Portable hard drive + stereo

[simke 0]

Here is an idea if you're looking to buy a new stereo...

Today I finally got around to buying an extarnal USB hard drive, which I have now hooked up to the stereo.

120GB of space, so I can finally say goodbye to CD-swapping:) And it fits nicely in the glovebox.

One gotcha - your stereo will most likely only read FAT32 file system, which means max partition size of 32GB.

So I created one 32GB partition for music, and another one to fill up the rest of the hard drive - useful if I need to use the hard drvie for something else as well. If you need more than 32GB of space for your music, you can create multiple FAT32 partitions.

[Creaver 55]

I've been meaning to do this for some time. Where does the USB cable plug into? It doesnt appear to be plugged into the front of the headunit.

Ian.

[simke 0]

I've been meaning to do this for some time. Where does the USB cable plug into? It doesnt appear to be plugged into the front of the headunit.

Ian.

This unit has a USB port at the back, so the cable goes from the back of the unit into the glove box. This is better approach than having the USB at the front, since you don't get any cables hanging around.

[Five Star 0]

Ipod + ipod compatible unit?

[simke 0]

Ipod + ipod compatible unit?

This is iPod compatible unit, but this is not via iPod controler. Just a simple USB cable, the unit has the ability to read music files from anything that is plugged into USB (memorey sticks, hard drives).

To listen to iPod, I'd still need the iPod controller cable. Costs around $80 I think.

[OLLIE 26]

i like this set up - a very nice solution and not horrendously expensive.

now if your head unit had wifi and when it was parked in your garage you could drag music onto it's hard disc - that would be cool!

[BM WORLD 1258]

just done a similer thing to my e28 .(and yet to fit another to my e36)

jvc head unit

HDD

have a jvc unit with a 160GB hdd , has a usb cable with socket hanging out the back so i just plug in the portable hdd in the glove box , loads of uncompressed music .

i have always had 6,10or 12disc cd changers in all my cars with a tape radio up front , but this is way better.

can have my whole cd collection (and some others) stored in each car , no need to muck around swapping cds (which i never got around to doing ).

also has blue tooth , so can do hands free calling and music form my cell phone.

if anyone wants one of these car stereo's call me .

i sell them at my work ,

brougt a couple in at realy good prices , also have some other cheaper models , with usb socket in the front , ipod control cable and blue tooth stuff .

021433600

[Driftit 1948]

How quick are they to start playing a song. A mates one take nearly 5 seconds to change song then another couple of seconds to display what song it is. Makes it a real pain in the ass when you want to skip through some songs or are looking for one in particular and you have to wait 7+ seconds to find out what song your on each time.

If its instant like on a PC then I could be keen.

[simke 0]

How quick are they to start playing a song. A mates one take nearly 5 seconds to change song then another couple of seconds to display what song it is. Makes it a real pain in the ass when you want to skip through some songs or are looking for one in particular and you have to wait 7+ seconds to find out what song your on each time.

If its instant like on a PC then I could be keen.

I guess that depends on the stereo, my one takes maybe 5 or so sec to start reading off hard drive when first started, but everything after that is smooth, no delays when skipping songs, displaying titles, etc.

[jjs 60]

My god. You guys will have enough music to listen to a different song everytime you drive your car for the rest of your life!!!!

Where do you get 100+ gigs worth of songs from?

[BM WORLD 1258]

I guess that depends on the stereo, my one takes maybe 5 or so sec to start reading off hard drive when first started, but everything after that is smooth, no delays when skipping songs, displaying titles, etc.

same takes a little longer to start than my old cd changer when fisrt turning key on , but then its quicker than the cd to select tracks albums etc .

My god. You guys will have enough music to listen to a different song everytime you drive your car for the rest of your life!!!!

its more about not having to take my cd's with me and always listening to the same music , beacuse i havn't changed the cd cartridge full of discs .

Where do you get 100+ gigs worth of songs from?

no i dont have that many either . about 100 albums is about 65Gb of incompressed music the rest , well maybe back up for photo's stored on the pc etc .

[Five Star 0]

Is it hard to choose a song? With a good HU ipods are amazing.

And don't settle for anything less than uncompressed music.

[simke 0]

Is it hard to choose a song? With a good HU ipods are amazing.

And don't settle for anything less than uncompressed music.

