looking for a car radio that plays from a USB key

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Lolvoguy

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(Not a key, but a stick I meant to type)

Does anything like this exist? If so, what stereos should I look for that have this capability?

I purchased an old Sony deck in the late 00's that has USB but only plays certain apple products thru the USB port
frown.gif




thanks in advance
 
They are all over now. Most have a usb input and an aux input on the from panel. I prefer Pioneer. I have a single din pioneer hd radio in my daily driver and it came from Amazon for under 100.00. I have a double din Pioneer hd radio in my crown victoria that was under 300.00 with a rear view camera from Amazon.
 
+2. You might even find one without a CD mechanism; the moving parts are expensive.

You get the added plus of an extra charge port, as well.
 
I remember when you could buy a molded plastic tape organizer that was cutout for the transmission tunnel!
 
I've installed radios in spotter trucks for yard shifter drivers at UPS. Dual brand radios aren't bad for the money at Wal-Mart and they have a USB input. One guy brought in a Pioneer he got off Amazon for $100 that had a USB input and a built in HD tuner. That radio picked up free HD channels and sounded really, really good. HD radio channels haven't are little known but sounds way better than XM/Sirius.
 
I had a pioneer unit that seemed to play every file format common 6-8 years ago. .wav, mp3,4.
It was like $150 on sale back then and seemed to have a very good amp for a head unit.
For my Focus(it has no aux in either), I've just bought a Can tire FM transmitter for $20 and plug my phone into that. I mostly listen to audio books and its fine for that atleast, I'll have to try some music with it today and let you know.
http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/automotive...content=Default
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
I had a pioneer unit that seemed to play every file format common 6-8 years ago. .wav, mp3,4.

Most of the ones sold these days seem to only support mp3, wma, and wav via the USB port. I guess if a deck also has iPod/iPhone support, then you can play any other audio formats that your iPod/iPhone can decode, such as aac/m4a.

Also, looking through these devices' owner manuals, it's not clear if there are any bitrate limitations for the lossy formats. I suppose anything up to 320 kbps is supported, and hopefully VBR as well.
 
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I installed a Kenwood unit with a USB input. However the USB jack was on the back, so a cord was supplied to enable plugging in the USB at some remote location of one's choosing. It's a nice feature, but mine takes quite a while to boot up and start playing music files from the USB. Probably about 15 seconds, but it seems excessively long.

My Kenwood is also a DVD player. Don't know if that adds to the boot time or not.
 
Originally Posted By: Brian Barnhart
It's a nice feature, but mine takes quite a while to boot up and start playing music files from the USB. Probably about 15 seconds, but it seems excessively long.

Sadly, the OEM entertainment system in wife's Q5 takes just as long or longer to start playing audio from SD card or from internal drive. Sometimes it seems like 30 secs or more by the time the Nav and everything else boots up.

But yeah, I guess you would expect a simple standalone audio deck to boot up faster. I'm guessing they don't equip them with very fast CPUs at this price range. That's possibly also the reason why they don't support more CPU intensive audio decoding such as AAC.
 
I recall somebody had provided another reputed internet seller specializing in car stereo who generally has better prices than Crutchfield but I think Crutchfield still has the best sales support.
 
I just did some music serious listening at lunch with the $20 FM transmitter and its surprisingly static free, and seems to be a good match to the OEM stereo atleast. The 12V receptacle in the dash is a bit loose to have the phone and everything hanging from it though. I think I'll buy a 12V extension cord and just put everything on the passenger seat.
 
sorry for ditching you guys but I got busy with other stuff and forgot about this thread

Anyway, the deck I have in the BMW is the SONY cdx gt440u. According to the owners manual (avail online as well as the paper copy I have) it says I should be able to play from a USB, but when I was online for the "full list" of compatible devises, I was not able to find it
frown.gif


Again, I'm not really interested in buying another deck, just figure out how to get this one working so I can play MP3 files.

thanks in advance
 
Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Anyway, the deck I have in the BMW is the SONY cdx gt440u. According to the owners manual (avail online as well as the paper copy I have) it says I should be able to play from a USB,

So what exactly happens when you plug in a USB drive? Does anything display on the unit?

What format are you using on your USB drive? It probably needs to be FAT or FAT32.

And exactly in what format are your audio files?


Quote:
Again, I'm not really interested in buying another deck, just figure out how to get this one working so I can play MP3 files.

Probably should have stated it in the original post. The way it was worded, most of the respondents assumed you were looking for a new deck. Just look at your subject title: "looking for a car radio that plays from a USB key"
 
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