Ipod or USB Flash

[retsila]

Hopefully this hasn't already been covered, if so, sorry.

Reading a previous post about ipod issues, I thought I'd see if anyone had used both an Ipod & a usb Flash drive full of mp3's.

I get my car next week, & I have an ipod touch I can use in my car, however it usually sits at home in its tasty little b&w dock, so was thinking about getting a bigger flash drive and filling it up.

Can anyone who has used both, summarise the limitations of the flash option.

Cheers

Al

[Evil Derboy]

I have used both and prefer the flash option. I find navigating the ipod interface tiresome if you want to pick particular tracks. You have to hunt through Artist -> Album -> Track etc. With a flash drive I just stick a bunch of album folders on and select which one I want. So sadly the iPod stays in the house! I have three of the damn things and never use them.

As for limitations of the flash option... I can't say that there is any. The limitations seem to be more with the iPod. Also sometimes it seems to switch off and you need to unplug and re-plug back in. No such issues with my USB stick.

[retsila]

Cheers for the info mate.

Just the answer I was looking for. When you can get a decent 32 gig stick for about £30, doesn't seem much point going down the ipod route if the limitations are greater.

Obviously the decompression is done by the head unit instead of the ipod, but if it's half decent there shouldn't be any notable difference in sound quality.

[iAmbu]

All of my music tracks are in iTunes, including a large majority which are iTunes protected files which I have paid for from the iTunes Store - Does this rule out me using a USB flash drive?

[retboell]

I had to connect my iPhone to listen to music bought in iTunes. Tried the USB but without any luck.

I found it a bit annoying having to connect the iPhone on smaller trips, so I bought an older 30Gb iPod which is permanenly plugged in. My Scirocco now has its own iPod...

[Kev]

A USB drive will not play protected tracks.

I've actually switched back from USB to a refurbished nano which I got reasonably cheap on the apple store.

The main problems with a stick were that you couldn't arrange the music like you do on an ipod. You can copy playlists but if you want to keep the artist/album info in some order you cant then mix the play as it doesn't seem to be able to work around the folder hierarchy properly. So I ended up with it always playing in alphabetical order. Now you can kind of get round that but just having one folder of all the tracks but then if you have 2 tracks with the same name, one has to go.

So I bought a refurb nano and I've just got that in the car now. Much easier to set up how I want and easy to sync and plays bought tracks.

[andycowuk]

There is an option under media in setup that says to include sub folders for mix/scan/repeat - I see no difference in what it does with or without that box ticked - anyone else played with that and observed a change?

I use my n97 in mass storage mode, although it is a bit nippy to have to remember my phone every time it is store out of site in the armrest!

A

[Evil Derboy]

All of my music tracks are in iTunes, including a large majority which are iTunes protected files which I have paid for from the iTunes Store - Does this rule out me using a USB flash drive?

For DRM'd tracks yes.

[ZephyR]

All of my music tracks are in iTunes, including a large majority which are iTunes protected files which I have paid for from the iTunes Store - Does this rule out me using a USB flash drive?

For DRM'd tracks yes.

Two possible options.
1. You can pay a bit extra to iTunes to get most tracks "unlocked".
2. There is some freeware out there that will unlock music bought using some of the older versions of iTunes.
In future buy your music in mp3 format from places that don't lock you in to using only their own format and hardware.

[Jacktherat]

∫

[retsila]

All of my music tracks are in iTunes, including a large majority which are iTunes protected files which I have paid for from the iTunes Store - Does this rule out me using a USB flash drive?

Let's just say, none of my music is drm'd/blocked

I think i'll give the flash drive a go, as I need a new one anyway, so if it's crap, i'll just use it for storage of porn or something equally suitable.

[Kev]

There is an option under media in setup that says to include sub folders for mix/scan/repeat - I see no difference in what it does with or without that box ticked - anyone else played with that and observed a change?

I use my n97 in mass storage mode, although it is a bit nippy to have to remember my phone every time it is store out of site in the armrest!

A

Scan plays the first 10 secs or so of each track so you can wait until you hear the one you want and then ask it to play.
Mix randomises the tracks in a particular folder instead of them being alphabetical
Repeat (I think) repeats the tracks in that folder again instead of moving on to the next folder.