[rogerxp]

Linked to my other thread, the QQ+2 is fully USB/AUX/iPod functioning so would like to get some form of storage to live in the car.

I'm guessing I'll need 60gb to really futureproof myself, but reckon 40gb would be absolutely fine also, but don't know whether there is any benefit in getting a USB over an iPod.

I've got an iPod that lives in the Zed (bought a used 80gb classic from ebay ages ago) and it works a treat. All track listings displayed on screen with album covers and stuff - would this level of detail be replicated with a USB stick???

I appreciate I'm talking about Nissan software here that you're probably not familiar with but just wondered from general experience. Would a USB stick still be able to contain the same level of detail that would be on an iPod or would it simply be the music & tracklisting???

The benefit of a USB stick is I can quite easily dump the cost through work (back-up anyone )

[TMP]

USB stick should work fine fella.

Why dont you test one of your 4Gb ones to make sure, and then yeah buy a Mahoosive one for backups

[pani_K3]

I'm not sure if this sweeping generalization will apply to every audio interface but cars equipped with USB and/or iPod connectivity essentially see a hard drive with MP3 tracks stored on them and play them. The titles that you see scrolling on the display are part of the MP3 file integration and are embedded in the files so to my mind it should make no difference if you stick a USB in there it should still function the same. Some audio interfaces do have separate "iPod" connectivity but the basis on which they work is the same.

In my Focus I have a Pioneer 9800-BT Unit and has ipod, USB and Bluetooth audio connectivity. I simply use my Blackberry to stream my music off it via Bluetooth so job done no need for an iPod or USB or anything but I simply think that both the iPod and USB connectivity ports are simply for ease of connectivity and functionality should be virtually identical especially where the display of songs titles and artists are concerned because these are part of the mp3 file coding and not because of the audio connectivity features.

[rogerxp]

Originally Posted by TMP

USB stick should work fine fella.

Why dont you test one of your 4Gb ones to make sure, and then yeah buy a Mahoosive one for backups

Good idea fella. Leads me to the next question, how do I get itunes music onto a USB stick, or is it as simple as copy the itunes folder (album folder) over and hey presto???

Originally Posted by pani_K3

I'm not sure if this sweeping generalization will apply to every audio interface but cars equipped with USB and/or iPod connectivity essentially see a hard drive with MP3 tracks stored on them and play them. The titles that you see scrolling on the display are part of the MP3 file integration and are embedded in the files so to my mind it should make no difference if you stick a USB in there it should still function the same. Some audio interfaces do have separate "iPod" connectivity but the basis on which they work is the same.

In my Focus I have a Pioneer 9800-BT Unit and has ipod, USB and Bluetooth audio connectivity. I simply use my Blackberry to stream my music off it via Bluetooth so job done no need for an iPod or USB or anything but I simply think that both the iPod and USB connectivity ports are simply for ease of connectivity and functionality should be virtually identical especially where the display of songs titles and artists are concerned because these are part of the mp3 file coding and not because of the audio connectivity features.

Thanks. Any thoughts on the album cover being displayed?? Is that an Apple thing so simply copying the MP3 file over won't also bring the album cover??? Not that this is a vital factor in my decision .

[rich1068]

I think the headunit has to be capable of that. Any mention of it in the handbook? If the album art is embedded into the mp3 file and the unit is capable then it should show regardless of what storage you're using.

Sorry that's one of those 'I know what I mean' posts

[BanziBarn]

One thing I'd check is whether the car navigates through your music via a windows folder structure, or whether the car uses the data stored within the music files themselves (or both)?

If it only uses the so called ID tags within the music files then you need to make sure that all the music has up to date and correct tags. This could depend on where you get the music from.

For me, I got a lot of my MP3s back on the 90s when it was all quite new and I had not idea back then that there was any info other than just the file name to tell you the artist, song and album name. As a result, my collection was a mess and if played it on a machine which did not allow me to manually navigate the windows folder structure I wouldn't be able to find any of my songs!

I've now go through every song and edited all the tags so they have Album, Artist, Album artist and song title info within them - for a modern player/car, this is important because it enables you to play all songs from a certain artist across multiple albums for example.

