USB memory stick versus CD/DVD

Cruising Cruze · Guru

USB memory stick versus CD/DVD

GaryKelly · Guru

I have a stack of music CDs that take up a fair bit of room, so I was wondering if I could copy them to USB memory sticks. It would save a helluva lotta room! But do they need to be converted to MP3 format before being playable on a car stereo? I have no idea what format a regular CD uses, or if copying the CD files directly to a USB stick would work in a car stereo or other device that takes USB sticks.

bill12 · Guru

I have 50 albums on one 8 gig usb stick, and don,t use cds any more as usb sticks don,t wear out.In fact, I am listening to The moody blues right at this moment! Brilliant invention, saves a lot of space. I have a compatable radio / usb player in the car and the van, so can use the sticks in both. I also use it on the laptop, like at the monent.CDs are on the way out. Bill

Yuglamron · Guru

Personally I use iTunes and download a"Playlist" to a USB and play from there. I make sure that my music is available as an MP3 in Options so no trouble converting files. Any CD's I add to iTunes I set options to save as an MP3 as well.

Cheers

Trevor

Pete49 · Senior Member

Popeye wrote:
You can put waves onto a usb stick. You can play them on anything.

I tried that but the water wrecked the usb stick. biggrin

Pete

-- Edited by Pete49 on Tuesday 19th of March 2013 11:05:35 PM

barina · Guru

bill12 wrote:
I have 50 albums on one 8 gig usb stick, and don,t use cds any more as usb sticks don,t wear out.In fact, I am listening to The moody blues right at this moment! Brilliant invention, saves a lot of space. I have a compatable radio / usb player in the car and the van, so can use the sticks in both. I also use it on the laptop, like at the monent.CDs are on the way out. Bill

A good idea is to backup your USB's as they do for no good reason just stop working. I have had it happen with several over the years. disbelief

Rip and Rosie · Guru

We use iCloud, and recently uploaded 80 albums, which we can now use on the iPads, iPod and p.c.s.

In the car we use an iPad or iPod which plays through the stereo system. In the van, the iPad dock plays them nicely.

Each of us can access all of the collection as we wish, comes everywhere, and the originals stay safely at home. Also, can buy more fro iTunes when we want.

Love this techno age!

justcruisin01 · Guru

I have all mine on a USB, When you rip your cd's have the internet on at the same time & this will add all the track titles & artist's to your usb.also set your rip settings to MP3 as this is what you need for your radio.

Depending on youe system you may have to let it copy to the music storage section of pc, then copy to a usb & also back up on a external hard drive as a usb can fail with constant use.

I have a 16gig stick in the tug , there must be aroung 5,000 tracks on it. Saves carring all those cd's.

If you car radio does not have a usb input, a simple way is to buy a mp3 player from Tandy, cost's $15 & will take a usb, mp3 & sd card. Just plug the mp3 player into the cig lighter , Pick a radio frequency on the mp3 & tune radio to the same , generaly either end of the dial where there is no usage.

Works like a dream, can even leave the unit going in the car & tune your caravan radio to it. Played around with one & its posibile to pick up the frequency up to 50 mtrs away.

JC.

GaryKelly · Guru

Thanks for the info everyone. USB is obviously the way to go!

Sheba · Guru

http://www.nch.com.au/switch/index.html

Popeye · Senior Member

You can put waves onto a usb stick. You can play them on anything.

Cruising Cruze · Guru

thanks Sheba

Cruising Cruze · Guru

let me know witch albums you want and I will have a look if I can help you Gary

don't trow the old albums out mate and If I was you I would make an second copy to keep safe
an USB stick has not an eternal life

John

reglynn · Guru

Hi, what we did with all of our cd's, was to put them on the computer, then when i needed some music i copyed off the computer onto a USB.

This way i could choose different songs from different artist and not have to listern to a CD of the same artist.

We hope this woks well for as it does for us Cheers

reg

GaryKelly · Guru

About the MP3 thing. I'm getting the impression that many of you just copied the music from the CD straight onto USB without changing the existing format. Is that right? If that's the case, can you play the USB through your car radio? JC says the format needs to be MP3.

BTW Reg, I've done the same thing... selected all my fav tracks and made my own compilations which I've then copied to CDR.

Loki · Senior Member

Hi Gary,
Not sure about the others but I transfer all my music to MP3, store it on the computer (which is also backed up on an external hard drive) and then copy the files (songs) I want onto a USB stick. If you have a CD player that also can play MP3, you can burn a CD or 3 with your selections and play your music that way.

MP3 is a file format and can be transferred across various media the same as most other files.

Another neat gadget is an FM transmitter: It plugs into your cigarette lighter and will then transmit to nearby radios - mine takes both USB and SD cards. It saved me buying a new stereo for my old car, which only had an AM/FM radio & casette player.

You can also download books in MP3 format and listen to them as you travel - and if you have an MP3 player - mow the lawn, wait in airports...

Hope this helps,

GaryKelly · Guru

Thanks Loki. I think I've got my head around this MP3 thing now. I just downloaded a file converter program (the one John suggested). 1) Convert all my existing music files on my hard drive to MP3 (and any I might subsequently copy from CD to my computer). 2) Copy the MP3 files to a USB memory stick. 3) Buy an FM transmitter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. 4) Plug the USB stick into the transmitter and select a frequency. 5) Tune the car radio to that frequency.

