unOfficial 2008 alpine iDA-X--- series HU thread

[palmfish 10+ year member]

I prefer a usb drive and use 2 8gb drives. One holds all my albums in their individual folders seperately while the other has several folders for "favorites hard rock, favorites soft rock, hard rock, lite rock and oldies, etc." I also create a seperate folder when going on a road trip with music tailored for the trip.

So Kai, have you noticed how your 8GB USB drives alphabetize your music?

Used 30gb iPods are selling for about $150 so I reconsidering getting a 16GB USB thumb drive for about half that and being done with it.

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Files are alphabetically ordered.

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Thanks Kai, that's what I thought.

Oh well, I've flip-flopped again. Last night I took JrVtecAccord's advice and bought a used 30GB iPod (5th gen) off eBay for $115.

I figured just the storage alone is worth about that right now.

The seamless integration (file system, cover art, etc.) with the X100 and ability to actually use it as a portable media player when I travel are simply icing on the cake.

What a fun little toy this X100 is turning out to be. So... does anyone know anything about XM radio? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/santa.gif.e1ec9cf2e0a0dd232ad35aa594a126d0.gif

 

[kovemaster559 5,000+ posts]

Nice head unit . The middle button is obnoxious!

 

[JrVtecAccord 10+ year member]

Thanks Kai, that's what I thought.
Oh well, I've flip-flopped again. Last night I took JrVtecAccord's advice and bought a used 30GB iPod (5th gen) off eBay for $115.

I figured just the storage alone is worth about that right now.

The seamless integration (file system, cover art, etc.) with the X100 and ability to actually use it as a portable media player when I travel are simply icing on the cake.

What a fun little toy this X100 is turning out to be. So... does anyone know anything about XM radio? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/santa.gif.e1ec9cf2e0a0dd232ad35aa594a126d0.gif

Are you going to use itunes to transfer music to the ipod? Like I mentioned earlier, try Mediamonkey, it syncs with the ipod seamlessly. From what I have been reading about using a HD with this HU, you will be much happier with the ipod as your storage solution.

 

[Reggie Lives 10+ year member]

Are you going to use itunes to transfer music to the ipod? Like I mentioned earlier, try Mediamonkey, it syncs with the ipod seamlessly. From what I have been reading about using a HD with this HU, you will be much happier with the ipod as your storage solution.

I *think* the issue with Alpine Headunits re-alphabetizing folders has to do with short and long file names. The unit only reads short filenames, but windows renames short filenames when they are moved to different locations.

There's a program out there called drivesort that will organize your thumb drive via their long file name, and create new alphabetized short file names. It's worked like a charm for me, and only takes 2 mins max.

PS I have the 9886, so take this with a grain of salt.

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

JrVtec - I did download iTunes and begin transferring my music into it. So far, I like the way it works and I look forward to experimenting with playlists and the other features. I will also check out Mediamonkey and see how I like it. Thanks.

Reggie - That's great info - and now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense.

 

[Reggie Lives 10+ year member]

http://www.anerty.net/software/file/DriveSort.php

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

Good for you Palmfish.

I like the idea of the album art for each song...very cool.

I may wind up popping for an ipod at some point.

My daughter loves her ipod and helping her set it up I found itunes to be quite easy and a decent program.

That drivesort is worth looking into. Thanks for the link.

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

Just installed it and tried it out. Drivesort works perfectly.

Darn it - now I may have to keep the HD and the iPod //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

As for iTunes, one thing I don't like is the ripping process. After a little experimenting, I prefer using WMP to rip and save an album in "My Music" and then importing it into iTunes manually.

I tried MediaMonkey but the webpage wouldn't load. I then downloaded version 3 from CNet and the installation failed due to some error. Maybe I'll try it again later...

 

[palmfish 10+ year member]

I have a few questions for you Apple/iPod experts (JrVtecAccord)...

