Need help buying a car stereo - usb hard disk?

breadbin

was wondering if anyone uses a passport type external harddisk with their car stereo and which ones do they use? was thinking usb ssticks would be good but even better to have a hard disk in the glove box and leave it plugged in all the time and just pllay mp3s off that? am i able to do that? was looking at pioneer 2100ub

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5006047/Trail/searchtext%3EPIONEER+CAR.htm

thanks;)

unkel

As long as the external USB drive doesn't need a separate power supply (sometimes this is done with a second USB connection) it should work fine. On the other hand, you could just use (large capacity) usb memory sticks. Safer too if there isn't a big wire on full view coming out of your stereo and disappearing into the glove box

BTW I have a similar Pioneer with front USB connection and it works great.

TestTransmission

I got one of these,very handy if you have an ipod..no mess

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/fusion-caip500-ipod-dock-receiver-p-6729.html

breadbin

how large is large capacity? i was lookin at 64gb for about 100euro. although maybe 64 is overkill. you're probably right about the usb stick instead of the cable. was looking at sony although pioneer get better reviews and what not. glad yours is working well for you

Eric Cartman

kenwood dnx-5220 in my car, usb hard disks work just fine with them, i assume that most of the kenwood usb range is the same

breadbin

jackncoke wrote: »

I got one of these,very handy if you have an ipod..no mess

http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/fusion-caip500-ipod-dock-receiver-p-6729.html

don't have an ipod, have a creative. but hate using wires and then having to charg it too so going for a pioneer 2100ub

guerito

If you're leaning towards one with a usb stick input, bear in mind that the bigger the thumb drive's capacity, the longer it takes to load when you start up the car. My ipod adaptor broke, so I bought a 16gb pen drive for the usb port. Takes 2-3 minutes to load up, and it's only 60% full. No problem on long journeys, but it's a pain in the **** on shorter ones.

B00MSTICK

My stereo has an SD card reader, I'm not sure what the max capacity is but I've 2 x 4GB cards (about 5 quid on ebay) and it loads in seconds.

If the average song is 4mb that's 2000 songs.

Maybe you have a huge library of songs you actually like but I still find myself thinking "God why did I put this crap on my card!"

The cards sit flush with the radio and songs are easy to swap and change as most laptops have card readers built in.

It has an aux in aswell but I find the quality suffer when using it but it could easily just be my stereo.

Maybe you *need* access to your whole library at all times but that's my 2c worth.

unkel

guerito wrote: »

I bought a 16gb pen drive for the usb port. Takes 2-3 minutes to load up, and it's only 60% full.

That doesn't make sense to me. If you plug in a USB stick with MP3 songs into the stereo (like my pioneer or the one the OP is buying), the music should be available instantly, no matter how big the memory on the USB stick is or how full it is

unkel

B00MSTICK wrote: »

My stereo has an SD card reader, I'm not sure what the max capacity is but I've 2 x 4GB cards (about 5 quid on ebay) and it loads in seconds.

If the average song is 4mb that's 2000 songs.

Maybe you have a huge library of songs you actually like but I still find myself thinking "God why did I put this crap on my card!"

The cards sit flush with the radio and songs are easy to swap and change as most laptops have card readers built in.

It has an aux in aswell but I find the quality suffer when using it but it could easily just be my stereo.

Maybe you *need* access to your whole library at all times but that's my 2c worth.

+1

A few cheap USB sticks or, in your case, SD cards and Bob's your uncle.

guerito

unkel wrote: »

That doesn't make sense to me. If you plug in a USB stick with MP3 songs into the stereo (like my pioneer or the one the OP is buying), the music should be available instantly, no matter how big the memory on the USB stick is or how full it is

Should be, but that's how long it takes. It's SanDisk, who make decent stuff. There used to be a slight delay with a different, 512mb stick I had. Must be the stereo itself.

SD seems like the best option to my mind. Nice and neat, nothing sticking out of the front of the stereo.

jozi

I got one of these for my brother. Only reason I got it was because it's tiny and won't protrude to much from his radio.

I'd love to know if there are any head units with the usb port on the back, that would be the right way to have it if you want to keep the drive in the glove box nicely hidden away, no wires to the front of the unit.

L1011

unkel wrote: »

That doesn't make sense to me. If you plug in a USB stick with MP3 songs into the stereo (like my pioneer or the one the OP is buying), the music should be available instantly, no matter how big the memory on the USB stick is or how full it is

I would presume the player has to load filenames in to memory. Any operation done will be slightly slower the more files there are anyway. Open a folder on your PC containing 1 file and open one containg 1000 and see the speed difference.

