USB Head Unit Question

[powder21]

OK...new question. I haven't shopped for a new deck since the days of cd-changers, so please forgive me for asking what may seem like stupid questions.

Something that I'm just starting to realize is that alot of these new decks that come with a USB port, while saying they're compatible with iPods, they also say "any USB memory device". If I were to get one of these decks, does that mean I can simply plug in a thumb drive with my music on it and the deck will play it?

The whole reason I was going to get an mp3 player was for my car and only my car since my portable music is on my cell phone. If I can just plug in my database on a thumb drive and use the deck as the actual mp3 player it will eliminate a good deal of cost.

Please let me know. Thanks.

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[tez4life Premium Member]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. All the usb heads can handle a thumb or jump drive loaded with mp3s. I have a Pioneer 6000UB and it handles my Kingston 1g thumb drive with ease.

 

[powder21]

Awesome! Thanks man...this is gonna save me some cash!

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[tez4life Premium Member]

Cool, the way gas is now a days, thats a plus for anyone, have fun. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Kai Winters 10+ year member]

tez4life is correct and it makes song searching so much easier.

Couple things to keep in mind. Older usb drives came with a program called "uE" installed. It is for computers and if installed on the usb drive makes it unreadable by auto hu's. There is a program available at uE.com to remove it...it is easy and takes seconds but can be a pain in the *** if you are not aware of it.

Also the newest usb drives...specifically the PNY Optima Pro...may not work in all hu's. My JVC KD-AR770...2006 model...could not run it but ran all my older usb drives...while my Alpine iDA-x001 runs it flawlessly. I am not sure why this is so. Possibly the new PNY is much higher speed than the old drives.

Today, at Staples, you can get a 4gb PNY drive for $20 and a 8gb PNY for $30. This is a great price for a lot of music storage.

Make sure the hu will run the usb/hdd drive you want before purchasing so no unhappy surprises. Most of todays hu's that offer usb/ipod connectivity also use "full speed" accessing which is much better than old units offerings.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[MrMckie 10+ year member]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head. All the usb heads can handle a thumb or jump drive loaded with mp3s. I have a Pioneer 6000UB and it handles my Kingston 1g thumb drive with ease.

x2..i have a 4gb thumb pluged in at all times...if you have music on your phone you can get the 7000 and use the bluetoothto play the music ...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif