Alpine iDA-X200 with 320 gig External HD

[gbryant 10+ year member]

I just installed the Alpine iDA-X200 with an external usb 320 gig hard drive. I don't use an ipod. I used Windows Media Player to rip cd's directly to the hard drive... it put each cd into its' own folder. The Alpine only recognizes 5 of the folders. ???? Do I have to put all my music into 5 or less folders? Or should I use ipod pc software?

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[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Hmmm I do not understand why it will not work.

I have fifty or so folders, each cd in its' own folder, on a WD Passport 160 gb hdd on my x001 and it works fine, though slower than a usb drive.

I did not use Media Player to move the folders. I used MP to rip the cd's to my computer's hdd and did the old copy/paste to the folders/files.

Perhaps you have to play around with the files/folders to find what works best.

What does the owner's manual say about its' file/folder structure for your x200?

 

[gbryant 10+ year member]

This is my first try at messin with mp3's... I've just carried cd's until now. I tried using the pc in the chain... but I still can't get to everything from the car deck.

How long does this 'indexing' take? Maybe I'm not waiting long enough for that to happen.

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

It takes around 20 seconds before my hu reads the hdd. My hdd has 44gb of folders/files on it. It can handle 160gb.

You have not said how long it took to read the 5 folders you mention.

I am not sure if your x200, or my x001 for that matter, is capable of powering a 320gb hard drive.

I normally prefer to use one of my 8gb usb drives. They are read much, much faster that the hdd and I find it much less a distraction when driving lol..."what to listen to...so many choices".

I use the mp3/320bps format for my music...works fine to my ears.

 

[gbryant 10+ year member]

First , thanks for the reply.

I am trading up to the 001 for two reasons... yours works and I like the graphical interface better. The HDD was working, so I think it is powered OK, I just couldn't read all the albums.

BUT, I formatted the HDD and now all I get is "device error". What format should I use?

Thanks

 

[gbryant 10+ year member]

I just realized Alpine makes an x100 and an x001. You have the 001. The only difference I could see in the specs is built in sat and 45w instead of 50w. ???

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

The x001 is last years model and can be had for less the the newer '08, x100. I do not really see much of a difference between the two other than cost. The x001 can be had for around $270ish while the x100 is around $399.

The x001 comes with cables for a usb drive and ipod so no extra cost if you ever want to go the ipod route. If you use an ipod you do get the album art on the display for songs...but no album art using a usb or hdd drive...boo! You can also make custom pics for the display which is a cool feature but not that big a whoop after the first day lol.

Neither have the tunability of the 9887 but I have not found that to be that big a deal. I am very happy with my x001 and its' features and sound.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[ccotenj 10+ year member]

fwiw, i have a x001 in one car and a x100 in another...

i've only had the x100 for a few weeks, so there may be a couple things i'm missing, but here goes... the only "big" ui difference is with the knob... when you push it, it acts as the "enter" button rather than the "search" button (which is nice), and that it rotates all the way around... there's a few other minor differences on the ui end, but nothing really major... ipod interface works the same... color is different... presets are still a pita... if you add the hd radio option, it allows you to "tag" songs for a later download (gimmick, imo, if i liked something enough to tag it, i think i could probably remember to get it later //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )... there's probably a few more things, but i can't think of them off the top of my head...

fwiw, both are "sat ready"...

the big advantage of the x100 is the ability to use the imprint add-on module, if you want to go in that direction (i did)... if you aren't going to do this, kai's suggestion of getting the x001 and saving the money is the direction to go...

ymmv.

ps. 320gigs? wow. i have enough trouble remembering what is on my 80gig ipod.

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

Just a suggestion to you guys head over to www.hydrogenaudio.org/

You will find great tutorials there for ripping MP3's with EAC and encoding them with Lame -v2 and -v0 presets which will give you smaller files with better sound quality then using media player crap...

With how popular MP3's in cars are becoming I am amazed something like this isnt stickied around here.

Do these HU's support any kind of lossless format's?

 

[ccotenj 10+ year member]

Just a suggestion to you guys head over to www.hydrogenaudio.org/

having been a long time hydrogenaudio member, i would agree that people should visit there...

some might have to check some long held beliefs at the door though... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Bun-Bun 10+ year member]

having been a long time hydrogenaudio member, i would agree that people should visit there...
some might have to check some long held beliefs at the door though... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

yeah I used to beleive that CD's were superior to MP3's bar none... then I learned how to rip MP3's properly //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Thanks for the info. I will check out the hydrigenaudio site.

 

[gbryant 10+ year member]

Thanks for everyones help. I ended up buying an Ipod 80gig. I really like the x100 display and integration with the ipod. I put my entire collection of cd's on the 80 gig. Guess 320gig was a bit much //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

I like the idea of "album art" for the ipod. That is a cool addition to the music. I wish they would have done that for the usb drive also...it is a conspiracy I say, a conspiracy...**** them apples lol.

Good for you. Enjoy.