Chris Peak

I got a radio/cd player from Lidl last year that came with a SD card reader, AUX input and a USB port.
You really don't want a 64g as you'll never get through them all!

A 2g or a 4g USB stick will have loads of room

unkel

MYOB wrote: »

I would presume the player has to load filenames in to memory.

I wouldn't think so. It only loads a filename as you select (access) the file. Surely, you don't have to wait if you plug in a USB stick into your PC?

As guerito says, it is probably an issue with his particular stereo

breadbin

jozi wrote: »

I got one of these for my brother. Only reason I got it was because it's tiny and won't protrude to much from his radio.

I'd love to know if there are any head units with the usb port on the back, that would be the right way to have it if you want to keep the drive in the glove box nicely hidden away, no wires to the front of the unit.

was gonna have a look for something like this cos I knocked my finger off mine a couple times. didn't knock it out or anything but could be done i'd say. thinki saw one with the usb on the back when i was looking around. didn't fancy it though myself.

there no delays with the pioneer thing i got. i have a 2gb usb thing in it and it plays instantly. I leave it in though so that could be why. Its full to the brim. might get one of them kingston things.

the only reason i want a big usb thing is that there's always a time i dying to listen to a song and don't have it with me. thought i'd sort that;)

zilog_jones

unkel wrote: »

I wouldn't think so. It only loads a filename as you select (access) the file.

It needs to load the filenames and File Allocation Table otherwise there would be no files to select! It sounds like crap and or old hardware anyway, maybe the interface is USB1.1 instead of 2.0 (12Mbit/s instead of 480Mbit/s)?

jozi

I had a look around after that post, there are headunits avail that have rear usb. I can't remember exactly which, few of them where "ipod" compatible.

unkel

zilog_jones wrote: »

It needs to load the filenames and File Allocation Table otherwise there would be no files to select! It sounds like crap and or old hardware anyway, maybe the interface is USB1.1 instead of 2.0 (12Mbit/s instead of 480Mbit/s)?

Yeah if all files are just in the root of the drive, I suppose you and MYOB have a point there. My files are in a tree structure of subdirectories based on performer / title, etc.

Still with all files in the root of the drive, it should not take more than a fraction of a second to start playing. The USB 1.1 standard is gone many years now, isn't it? I suppose some hardware could still be of the old standard

@guerito - what make and model is your headunit? Maybe someone here can find out what the problem is

jozi

The flash drive being slow could be down to the flash drive it self. Have a look on some different site at the transfer rates for different drive, they can vary a lot, it's what you pay for to an extent. Another problem might be how the drive was formatted? (FAT, NTFS)

unkel

jozi wrote: »

The flash drive being slow could be down to the flash drive it self. Have a look on some different site at the transfer rates for different drive, they can vary a lot, it's what you pay for to an extent. Another problem might be how the drive was formatted? (FAT, NTFS)

Aye of course, but I'd expect the difference to be like 0.1s for the fastest and 3s for the slowest (to make up some figures). 2-3 minutes as guerito posted is just ridiculous

jozi

Didn't read back over his post or remember how slow he mentioned, but your right 3mins is slow.

For as much as i noticed my brothers unit starts playing shortly after turning it on and that with a sony and 8gig flash drive.

zilog_jones

unkel wrote: »

Yeah if all files are just in the root of the drive, I suppose you and MYOB have a point there. My files are in a tree structure of subdirectories based on performer / title, etc.

Depending on how the file browser works, it may load every file and directory when initializing. But keeping hundreds of files in the root directory or just one directory probably isn't going to make things very fast.

The USB 1.1 standard is gone many years now, isn't it? I suppose some hardware could still be of the old standard

Could just be cheap hardware or badly programmed software. An MP3 is never going to need more bandwidth than 320kbit/s (+file system overheads) so super fast data transfer performance is not really a priority with these things.

jozi wrote: »

Another problem might be how the drive was formatted? (FAT, NTFS)

I'd be surprised if a car stereo supported NTFS, unless it was made by Microsoft :pac:

biko

I have a Crestwood stereo from Lidl/Aldi/Argos and a USB stick that had FAT and because of this could only take 550MB out of 4GB.
I reformatted it to NTFS and now it can take 4GB and play in the Crestwood still

breadbin

Magnus wrote: »

I have a Crestwood stereo from Lidl/Aldi/Argos and a USB stick that had FAT and because of this could only take 550MB out of 4GB.
I reformatted it to NTFS and now it can take 4GB and play in the Crestwood still

you coulda just converted it to fat32 and it would be grand. although if it plays ntfs then no difference really unless you use linux or something.