USB flash drive ''VS" I-Pod | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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USB flash drive ''VS" I-Pod

bobbydaniel

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Concider this, when choosing aftermarket Radio; go with a player thats USB ready. You can add anywhere from 1 to 8 gigs of mp3,wma,ect,ect...
If you're like me, I don't carry a I-pod everywhere. Never burn a CD again or fumble through stacks of CDs while driving.
I only buy CDs to "TUNE" my stereo.

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There are 64GB advailable flash drives, but still to expensive.
 






I have a pioneer head unit that has a usb port on it, and the manual says that you can put in an external hard drive up to 250 gigs....i dont know why anyone would need that many songs unless their DJ'n out of their car.
 






thing is that an Ipod can function just like a flash drive...
 






Microsoft 30gig (1st Gen) ZUNE can be had for about $50 furbished from MS. Flash drives turn into a pain like cd's...you start carrying around 5 or 6 of them, unless you get a ####ing huge one.
 






Microsoft 30gig (1st Gen) ZUNE can be had for about $50 furbished from MS. Flash drives turn into a pain like cd's...you start carrying around 5 or 6 of them, unless you get a ####ing huge one.

well I'll be a..........
Thats good info man; I have only two gigs. $ 27.00 buck a roos
 






Microsoft 30gig (1st Gen) ZUNE can be had for about $50 furbished from MS. Flash drives turn into a pain like cd's...you start carrying around 5 or 6 of them, unless you get a ####ing huge one.

Or you can get a cheap hard drive and cheap adapter and put all your music in there, i have read that pioneer have some troubles to power hard drives so you'll have to use a second power source, the new kenwood powers then without problem.
 






I personally prefer my iPod. It rarely gets used outside of my car, but IMO it's easier to flip through songs/play lists on the iPod rather than using the head unit to search.
 






The only way I've seen external (2.5") hard drives work on a usb head unit is to use a powered 2.5" drive or to plug in a usb hub powered by 12V.

The USB powered external drives take more power than any head unit I've seen so far (doesn't mean there isn't one that can power it)..

I like the powered USB hub kdea since with that plugged in you could use just about any USB device and not worry about how much power it pulls. If you powered the drive directly your power plug would problably only work on that drive.

Also, watch what format your drive can be.. i.e. FAT, FAT32, NTFS etc.. I know the pioneer head units (at least the ones I've used) don't like drives with multiple partitions and the WD drive I bought last time came with two paritions from the factory (I had to kill the partitions and reformat the drive).

~Mark
 






I've never ran into any problems using flash drives with the USB inputs on Pioneer head units
 






Pioneer...

I've never ran into any problems using flash drives with the USB inputs on Pioneer head units

Just to add, my Pioneer has a usb port on the back with an extension cord that you can plug anything into. Pretty neat...:thumbsup:
 






Our Pioneer units also have that USB extension cord. It makes it nice. I found the Sandisc cruzer is partitioned with two partitions from the factory. The pioneer didn't like it until I formated it..

Its even in the book (pioneer) that you need to have one partition only.

~Mark
 






(off topic for a moment) shouldn't the connections in the amp above be crimped??
 






I can't tell Donner. But I crimp, solder, and shrink wrap EVERYTHING. You know what? I've never once had to go back and trouble shoot an electrical problem from a poor connection. Imagine that!
 






I learned, you can count on problems if you don't shrink wrap and crimp...
 






The only way I've seen external (2.5") hard drives work on a usb head unit is to use a powered 2.5" drive or to plug in a usb hub powered by 12V.

The USB powered external drives take more power than any head unit I've seen so far (doesn't mean there isn't one that can power it)..

I like the powered USB hub kdea since with that plugged in you could use just about any USB device and not worry about how much power it pulls. If you powered the drive directly your power plug would problably only work on that drive.

Also, watch what format your drive can be.. i.e. FAT, FAT32, NTFS etc.. I know the pioneer head units (at least the ones I've used) don't like drives with multiple partitions and the WD drive I bought last time came with two paritions from the factory (I had to kill the partitions and reformat the drive).

~Mark


New kenwood HU turn on hard drives and pioneer do it to, but for pio you need to connect the hard drive each time the HU do off cause it dont turn it on from start, but almost every usb capable HU use FAT16 or FAT32 without partition, but you dont need a partition for just music.

A 40-60GB HHD can be had for just about $30 or less, i get a 40GB 2.5" HHD on the bya for just $15 :D.

I like the zune idea to, is really nice to have it, and you can take out of your car from time to time.
 






Microsoft 30gig (1st Gen) ZUNE can be had for about $50 furbished from MS. Flash drives turn into a pain like cd's...you start carrying around 5 or 6 of them, unless you get a ####ing huge one.

Could you point me in the right direction on this, cause i cant find the zune for that price.

Thanks
 






Could you point me in the right direction on this, cause i cant find the zune for that price.

Thanks

I got 2 for that price off of WOOT.com. You just have to check woot every so often.
 






The reason I like my iPod over an external hard drive or USB drive is the playlists and ease of browsing. When researching head units, some of them would browse by folder name or alphabetical order, which I would find annoying. It is also easy to keep my iPod updated.
I guess the difference is that I use my iPod a lot, so I have a reason to always keep it with me and to keep it updated.
 



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I have no idea how you fellow Zune owners have not run into this problem, but I recently installed an '08 Pioneer Premier DEH-P690UB, plugged in my Zune, and got an 'N/A USB' message. After consulting my manual, I found that this means that the HU does not support that type of mp3 player, which of course disappointed me. Still feeling stubborn, I called Pioneer and they told me that Zunes, in fact, do not work with many HU's due to that fact that they are rather new (think back to the compatibility issues with the IPOD when it first came out) I also researched it further on forums concerning USB HU's and I read from several other people that Zune's are completely incompatible with HU's. Am I missing something here, or did I misread some of your posts? Cus I'll tell ya what, if you guys know how to make a Zune work with a USB HU, I sure would like to know the secret! Thanks guys, hope you guys figure out what to do about your USB issues.
 






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