MP3s in the ride

What's my best way to get manageable tunes in my ride?

I used to have an iPod and the only time I used it was in the car, so I'm not too keen on spending $200 or more for an iPod if I don't need the portability.

I do like the easy-to-use iTunes for playlists.

I can do a flash drive, but I've yet to find software that makes it as easy to navigate as iTunes.

I basically want to put a 120g solid state drive or flash drive permanently under the dash somewhere that lets me do playlists. I can plug it into the rear USB and have access to 120g of music whenever I want.

Ideas? Software that lets me do easy-to-operate menu trees and playlists?

Oh... also, is there a good MP3 conversion software? I have a ton of music on an old HD but some of it was imported with iTunes in weird formats/protected write.

Audacity for the converter.

I use my phone as an MP3 player. Got the cheapest radio I could with an AUX port.

I recently converted all the DRM-free iTunes I had this way: 30 day free trial. It didn't take long to drag-n-drop, but the conversion took a few hours.

Hit up CL for iPod Classics. For your purposes, a 4G iPod whose battery is kaput is probably perfect. Combine with any one of the iPod-ready head units out there, and you're done. Example from my local CL - http://richmond.craigslist.org/ele/3079959690.html

RealMiniDriver wrote: I recently converted all the DRM-free iTunes I had this way: 30 day free trial. It didn't take long to drag-n-drop, but the conversion took a few hours.

I like it... I'll give it a try.

szeis4cookie wrote: Hit up CL for iPod Classics. For your purposes, a 4G iPod whose battery is kaput is probably perfect. Combine with any one of the iPod-ready head units out there, and you're done. Example from my local CL - http://richmond.craigslist.org/ele/3079959690.html

I agree... but I easily have 100g or more of MP3s. I'm talking like everything worth listening to since the 1300's. I spent 10 years gathering kick-ass music on this HD.

Somebody made a 200 GB iPod Nano. I've actually seen this done with other iPods as well. I never understood why until realizing that a person could install this in a car. Could be a great way to get your entire music library into your car.

In reply to curtis73:

The earlier iPods are easier to get apart than the later ones. I believe that it's possible to replace the HD in it with something bigger...although I have not ever actually tried it.

Also, I believe it is possible to find at least a 160gb classic, if not a 250gb...so you may not even have to go that far.

I've got a 1.5 tb portable hd, I'm wondering if one of those stereos with the usb dealie can go in and find my music and play it all.

Cause my Zune isn't exactly reliable anymore and it's full anyways.

I made an MP3 CD for my car, but I've only done it once and cant remember how to do it properly. The CDs I make never work. You can fit 5 for every 1 wav file.

Grizz wrote: I've got a 1.5 tb portable hd, I'm wondering if one of those stereos with the usb dealie can go in and find my music and play it all. Cause my Zune isn't exactly reliable anymore and it's full anyways.

Please try it and let us know, that is a pretty interesting idea,

I figure I'll try it at walmart or something. They might get mad at me, but I doubt it.

most head units that have an usb/flash drive connection have the ability to navigate through folders/files using the dash controls, but it's often awkward. I'm not sure any of them have the ability to seek out music files, but id=f you put them all in a single folder (with sub folders by artist or genre or whatever you want) you should be able to plug in the 1.5tb drive and easily find the tunes.

That's what it is, one biggun marked music. I generally just shuffle all with my music anyway.

Grizz wrote: That's what it is, one biggun marked music. I generally just shuffle all with my music anyway.

I suggest going through and making sure all of your files are named appropriately, making things a lot easier to find and i.d.
most HU's will navigate by folders and subfolders, and randomize, but if they display track names it bothers me to show something like 2189skjskl.mp3 instead of what the song is. lol

a few years ago, i got a cheap Sony Explod stereo with a usb port on it. came with 2 speakers for $120 at Wal Mart. i put all the mp3's i'll ever listen to on a given trip onto a 2GB thumb drive and find it to be pretty convenient and easy to navigate as long as i format the song titles properly.. i've since upgraded to a 16GB thumb drive, which is more than enough for me.

I think I'm sitting at 160ish gigs of music, if not more. I don't know how folks can stand listening to the same 2500 songs over and over, cause I know I couldn't. It's the reason I upgraded to a 120 from a 16.

Grizz wrote: I think I'm sitting at 160ish gigs of music, if not more. I don't know how folks can stand listening to the same 2500 songs over and over, cause I know I couldn't. It's the reason I upgraded to a 120 from a 16.

That's why I have Sirius in the car. I only use my mp3 player (Creative Zen Mosaic) for cycling/workouts/mowing lawn. It gets stale pretty quickly and I only have about 4gig on there.

Anyway, cheapie 8 gig mp3 player: $60 (mine was $40 refurb on Amazon)

FM transmitter: $30-50

mp3 in car--done.

gamby wrote: FM transmitter: $30-50 mp3 in car--done.

I have done that several times with even high-quality FM transmitters. I would rather stick an icepick through my eye than do that ever again... constant searching for a clean frequency, massive loss of dB, low quality stuff, then god forbid you bump the plug and disconnect it sending a few trillion dB of white noise to your head because the radio volume is maxed out.

No thanks.

Grizz wrote: I've got a 1.5 tb portable hd, I'm wondering if one of those stereos with the usb dealie can go in and find my music and play it all. Cause my Zune isn't exactly reliable anymore and it's full anyways.

I've heard that it has to be a solid state drive or a flash drive. The constant on-off makes a standard drum HD go belly up in not too long. The old iPods could get away with it because they had onboard software and their own battery to control things.

Supposedly, they will work fine as far as playing the music. Most stereos can read up to 999 folders and somewhere in the range of 256 files per folder.

curtis73 wrote:

gamby wrote: FM transmitter: $30-50 mp3 in car--done.

I have done that several times with even high-quality FM transmitters. I would rather stick an icepick through my eye than do that ever again... constant searching for a clean frequency, massive loss of dB, low quality stuff, then god forbid you bump the plug and disconnect it sending a few trillion dB of white noise to your head because the radio volume is maxed out. No thanks.

Hmm...

set to 88.5, 5-hour round trip road trip last weekend, interference for about 5 minutes total.

gamby wrote: set to 88.5, 5-hour round trip road trip last weekend, interference for about 5 minutes total.

The quality is still GARBAGE though, even on $100+ units. And 88.5 might work for you if you live in the middle of nowhere...

curtis73 wrote: I can do a flash drive, but I've yet to find software that makes it as easy to navigate as iTunes.

Wait, you'd rather use iTunes to organize your music? Are you insane?

In all seriousness, get a CD player with a USB port and get a small-form-factor USB drive with 16 GB or so. This is the one I put in my beater Toyolla. It works well. The music is easy to scroll through if you organize songs by artists (first level folders) and then by CD (second level folders). As an added feature, this radio comes with built-in HD radio.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KDHDR70/JVC-KD-HDR70.html?tp=5684

I used stereos with an aux input. Get a male to male cable and use the mp3 player of your choice. I've used old iPod's, phones, a discman back in the day..anything with a headphone jack will do.