1. I've tried importing compilation CD's into iTunes and instead of being listed as an album with the album title associated, the individual songs get spread out throughout the library. Is there a way to make iTunes keep this type of CD as a whole album?

2. Can I load lossless AAC files onto the iPod and then play them back through the X100 or is 320kbps the limit no matter what?

3. How come iTunes cannot find album art for some of my more common/mainstream albums, yet it has come through for a few of my older and more obscure albums? Are there other places where I can go online to download album cover art (that will display on the iPod and X100)?

4. I finally got MediaMonkey downloaded onto my laptop but I haven't played with it yet (it looks complicated). If I decide to use MediaMonkey instead of iTunes, does it also transfer cover art to the iPod and X100 just like iTunes? Will MediaMonkey allow me to import compilation CD's and keep them as a single album?

 

[XXVANN 10+ year member]

3. How come iTunes cannot find album art for some of my more common/mainstream albums, yet it has come through for a few of my older and more obscure albums? Are there other places where I can go online to download album cover art (that will display on the iPod and X100)?

I believe this is because iTunes is not in bed with particular artists, and therefore they do not have their music for sale. If not for sale then there will be no album art to download.

See: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061029051121AAnJFsZ

To fix this problem I just did a Google image search for each (ACDC) album and then dragged the art to iTunes.

 

[W8 a minute 10+ year member]

I have a few questions for you Apple/iPod experts (JrVtecAccord)...
1. I've tried importing compilation CD's into iTunes and instead of being listed as an album with the album title associated, the individual songs get spread out throughout the library. Is there a way to make iTunes keep this type of CD as a whole album?

3. How come iTunes cannot find album art for some of my more common/mainstream albums, yet it has come through for a few of my older and more obscure albums? Are there other places where I can go online to download album cover art (that will display on the iPod and X100)?

Both of these are related to "tagging"

If you don't have the proper tags then iTunes can't match them to anything be it another song from the same album or artwork on the internet.

But I think there is an option on the ipod itself to group by compilation. Again, your tags need to be correct. Just having the correct file name is not enough.

 

[JrVtecAccord 10+ year member]

I have a few questions for you Apple/iPod experts (JrVtecAccord)...
1. I've tried importing compilation CD's into iTunes and instead of being listed as an album with the album title associated, the individual songs get spread out throughout the library. Is there a way to make iTunes keep this type of CD as a whole album?

2. Can I load lossless AAC files onto the iPod and then play them back through the X100 or is 320kbps the limit no matter what?

3. How come iTunes cannot find album art for some of my more common/mainstream albums, yet it has come through for a few of my older and more obscure albums? Are there other places where I can go online to download album cover art (that will display on the iPod and X100)?

4. I finally got MediaMonkey downloaded onto my laptop but I haven't played with it yet (it looks complicated). If I decide to use MediaMonkey instead of iTunes, does it also transfer cover art to the iPod and X100 just like iTunes? Will MediaMonkey allow me to import compilation CD's and keep them as a single album?

1. I haven't used itunes, and I refuse to But in MM their is an option to group albums, such as you mentioned. Also, like someone stated, it's also relies on your ID3 tags. If you have the "ALBUM ARTIST" field with various artist, then the "ARTIST" with the individual artist that will work. That is how I organize my "various artist albums. I HIGHLY recommend editing your tags before you import them in to itunes or what ever music organizer you plan on using. I use MP3TAG (do a search on google, should be the first one that pops up)to edit my tags BEFORE importing the files to mediamonkey. I then use media monkey to insert album art, I just like using mediamonkey for album art because of the many options it gives you. (save to file location, save to IDTAG.....)

2. Not Sure

3. I don't use itunes

4. Yes & Yes, If you have trouble using MM, they have a GREAT forum on thier website.

If you have any questions regarding mediamonkey just let me know, I can call myself a poweruser It's really not complicated at all, just a slight learning curve. You can remove all unused icons and such to simplify your layout.

Here is an image of the way I have MM configured. Proper ID3 TAGS is the key!!