15 replies to this topic

[gone fishing]

Hey everyone. Just wanna know if anyone has tried out a HU with USB. I really like the idea so i can connect a external hard drive up to it and mount it in my car somewhere and just play music straight off that. That way i could have just about all the music i could ever want and i could have it all in uncompressed format too. It all sounds really good to me but does ne one have ne experience with them to tell me what the SQ is like or ne problems i could have with them? Also if you can access music within files on the hard drive or flashdrive or whatever u decide to put in there. Thanx in advance.

Cheers

Kris.

Edited by gone fishing, 19 April 2007 - 10:16 PM.

[Stooge007]

i believe most USB hu's only read discs formatted to FAT32.

might be a little difficult to find particular albums or tracks if you've got gigs and gigs of files too

haven't heard one myself, but i'd assume it'd be similar in quality to MP3 playback

- Stooge007 out

[TRD1JeeZy]

as far as i know theres only one HU with USB that will accept an external HD which is the blaupunkt memphis HU. i think all the others will only accept usb flash drives.

[gone fishing]

i was lookin at the blaupunkt HU's anyway so thats fine with me lol but only being able to be formatted in FAT32 sounds bad. Ne one else had any experience with them or know if you can format them in NTFS. Thnx for the replies too

Edited by gone fishing, 20 April 2007 - 06:47 PM.

[Pulse-R]

fat only

and I think even 2 gig limit.

[scappy]

TRD1JeeZy, on Apr 20 2007, 08:58 AM, said:

as far as i know theres only one HU with USB that will accept an external HD which is the blaupunkt memphis HU. i think all the others will only accept usb flash drives.

theres actually no difference between plugging a flash drive into 1 of these USB head units and plugging a USB external HDD, such as a iPOD etc. They are both the same interface (Universal Serial Bus) the only way they differ is flash has a lack of moving parts.



All head units that have a USB port are capable of having attatched any USB HDD wether it be Flash or Conventional.



Contrary to popular belief, you dont need an "iPOD compatible head unit" to connect a iPOD neither. an ipod can be connected to any H/U that has auxilery inputs OR an USB input. As long as the mp3s are stored on the iPOD in HDD mode (rather than how iTunes store the ACC files on the iPOD) it can be accessable from just about any modern h/u.



But i digress, as i am somewhat drunk lol. Point is there is no difference whatsoever between flash and conventional external HDD's as far as h/u's are concerned.

[scappy]

also, in the application we are talking about, FAT32 as apossed to NTFS is not an issue whatsoever. In computer applications i prefer to use fat32 actually, as alot of my older programs only supporst it, and the fact i tripple boot linux/win xp/ and win 98, and fat32 partitions cannot recognise NTFS.



but as i said for this application, really doesnt matter.

P.S and the limits of partition size for FAT32 is 32 gig for WIN XP. so not much of an issue.

Edited by scappy, 21 April 2007 - 09:34 PM.

[Wisdom]

fat32 is used for smaller hard-drives (ie. 32gb) whereas ntfs is left for bigger ones say 200+gb. I'm not sure but there could be an issue with folders. If you're like me and have 90gb of music, there is no way I'd like to sift through all of it in a car lol.

[gone fishing]

hey guys thanx for all the replys u have been really helpful. Just one more question. If i have say a 80g or 120g hard drive formatted FAT32. First of all can i do that (sorry, not a computer wiz) and also can i have all my music sorted into folders of the artist then within those folders have more folders sorted into the different albums and be able to have that format when i play it on the HU. So on the HU I can first find the artist i want and then the album and then choose the song i want to play from that album?

[zion187reigneth]

most hu will have a limit on what amount of MB limit u can use with them , it will be in the fine print of the manuals, so you should sit down and read it in the shop ,thats what i do .........cors

[creid]

pioneer p7950ub has usb input... im pretty sure it has no size limit (not according to the manual)

[gone fishing]

alright cheers. and what about music in folders. anyone have ne idea?

[scappy]

gone fishing, on Apr 22 2007, 07:41 PM, said:

hey guys thanx for all the replys u have been really helpful. Just one more question. If i have say a 80g or 120g hard drive formatted FAT32. First of all can i do that (sorry, not a computer wiz) and also can i have all my music sorted into folders of the artist then within those folders have more folders sorted into the different albums and be able to have that format when i play it on the HU. So on the HU I can first find the artist i want and then the album and then choose the song i want to play from that album?

Basically, plugging a USB HDD device (be it flash or traditional) will function with the h/u in pretty much the same way as it does when you insert an MP3 cd. The navigation will be the same. Basically u will navigate through each folder using the ^ and V keys and select different tracks within the different folders using

< and > keys, So if you have alot of music stored on the drive, finding particular songs by particular artists can be quite daunting a task.



My recomendation would be if u have alot of music and want to have it all in your car, get yourself an iPOD (or equivelant such as a Creative ZEN), and a h/u with an aux imput (pretty much all new h/u will have one. that way u can select and control your music through the ipod and makes it alot easier to find particular tracks by a particular artist.

Edited by scappy, 24 April 2007 - 10:27 AM.

[six58]

i was under the clear impression after doing some research up to earlier this year that the usb's can only read up to 1G of information. i get my HU out of layby next week, i'll be connecting my Zen via the aux inputs and just controlling through the zen itself. i tested the usb with a flash pen and it did read folders within folders but it seemed to be a lot slower than reading a disc. (i'm getting a Clarion)



its possible the newer range of HU's (2007) and some higher end HU's i didn't get to look at, may have improved usb functionality. your best bet is to take what you want to play in to a store and set it up in there and test it.

[Riley.]

i use the aux in (3.5mm) and its not too bad.....i imagine that a USB connection would be better as there is less chance of interference

the downside as said above is the limited amount of storage space

the best way to do i would think would be to use an iPod and a head unit such as an alpine with the full speed thingo.....never used one myself....but i believe that you are able to navigate quite well using the head unit

with the 3.5 you use the MP3 player itself