Voice request for play song, or artist on USB

[Lars2]

I keep my music on a flash drive plugged into the USB terminal. In my past ES350 I could say "play song, or play artist" and the Mark Levinson would play the requested music.  My new 2023 ES300H doesn't do this. Am I missing something???

This was one of my favorite functions on my past Lexuses.

[Lars2]

I will answer myself since I have figured it out after a bit of digging (not that easy).  First, make sure you are not is guest mode.  For some reason my ES300H sometimes switches to guest mode when I start it up even though I was the last one to drive it.  Then either press the talk button on the steering wheel, or say "Hey Lexus" and say "USB."  Once you are in USB, use the "Hey Lexus" or use the button and give command "play song ..."   The car responds with Ok and the name of the song.  Then the car tells you that you must have a subscription to either Amazon Music or Apple Music in order to use this feature.  It allows you to send instructions to your phone.

I thought I had Amazon Music since I am an Amazon Prime member.  But not the case.  The Amazon Music subscription costs $8.99 per month, though you can get one free year by signing up right now.  I intend to do this. Apple Music runs $10.99 per month. 

Now this sound like nickel and diming and hardly worthy of a luxury builder like Lexus.  But I guess that if you can afford a Lexus, you shouldn't complain.

[Les Lex 2018]

Thanks Larry!  I tried the Play function and it came back and said "Searching for Rivers".  Took a while but it found songs by Johnny Rivers.

I'm guessing that you are using Apple Play.  I don't!  My system then looks strictly at my USB, and will play what I want it too.

I haven't gotten to the "Hey Lexus" thing yet so will play around with that sometime.  Thanks for exploring all the options and explaining them.

I never have paid for or used Apple Music. I transferred all my 8-Tracks, cassette tapes and CDs into MP-3. The Levinson does a good job of accessing all of the thousands of tunes I have on one Thumb nail size 8 GB USB.  So it can take a while to find tunes.  

Best for me is to place it in random read mode, and "all folder" mode, and just let it play its little heart out.

[Lars2]

I too have all of my music recorded as MP-3s on a flash drive plugged into the USB connection.  My older ESs (I lease a new one every 3 years) worked great by asking for song or title after pressing the talk button on the steering wheel and it too did a great job.  I also usually left it in "random play" and "all folders" (I have 3 folders).  But my new 2023 ES300h doesn't work the same.  Apparently the system uses the software of either Amazon Music or Apple Music to reproduce the sound.   You have to choose one of these two under set-up.  I can see no other choice.  You would think that the USB music would work without a subscription if you were listening to it with the Android Auto turned off.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.   I use Android Auto, not Apple Play, but I don't think there's much difference.  

I Made a mistake in my last message.  The subscription for Amazon Music comes with a 3 month free trial (not one year) just like Apple Music.  Amazon Music is $2 less per month however.

[Les Lex 2018]

Your Nav manual, Page 26 - said USB audio cannot be used while Android Auto is connected via USB.  Are you connected to Android via BlueTooth.

Page 132 - Title is: Playing music file on a USB Flash Drive. This paragraph clearly indicates that your flash drive is available w/o posting exception to the rule.

I could not locate the part that only gave you the CarPlay and Android options.

Ask your dealer to demonstrate how they can access your USB Flash Drive as indicated on page 132.  There's got to be a way.  Tell them the 2022s have no problems at all.

[Lars2]

I am aware of that.  I am connected to Android via Bluetooth.  I tried turning my cell phone off to see if I could ask for songs and artists then. But NO it still said I need a subscription.  I didn't find the fact that you need CarPlay or Amazon Music except in the car itself.  When you either press the talk button on the steering wheel or ask Google or Lexus to play a song or artist (with the audio in USB), the screen says you need a subscription for this function and allows you to send a link to your cellphone.