USB mp3 storage drive

[john970]

Best bet on a usb mp3 storage drive, 320gb for $180. Should hold 85,000 songs or so.

Anyone know if the ipod/usb option plays aac files?

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita.../dp/B0010TZR44

[cracka]

Originally Posted by john970

Anyone know if the ipod/usb option plays aac files?

Yessir... mp3, aac, and wma audio files, m3u playlists.

Reference:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...6&postcount=82

[Dr. No]

Test any USB device you want to buy first if you can. I have an old 60gb handy-drive HDD and it does not get enough power trough the USB to start.

Newer USB powered HD drives require less power to operate and I almost sure they will work, but do not forget that the USB port in the E82 is designed for USB sticks and battery powered MP3 players.

[john970]

USB spec is 500mA @ 5 volts = 2.5 watts (or better), which not all devices meet but most exceed. It takes between 2 and 6 watts to power a 2.5" drive/enclosure, most of them are around 3.

So that is a roundabout way of saying I agree with you, it would be nice to see what the port actually outputs. I would expect over 5 watts.

Here's power consumtion for a bunch of 2.5" drives:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/...r_requirements

[larryn]

I bought a 160gb western digital portable HDD that is USB powered from newegg.com for $55 a few weeks ago on sale.

I already have 100gb on it, and converted all of my AAC files to MP3, created a bunch of playlist files, and have sub-directories for me, my wife, and each of my daughters.

I did not want to leave or forget my iPod in my car, or have to bother with plugging/unplugging it every time I get in the car. The only thing I want to try to work out is to figure out of there's a way to synch the HDD, like an iPod works, adding only new files. Other than that, the HDD stays in the car.

[larryn]

I found an interesting quote at e90post mentioning the shortfalls of iPod integration, compared to a HDD:

I can confirm that with an Ipod when you hit the next button it doesnt go to the next random song but goes to the next one in the list.

However, I can say that with a portable HDD like a western digital passport it does indeed choose the next random song when you skip ahead.

Another annoyance with the ipod was that if you stopped the car when you restarted the playlist would only show the current song not all the others - with an HDD you get the whole list back.

[john970]

Originally Posted by larryn

I bought a 160gb western digital portable HDD that is USB powered from newegg.com for $55 a few weeks ago on sale.

I already have 100gb on it, and converted all of my AAC files to MP3, created a bunch of playlist files, and have sub-directories for me, my wife, and each of my daughters.

I did not want to leave or forget my iPod in my car, or have to bother with plugging/unplugging it every time I get in the car. The only thing I want to try to work out is to figure out of there's a way to synch the HDD, like an iPod works, adding only new files. Other than that, the HDD stays in the car.

Why did you convert from aac to mp3? the bimmer plays aac.

You can get a file utility to sync the files, or on a mac just sync the files w/ the OS.

[john970]

I can confirm that with an Ipod when you hit the next button it doesnt go to the next random song but goes to the next one in the list.

However, I can say that with a portable HDD like a western digital passport it does indeed choose the next random song when you skip ahead.

Another annoyance with the ipod was that if you stopped the car when you restarted the playlist would only show the current song not all the others - with an HDD you get the whole list back.

Sounds like this guy doesn't have iDrive... I would imagine there is a shuffle setting for the ipod as well. My hunch is this guy needs to RTFM.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by john970

Sounds like this guy doesn't have iDrive... I would imagine there is a shuffle setting for the ipod as well. My hunch is this guy needs to RTFM.

He does have iDrive. I think the onboard controls in the car cannot access the "random next song", like it can when you have usb storage.

By the way, I noticed the AAC file support after I converted.. go figure!

[john970]

Originally Posted by larryn

By the way, I noticed the AAC file support after I converted.. go figure!

oops! that must have taken awhile. i'd trash the mp3s and start over with the aac's, you lose a lot of quality in the transcode.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by john970

oops! that must have taken awhile. i'd trash the mp3s and start over with the aac's, you lose a lot of quality in the transcode.

I reconverted/ripped from the CDs in 320 VBR. Pretty sure I'll be okay, but it took a while - I had about 70 CDs that I had to re-rip. I wouldn't convert the AACs directly to MP3s.. that's double compression data loss...

[john970]

Originally Posted by larryn

I reconverted/ripped from the CDs in 320 VBR. Pretty sure I'll be okay, but it took a while - I had about 70 CDs that I had to re-rip. I wouldn't convert the AACs directly to MP3s.. that's double compression data loss...