I also have a car stereo setup in the slide-on camper which is an old radio/cassette type. I was gonna replace it but with the FM transmitter in the ciggie lighter in the ute, I won't have to. Right?

BTW, does the transmitter draw much power? Would it flatten the car battery if left on for several hours without the engine running?

I might also invest in a MP3 player for portable use as well. Thanks for the info Loki.

Cloak · Guru

I just upgraded my car from an old cassette tape am / fm to a JVC one which has CD am / fm AND it also has a USB port for the memory stick. These units are very affordable (under $200). All I use is USB where I play PODcasts and talking books all free....

03_troopy · Guru

Even better than a USB port is a SD memory card slot. They don't protrude from the dash as far as the USB stick, so they're not so easily bumped when adjusting the volume etc, and they can be stored in a small wallet. I found it was handier to have music on 2GB cards for ease of choosing the music you wanted to listen to. Bigger cards were painful to search through, although they were OK for random play. A 2 GB card will hold (depending on song length and bitrate it is sampled at) an average of 300 to 350 tracks. I tend to group music of a similar genre on each of the cards eg: classic rock, Aussie rock, 60's, contemporary etc. Also, different stereos use different ways of sorting the tracks ie. some use the ID3 tag that can be embedded in the song file while others just use the filename. This causes the tracks to be played in jumbled up order not in the order they are on the album, so one that uses the ID3 tags is better. While it's not a big problem with a lot of albums, it makes listening to progressive rock albums difficult. Another thing you can do is embed the album cover into the file as well, so that certain players (like my Xbox) ) (oh yeah, and I things) can list the albums and show you the cover of the album as well. My Xbox has about 135GB ( in excess of 1500 albums) of music on it and I use it like a jukebox to play any music I want at the time. A great program for cataloguing, manipulating file names in bulk, editing ID3 tags and embedding covers, ripping and playing tracks (if you don't use iTunes or iThings) is MedieMonkey. There is a free version of this too.

Loki · Senior Member

Hi GaryKelly,
The FM transmitter will work thru any normal broadcast FM radio (within range - about 5M) and it draws very little power. I prefer to use an SD card, as my cigarette lighter port is in my entranceway and the USB sticks out a bit. I think you will find it suits your needs and for around $15 saves buying & installing a new radio. However, if I decided to install a new radio, I would make sure it can play MP3 and has a USB port as well. I've used it in the house to get music thruout via radios in various rooms as well.

Sounds like you are well on your way converting your music to MP3, once done it can be easily transferred to USB, SD, MP3 players, CD's etc.

-- Edited by Loki on Saturday 23rd of March 2013 03:06:09 PM

GaryKelly · Guru

Yeah? Well, it's coming up to midnight and I'll be turning into a pumpkin any second. And it's all your fault! I finished copying my entire CD collection in MP3 format to a backup HDD as well as a couple of USB sticks. Also, my MP3 player arrived today (cheapie Chinese for $30 - 16GB - Aussie stock) and I'm listening to it now - Doobie Bros. Bloody wonderful! So bloody wonderful I don't wanna go to bed. These ear buds are amazing... I can hear subtleties I never noticed before through loudspeakers, as well as the individual harmonies of voices. I haven't listened to music for years because the drongos I share this house with are either sleeping or watching telly. So bugger 'em... I got ear buds.

It wasn't all beer and skittles at first though. The player came with a user manual in such small print I couldn't read it, not even with a magnifying glass. So it was a matter of spending of a couple of hours buggerizing around with buttons and menus until I finally figured it out. Worth it though... this is awesome!

So thanks everyone for your tips and knowledge. My FM transmitter arrives shortly so I'll be fiddling with that as well soon enough. BTW, Troopy, instead of using smaller cards, you can create individual folders in large cards - rock, classic, country, jazz, etc - and place appropriate albums in their respective folders.

Cruising Cruze · Guru

Good on you mate
try an set of Synnheiser earphones and you wont believe your ears
the first ones I had in the late 70's and a few years ago I got an ( HD 202 ll still around ) they are magic for around $50

regards John

GaryKelly · Guru

I was wondering about that, John. Always knew that good speakers made a big diff to stereo systems but wasn't sure about earphones. I'll take your advice. I also took my own advice and created a list of folders for rock, pop, country, jazz, orchestral, etc and placed various albums into their appropriate folders. Makes searching for tracks a helluva lot easier and quicker, and reduces the size and complexity of the main menu. Incidentally, I used the computer to make the re-arrangements, just the same as I would with files on any external drive.

03_troopy · Guru

GaryKelly wrote:
BTW, Troopy, instead of using smaller cards, you can create individual folders in large cards - rock, classic, country, jazz, etc - and place appropriate albums in their respective folders.

That's true Gary, but when you're trying to search via a one line display on the car stereo it can be very tiresome. On the X Box though, I can search via artist,title, album, genre, year so it's much easier that way. All that info is available through the ID3 tag embedded in the MP3 file along with much more if you want it (album covers, lyrics, file info etc). It just depends on the player you are using really. My bulk storage has everything sorted into folders for artist a, b, c etc. Then subfolder for each artist, subfolders for each album from that artist.

Oh yeah, just picked up another 30 odd CD's (some doubles) over the weekend for $20.00 from a garage sale. A great way to build up your library.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.