Depends what the navigation is like on a stereo, but on my one I can browse folders relitevely quickly, so it makes the whole thing easier.

[aaronmartin 0]

This is iPod compatible unit, but this is not via iPod controler. Just a simple USB cable, the unit has the ability to read music files from anything that is plugged into USB (memorey sticks, hard drives).

To listen to iPod, I'd still need the iPod controller cable. Costs around $80 I think.

My wife has exactly the same unit in her car (Pioneer DEH-7950UB) and it is a Ipod controller, thats why I bought it! When the Ipod is connected to the USB cable, I can then select from songs, artists, genre, playlist etc on the head unit. We mostly use it either playing Playlists that we have created in Itunes, or on Shuffle All mode.

Pioneers own documentation even says "Direct iPod Control allows access to your music stored on Apple iPod players"

We only had to buy the head unit itself, no additional Ipod Controller cable.

[m325i 705]

Where do you get 100+ gigs worth of songs from?

itunes store. 100gb = 15,000 songs @ $1.50 each is only ~$23,000 worth.

Or you could risk jail and steal it all....

[Five Star 0]

I wouldn't settle for anything less than lossless. And just use cds and steal your mates music

I've heard very good things about ipod + alpine, not so much about pioneer.

[bravo 34]

Which lossless format do you use?

What ripping software?

Want to do this for my car, and have been meaning to re-rip from my CD's for some time as all my music is low-qual mp3 from back in the day when HDD space was expensive.

[Grant 4]

I have a question about the use of a portable HDD?

I thought about this a while back, and the reson I never pursued it any further (and just use my ipod/Sony head deck combo) is that I thought that a HDD would not handle the vibration/bumps that you would get while driving, and that the chance of a HDD failure would be pretty high. Is my train of thought a load of bollocks (I'm not saying it isn't - I know very little about this subject)?

I am happy though with the the way I went as the Sony/ipod combination seems to work well (the Sony interface is pretty clumsy, but I normally play from set playlists anyway).

Cheers

Grant

[simke 0]

I have a question about the use of a portable HDD?

I thought about this a while back, and the reson I never pursued it any further (and just use my ipod/Sony head deck combo) is that I thought that a HDD would not handle the vibration/bumps that you would get while driving, and that the chance of a HDD failure would be pretty high. Is my train of thought a load of bollocks (I'm not saying it isn't - I know very little about this subject)?

I am happy though with the the way I went as the Sony/ipod combination seems to work well (the Sony interface is pretty clumsy, but I normally play from set playlists anyway).

Cheers

Grant

Portable hard drives nowdays are built tough, so I don't think you need to worry about failures. For example, my iPod which has 20GB hard drive is almost 3 years old, has been dropped onto a concrete floor a few times, I carry it around with me every day, never had a HDD problem.

[CamB 48]

Ipod has shock protection on the HDD - not sure about some of those other ones.

Insisting on loss-less to listen in the car is a bit precious. Fine at home, fine on personal stereo (if you've got good headphones), but it is highly unlikely you can hear the difference at 50kph through ANY car stereo (no matter how carefully put together).

[simke 0]

Insisting on loss-less to listen in the car is a bit precious. Fine at home, fine on personal stereo (if you've got good headphones), but it is highly unlikely you can hear the difference at 50kph through ANY car stereo (no matter how carefully put together).

Agree with this. MP3s ripped to 360kbps should be more than good for in-car listening.

[Apex 693]

One of these

+ one of these

+ one of these

Works well for me. Sounds awesome threw my Amped 300 watt Components, only problem I have is bass Fluxuation when im on a shuffled list. But adjusting the sub level is easy enough.

[Five Star 0]

For my lossless I just use apple lossless(too lazy to look elsewhere), I've got a big HDD so it's worth it.

And anything less than CD quality is a waste with a decent setup.

Edit - And ever wondered why dynamat is so popular overseas? You can still have a SQ setup at 50 kph

Edited May 8, 2008 by Five Star

[scotty 0]

Solution: Get an external HDD with a network plug, A DC-AC converter and a wireless router

i like this set up - a very nice solution and not horrendously expensive.

now if your head unit had wifi and when it was parked in your garage you could drag music onto it's hard disc - that would be cool!

[AlienEclipse 0]

Ever looked into having a carpc?

mp3car.com

Mines been in nearly a year and has been great. Have my entire music collection at my finger tips or voice!