USB vs. iPod: What's better?

[MikeS]

Thanks to another poster, I learned that "playlists" are available with a USB connected ipod. That's very nice!

 

I never noticed: are "playlists" available on a USB memory stick? I'm guessing they are not.

 

In any event, what's better: to use an iPod or a memory stick?

 

BTW: I just noticed that if you hold down the next track button on the steering wheel, it fast forwards within a podcast - very cool !!!

 

I really wish there was a pause button on the steering wheel: that's a big minus for a USB connected ipod: at least with the line-in connected ipod, you can easily click the pause button on the device, and fast forward with the scroll wheel within podcasts.

 

In another thread, I had a conversation with myself and was thinking of soldering in a switch into a USB extension cable so I could easily switch between line-in (no usb) and usb.

 

I'm now thinking maybe a 3 way USB switch (one for memory stick, one for usb connected ipod, and nothing connected to 3rd port so I could use a line-in ipod.

 

All thoughts very much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

[akirby]

Thanks to another poster, I learned that "playlists" are available with a USB connected ipod. That's very nice!

 

I never noticed: are "playlists" available on a USB memory stick? I'm guessing they are not.

 

In any event, what's better: to use an iPod or a memory stick?

 

BTW: I just noticed that if you hold down the next track button on the steering wheel, it fast forwards within a podcast - very cool !!!

 

I really wish there was a pause button on the steering wheel: that's a big minus for a USB connected ipod: at least with the line-in connected ipod, you can easily click the pause button on the device, and fast forward with the scroll wheel within podcasts.

 

In another thread, I had a conversation with myself and was thinking of soldering in a switch into a USB extension cable so I could easily switch between line-in (no usb) and usb.

 

I'm now thinking maybe a 3 way USB switch (one for memory stick, one for usb connected ipod, and nothing connected to 3rd port so I could use a line-in ipod.

 

All thoughts very much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Mike

 

I think you're making this way too complicated. Ipods allow you to manage your playlists more easily and it allows you to play any protected content and manage your library with itunes. You can't do that with a usb drive. Just put all your stuff in itunes and sync with an ipod, plug it in and be done with it.

[drocpsu]

 

I really wish there was a pause button on the steering wheel: that's a big minus for a USB connected ipod: at least with the line-in connected ipod, you can easily click the pause button on the device, and fast forward with the scroll wheel within podcasts.

 

 

There is! just hit the "ok" button on the steering wheel to pause a track.

[MikeS]

I think you're making this way too complicated. Ipods allow you to manage your playlists more easily and it allows you to play any protected content and manage your library with itunes. You can't do that with a usb drive. Just put all your stuff in itunes and sync with an ipod, plug it in and be done with it.

 

Funny: though you don't know me, you hit the nail on the head. Yes, indeed, I can sometimes over think things. And, sometimes, I drive myself (and coworkers) crazy doing so, but sometimes it's for the best.

 

In fact, this car thing is a perfect example: had I not researched this thing to death, and really gone over the top, I'd be driving a 4 cyl cloth subaru outback for $200 / month MORE than what I got a fully loaded 6 cyl AWD SEL FF for! So, sometimes, it really works out for the best, and I totally appreciate everyone's patience as I wonder through this, trying to arrive at the best solution for me.

 

As to ipod vs. usb stick, I'm just struggling for the cleaning (least cable mess), least confusing method of connecting the ipod or USB stick, depending who's driving the car. For me, I generally have the ipod with me 90% of the time. My partner would only have the ipod present 10% of the time. If ford placed the USB port in a more accessible place, I wouldn't be so terrible.

 

As I type this message, I realize there's no perfect solution: the 12" extension cable certainly makes connecting a usb drive much easier than directly into the port under the arm rest. However, if I plug my iPod in via USB to that extension cable, it really makes a cable mess I'm not happy with. However, based on the tips I got here, maybe I'll just toss the whole cable mess under the arm rest and use the ipod in USB mode and try the pause 'ok' button on the wheel (I'll have to look for that this morning on my commute in).

 

As for my initial vision of having a 3 way usb switch, although that would be the most flexible, it would also be the most confusing for my non-technical partner.

 

Anyway, thanks again for your patience as I have this conversation with myself and try to reason out the best solution

 

Mike

[MikeS]

Just for the sake of closure for all these open threads, in my view: using an iPod via line-in is MUCH better if you listen to podcasts because the nav screen doesn't show which podcasts have already been listening to.