On the Bimmer though, you do also have the ability to browse the collection via windows folder. This is still useful because on my car at least, because I have 32gb of tunes on a stick, the car needs 5 minutes each time I turn it on to index every single song to allow it to be able to select music using the built-in ID tags.

While it is doing this however, I can still select music via the folder structure so can get the tunes on straight away!

[kaishang]

Banzil, I wonder if you can use a high speed SD card+USB card reader instead of a USB stick to speed it up.

USB sticks do not have fast data transfer rates.

[BanziBarn]

Originally Posted by kaishang

Banzil, I wonder if you can use a high speed SD card+USB card reader instead of a USB stick to speed it up.

USB sticks do not have fast data transfer rates.

Good idea, not thought about that. It would be good to get things to run faster.

Problem is, I don't want to spend money on a setup, only to find it doesn't work.

So don't any sticks keep up with card readers in terms of speed then?

[rogerxp]

Good input chaps. Thanks.

From my very quick glance over the booklet it seemed to have diagrams of a windows based system running in the background but I don't know for certain.

I'll do as Tim says and bang a couple of albums on my own 8gb USB stick and see what happens. How do I physically do this though - do I simply find my music folder within itune and copy & paste each album folder over to the USB or do I 'officially' need to export them???

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by kaishang

Banzil, I wonder if you can use a high speed SD card+USB card reader instead of a USB stick to speed it up.

USB sticks do not have fast data transfer rates.

Actually that's a bloody good idea with all sorts of applications. I get frustrated waiting for USB transfers of large files and hadn't thought of that. I'd actually been looking at adding USB3 to my desktop.

Nice one kaishang Off to eBuyer now to see if such a thing exists...

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

I'll do as Tim says and bang a couple of albums on my own 8gb USB stick and see what happens. How do I physically do this though - do I simply find my music folder within itune and copy & paste each album folder over to the USB or do I 'officially' need to export them???

If your iTunes music is physically on your PC then yes, copy/paste will do it. Check what file format the car supports though first. It should say in the handbook. Probably drives formatted FAT32.

And once you put them on the drive you can also see whether there is embedded album art for each track using the preview in Explorer.

[BanziBarn]

Originally Posted by rogerxp

Good input chaps. Thanks.

From my very quick glance over the booklet it seemed to have diagrams of a windows based system running in the background but I don't know for certain.

I'll do as Tim says and bang a couple of albums on my own 8gb USB stick and see what happens. How do I physically do this though - do I simply find my music folder within itune and copy & paste each album folder over to the USB or do I 'officially' need to export them???

Yeah, a copy any paste should work - however, I don't know how the car will cope with any DRM protection the songs might have in them. I wouldn't be surprised if they simply won't play on anything other than an IPOD..... Bloody Apple!!

However, if they do play, and of the car uses a simple windows folder system, then finding your tunes could be interesting because Itunes normally physically moves and sorts the MP3 files on your PC into it's own structure.

But, things should still be in some kind of logical order, if not the way that a person might do it!

[rich1068]

There shouldn't be any DRM. I think Apple dropped that a while ago.

And they should just be in Apple/Itunes/Music or somesuch. They are on my PC.

[kaishang]

I bought a Sandisk Extreme Pro (or something name like that) with a 95MB/sec transfer rate for my dSLR.

USB sticks are dirt cheap, which indicates to me they are slow, since you can also buy SD cards with slow transfer rates a lot cheaper than I paid for that SD card.

Although it will also depend on the speed of the in-car USB slot. If BMW don't change their hardware often and it is USB1.1 it will still be sloooooooow.

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by rich1068

Actually that's a bloody good idea with all sorts of applications. I get frustrated waiting for USB transfers of large files and hadn't thought of that. I'd actually been looking at adding USB3 to my desktop.

Nice one kaishang Off to eBuyer now to see if such a thing exists...

I've just realised how dumb my response was. One of those lightbulb moments

I could have storage based on invisible neutrinos travelling at three times the speed of light but if it has to go via USB2.0 then it will transfer at the speed of USB2.0