SD Card
sudo cp -v -r /media/USB_DRIVE_MOUNT_DIRECTORY/* /mnt/SDCARD/Music

4. Unplug the USB drive
5. Menu > Update Library