I've tried a samsung mp3 player in the stock usb port of my 09 sonata and while my head unit told me "reading usb" the samsung mp3 player shut down then my hu told me "reading error". Does anybody know if you HAVE to have the IPOD brand? I hope not. I've ordered a Sandisc brand one now. I'll try that one when it gets here!

 

As far as I know you should be plugging your mp3 player into the aux. port not the USB port. I have a 2006 Sonata which did not have an aux. port but I replaced the factory head unit with an aftermarket one which has both the aux. port and USB port. I have an iPod which I play through my stereo using an audio cable plugged into the aux. jack on the head unit. It works great this way. In the future I may get the iPod adapter for my head unit so that I can control the iPod through the stereo and see the titles on the display but for now this works for me.

As far as I know the USB port is expecting some sort of storage device to be connected to it. Either a USB flash drive or some other portable device (iPod, mp3 player) set to act as a storage device. The head unit can then read the music files from the device and play them. Otherwise just connect it to the aux. jack using an audio cable and it should work fine. You do not need to buy a new mp3 player.

 

My daughter liked her parent's 08 Sonata Limited so well, she just purchased a 09 GLS as her first outright car. She has an ipod and immediately wanted to know how to use it with the car's ipod port. Both the salesman and the dealership service manager were stymied by the ipod connector to the head unit. I've discovered Hyundai has issued a TSB, #08-BE-002 "IPOD CABLE ASSEMBLY", which explains you have to buy a proprietary cable setup from Hyundai for your ipod to correctly interface with the head unit. The TSB is for the 2009 Sonata, but I think it would apply to any new model that has this setup. The parts manager at the dealership was aware of this part, but said "nobody has asked about it, so I haven't bothered to stock them". We have a cable on order.

The comment about using a flash drive and reading the 09 owner's manual got me thinking. The head unit will read MP3 and WMA files encoded within certain range of speeds. I use an old iRiver MP3 player that uses WMA files ripped with MS Media Player at 128 bps. I grabbed a 1 Gb flash drive and simply copied the album directories of my Steele Dan collection and the few Donald Fagen solo albums onto it. When I plugged the USB drive into the port in the car, the head unit immediately recognized it, toggled through the directories and files, and displayed all the embedded info for each song. Works just like the unit in the 08 Sonata with MP3 CD's, but with a flash drive you are not limited to 700 Mb of music. I figure I can get 70 to 80 albums ripped to WMA format on a 4 Gb drive. I personally think this is a better option than the ipod feature.