Possible to play music on flash drive with USB splitter?

[Russ Wyllie]

Is it possible for Hi-Fi Cast to play music from an external USB flash drive through Android Auto? I don't have enough room on the phone to store music files.

I bought this USB splitter/adapter (see included picture), hoping I could use it to connect my phone to Android Auto (USB-C connection), and have Hi-Fi Cast access music on a little Samsung flash drive (USB-A connection). The Android Files app shows the music files on the flash drive, but Hi-Fi Cast won't display them so I can't play them. 

I looked for USB settings on my phone (Pixel 5a) including the Developer Settings, and tried changing the "Default USB configuration" to "File Transfer/Android Auto," but this made no difference.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

  

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hi.

I don't think it's possible. The Hi-Fi Cast app relies on the built-in Android media scanner to find your music files and I believe it ignores files on USB flash drives :(