Need help about my new car radio options

[Genetic]

I'm wondering if I would be in a better position by buying a USB memory (64GB around 200$) or a new iPod exclusively for the car at 275$. I have no experience using USB stick for listening to music files and I'm a bit concern for the sound quality. Presuming the USB device will be more cold resistent if left (forgot) for a longer period of time in the car, I dont want to sacrifice too much for the sake of durability.

Have you any idea on wich one will be ahead in this comparaison when using large files (lossless exclusively).

Thanks in advance,

Amicalement from the North....

[Dusty Chalk]

They should sound more or less the same. The biggest difference is that the disk drive will eventually fail in the iPod, and the EPROM on the USB stick will eventually fail (I'm not sure which way the comparison goes, unfortunately). Are you sure the car radio will be able to play files off the USB stick? It probably does, but it might be there specifically for an iPod (this I'm not so sure about).

[episiarch]

How about a 64GB iPod Touch? At $399 it's a bump upward in price, but consider:

- solid state

- very fine SQ

- wirelessly update your podcasts (assuming you park in wifi range of home)

- run accelerometer, decibel-meter and other (possibly driving-related and possibly not) apps on it

[postjack]

I think the biggest consideration here is interface and convenience. I use a USB stick in my car, and while I love to just plug it into the glove box and forget about it, the interface via my car stereo sucks. Hitting a button to scroll through 164 different albums one at a time take forever, and for some reason it will put a large chunk of artists out of alphabetical order. With an iPod on the other hand I could find my desired album in a few seconds.

[Genetic]

Are you sure the car radio will be able to play files off the USB stick? It probably does, but it might be there specifically for an iPod (this I'm not so sure about).

Thanks for the reply. Yes it is suppose to accept many forms of imputs:

Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.

I just bought a Mac-mini not long ago and I changed the HardDrive for a faster one. So I'm not far from considering the use of this homeless piece of computer for duty in the car. I went researching on the net about external HD use in stereo and got so many conflicting infos that I'm now a bit hesitant to try it and face the possibility of toasting the car internal computer....

BTW I'm still waiting for a reply from Alpine USA/Canada from so long ago on that last one....

Amicalement

[Genetic]

I think the biggest consideration here is interface and convenience. I use a USB stick in my car, and while I love to just plug it into the glove box and forget about it, the interface via my car stereo sucks. Hitting a button to scroll through 164 different albums one at a time take forever, and for some reason it will put a large chunk of artists out of alphabetical order. With an iPod on the other hand I could find my desired album in a few seconds.

Thanks. I'm not even able to try the interface of the car stereo since (embarassed here) all I got here is an iMod ( it cant be use with a plain usual iPod connector ) and I had to add another connector (a third one) in the glove box. To bad this new aux. output moves away the iPod management from the Alpine.

Your answer make me think about the possible let down the USB stick will represent when dealing with large collections. Humm I now looking for the possibility of multiple USB sticks instead of a one single big one.

Amicalement

[Genetic]

Little update...

OK the USB stick is a kind of a pain but it works perfectly for my needs. On a final note I'm guilty of not keeping the original car audio system. So few minutes ago I was testing my new Italian toys: 4 Hertz Hi Energy HCX 165 speakers driven by an Audison SRX4. OSI (Blood) is impressive to say the least from that tiny USB thing....

Amicalement