Yep, I assumed you converted. Thats a lot of drive stuffing...

Out of curiosity, what encoder did you use? I use 256kbps aac using the itunes encoder. I considered using apple lossless for everything and keeping a 256kbps copy for ipods, etc. but it was too much of a pain.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by john970

Yep, I assumed you converted. Thats a lot of drive stuffing...

Out of curiosity, what encoder did you use? I use 256kbps aac using the itunes encoder. I considered using apple lossless for everything and keeping a 256kbps copy for ipods, etc. but it was too much of a pain.

I used winamp. Plugged in a USB dvd drive, and ripped from 3 sources simultaneously (I have two on board).

[john970]

Just looked at the training guide recently posted and the port does indeed provide 500mA of power (@ 5V = 2.5 Watts), so make sure your usb mass storage devices don't draw more than that. This rules out 3.5" desktop sized usb hard drives and many 2.5" drives.

FYI, iPods use 1.8" drives or flash memory and all current 1.8" drives are under 2.5 Watts.

Here's a great (and brand new) review of portable usb drives:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/...age_redefined/

[john970]

larryn (or anyone with a usb drive), does you drive need a power adapter? also do alc files play?

[larryn]

WD drive didn't work. Blue light blink. I ordered a power adapter, but it was backordered. bummer... When the adapter comes in, I'll try some different formats, though I've never heard of an alc file.

[Stew]

Originally Posted by john970

USB spec is 500mA @ 5 volts = 2.5 watts (or better), which not all devices meet but most exceed. It takes between 2 and 6 watts to power a 2.5" drive/enclosure, most of them are around 3.

So that is a roundabout way of saying I agree with you, it would be nice to see what the port actually outputs. I would expect over 5 watts.

Here's power consumtion for a bunch of 2.5" drives:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/...r_requirements

Great link, but all of those are internal HDs I think, and are not USB powered. I believe the WD HDs like larryn's are 5 watts, I found a spec sheet and posted it in another thread...where will the power adapter plug into? the cig lighter? The power adapter for the WD HD I saw was basically a USB Y cable...I hope I can find ~100 GB USB HD that works, would be easier than an ipod. I did some more research, and found this Buffalo MiniStation TurboUSB HD, it says it ranges from 120 -500GB and uses 2.5W MAX power (DC5V provided through the USB). This looks like the best chance to have a USB HD w/o extra power adapters. Has anyone found an external HD that would work with the car radio usb with out a power adapter?

[Impulse]

I'm gonna pick up a 16gb thumb drive to try first

[Stew]

Originally Posted by Impulse

I'm gonna pick up a 16gb thumb drive to try first

Thumb drives will work for sure, I really want to find a USB HD that works tho

[john970]

Originally Posted by Stew

Great link, but all of those are internal HDs I think, and are not USB powered. I believe the WD HDs like larryn's are 5 watts, I found a spec sheet and posted it in another thread...where will the power adapter plug into? the cig lighter? The power adapter for the WD HD I saw was basically a USB Y cable...I hope I can find ~100 GB USB HD that works, would be easier than an ipod. I did some more research, and found this Buffalo MiniStation TurboUSB HD, it says it ranges from 120 -500GB and uses 2.5W MAX power (DC5V provided through the USB). This looks like the best chance to have a USB HD w/o extra power adapters. Has anyone found an external HD that would work with the car radio usb with out a power adapter?

USB hard drives are just an inexpensive USB enclosure with one of the above drives inside. No hard drives have a native USB interface.

Should have stated that, sorry.

[mrug]

I have both a thumb drive and a 2.5" 80 GB HDD

Anyone notice these problems?

1) Car is running, songs are playing fine.
Then...Turn off radio, Lock car.
Later...Start car \ radio and you find that the USB device is no longer recognized - device power light is on. If you press the USB button however it doesn't work.

The only solution seems to be to unplug the device and then plug it back in. This happens about 75% of the time. In the case of the HDD it takes more than 1 minutes for the "LOADING..." process to finish.

2) Playlists (M3U) on the HDD don't show up in the car until after about 1 hour of driving. I assume it is scanning the drive for playlists while I'm driving?

Note: I only have about 9 GB of content organized like this...RootFolder\Artist\Title

Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make this more reliable? Has anyone else noticed this? Should I just use an iPod instead of an HDD?

Thanks,
Michael

[mrug]

Moving to a new thread since this is kind of a new topic.
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...244#post128244

Thx,
Michael