USB Systems...

[Charles Summers]

Hmm.... these look interesting, but I can't find anything positive or
negative here about them. I'd LOVE to just pop in a flash drive instead of
burning CD's.

What's your take on these?

[Matt Ion]

Charles Summers wrote:
> Hmm.... these look interesting, but I can't find anything positive or
> negative here about them. I'd LOVE to just pop in a flash drive instead of
> burning CD's.
>
> What's your take on these?

Not having used one, I'll speak more generally: I think it's a great idea, and
there should be no quality issues related to the media. You MAY see
sound-quality problems related to the compression format used (MP3, etc.) but
those are the same whether using MP3s on CD, or on a portable player (iPod,
etc.) and not a failing of using flash-memory.

[MOSFET]

> Hmm.... these look interesting, but I can't find anything positive or
> negative here about them. I'd LOVE to just pop in a flash drive instead of
> burning CD's.
>
> What's your take on these?
>
Well, wait a second. Matt is talking about flash drives, but your SUBJECT
line reads USB systems, which are different things, right? I have seen HU's
with flash-drive ports (like for SD cards), but a USB port is something
entirely different, right?

I'm not entirely clear what you would use a USB port on a HU for (for
transfering songs from what to what, an internal HD in a HU?). I know
Alpine has USB capability now. Is this so the MP3 data (from an iPod fopr
instance) can be sent to the HU for MP3 decoding? Is there a benefit to
this? I'm honestly not clear on this. Just curious.

MOSFET

[Charles Summers]

"MOSFET" > wrote in message
m...
>
> Well, wait a second. Matt is talking about flash drives, but your SUBJECT
> line reads USB systems, which are different things, right? I have seen
> HU's
> with flash-drive ports (like for SD cards), but a USB port is something
> entirely different, right?
>
> I'm not entirely clear what you would use a USB port on a HU for (for
> transfering songs from what to what, an internal HD in a HU?). I know
> Alpine has USB capability now. Is this so the MP3 data (from an iPod fopr
> instance) can be sent to the HU for MP3 decoding? Is there a benefit to
> this? I'm honestly not clear on this. Just curious.
>
> MOSFET
>

Here's some examples:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-SG6EfF8pwIb/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=257KDG820
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-SG6EfF8pwIb/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=113MP532

Apparently, you can transfer your songs to a flash drive, insert it into the
USB port and use it as you would on your computer to play mp3's or WMA's.

[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:
>>Hmm.... these look interesting, but I can't find anything positive or
>>negative here about them. I'd LOVE to just pop in a flash drive instead of
>>burning CD's.
>>
>>What's your take on these?
>>
>
> Well, wait a second. Matt is talking about flash drives, but your SUBJECT
> line reads USB systems, which are different things, right? I have seen HU's
> with flash-drive ports (like for SD cards), but a USB port is something
> entirely different, right?

Different connection, but you're still talking flash memory inside.

> I'm not entirely clear what you would use a USB port on a HU for (for
> transfering songs from what to what, an internal HD in a HU?). I know
> Alpine has USB capability now. Is this so the MP3 data (from an iPod fopr
> instance) can be sent to the HU for MP3 decoding? Is there a benefit to
> this? I'm honestly not clear on this. Just curious.

The decks I've seen with a USB port are designed to play songs from a "thumb
drive/jump drive/etc." device. Others have SD or CF slots to play off standard
memory cards. Either way, you're just using flash memory as a storage medium,
instead of a CD.

[MOSFET]

> The decks I've seen with a USB port are designed to play songs from a
"thumb
> drive/jump drive/etc." device. Others have SD or CF slots to play off
standard
> memory cards. Either way, you're just using flash memory as a storage
medium,
> instead of a CD.

YES! Those jump drives. I know what you mean. Thanks Matt.

Nick

[Matt Ion]

MOSFET wrote:
>>The decks I've seen with a USB port are designed to play songs from a
>
> "thumb
>
>>drive/jump drive/etc." device. Others have SD or CF slots to play off
>
> standard
>
>>memory cards. Either way, you're just using flash memory as a storage
>
> medium,
>
>>instead of a CD.
>
>
> YES! Those jump drives. I know what you mean. Thanks Matt.

I thought you were blocking me?

[MOSFET]

> I thought you were blocking me?

Nope, changed my mind.

See ya,

MOSFET

[Charles Summers]

"Charles Summers" > wrote in message
. ..
> Hmm.... these look interesting, but I can't find anything positive or
> negative here about them. I'd LOVE to just pop in a flash drive instead of
> burning CD's.
>
> What's your take on these?
>

FWIW: I bought the JVC.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-SG6EfF8pwIb/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=257KDG820

We'll see how well they work.