 

Pasted below is the hack I found for goofy 2011 line-in / USB conflict:

 

 

PROBLEM SOLVED! (or at least 95% solved).

 

Here's the trick:

 

Unplug the USB memory stick.

Change the source to Line-In

THEN plug in the USB memory stick. If it's on Line-In, it won't auto-detect the USB. It will stay on line-in (even with the USB stick plugged in, EVEN if the car is turned off and back on!).

 

For me, who wants to use my ipod as line-in 95% of the time, this is awesome!

 

If another user gets in the car (or I forgot my ipod), I just say USB and I have access to 32 gigs of music!

 

Since I won't have to unplug my USB every time I get in the car, I no longer am concerned about wiring in a disconnect into my USB extension cable.

 

I also have the benefit of leaving the USB stick under the arm rest (instead of convenient sticking out from the arm rest, which although convenient, made me nervous about a smash-n-grab for my memory stick).

 

Just wanted to share my great hack with anyone who was following this saga.

 

Thanks again for everyone's patience,

Mike

[drocpsu]

Just for the sake of closure for all these open threads, in my view: using an iPod via line-in is MUCH better if you listen to podcasts because the nav screen doesn't show which podcasts have already been listening to.

 

Pasted below is the hack I found for goofy 2011 line-in / USB conflict:

 

 

PROBLEM SOLVED! (or at least 95% solved).

 

Here's the trick:

 

Unplug the USB memory stick.

Change the source to Line-In

THEN plug in the USB memory stick. If it's on Line-In, it won't auto-detect the USB. It will stay on line-in (even with the USB stick plugged in, EVEN if the car is turned off and back on!).

 

For me, who wants to use my ipod as line-in 95% of the time, this is awesome!

 

If another user gets in the car (or I forgot my ipod), I just say USB and I have access to 32 gigs of music!

 

Since I won't have to unplug my USB every time I get in the car, I no longer am concerned about wiring in a disconnect into my USB extension cable.

 

I also have the benefit of leaving the USB stick under the arm rest (instead of convenient sticking out from the arm rest, which although convenient, made me nervous about a smash-n-grab for my memory stick).

 

Just wanted to share my great hack with anyone who was following this saga.

 

Thanks again for everyone's patience,

Mike

 

I saw in your other post that you said you have no OK button on the steering wheel. you don't have this?

 

 

It's the right side of the bluetooth phone button (bottom right on the steering wheel). You can also use the OK/Pause button on the right-knob on the head unit (on a non-nav Sync system).

Edited October 29, 2010 by drocpsu

[MikeS]

Nope. the right side of my phone button is not marked.

 

(I'll check to see if there is a right-side of that button to press, but it's certainly not marked ok)

 

I have a picture. I'm trying to figure out how to attach it to this post.

 

Mike

[MikeS]

Here's my picture:

[MikeS]

Just checked: my phone button only as a left function (nothing to the right). Ratz: I was hoping it was there, just not marked.

 

I wonder why they did away with that?

 

PAUSE would be really handy if a passenger asks you a question.

 

Mike

[Oldguy16]

As far as the original question goes, i hate ipods, I use a flash drive, just plug it in and go. I add and delete music off it all the time, so much easier than an ipod. I-tunes is garbage that automatically adds music and deletes other music. How about good old fashioned click and drag, nothing works better. Plus a usb drive costs alot less and syncs music better. For some reason i-tunes changes formats on some songs.

[akirby]

I-tunes is garbage that automatically adds music and deletes other music.

 

No it doesn't.

[MikeS]

My entire music library is in iTunes, and although it's bloated and slow, I find the benefits out-way the negatives.

 

On the plus side, it's very good at downloading podcasts and syncing to my many ipods is of course easy and seamless.

 

One tip: use Amazon MP3 to buy music because it's cheaper, stored as MP3 which will play on nearly everything.

 

One thing that wasn't obvious to me (and I might share as a separate thread) is that sometimes, there are inconsistencies in the itunes library which cause problems for sync. There's a repair utility 'sync my itunes' at the syncmyride.com site which fixes this. Once I fixed one of my 20 gig libraries, all 6,200 songs indexed and I was able to use voice commands on the usb stick.

 

Mike

[Oldguy16]

Let me give you one example of why I despise I-tunes. My music library consists of 68gb or just above 11,000 songs. A friend of mine who has an ipod, copied some of my music, and of course he added the music to i-tunes and that automatically synced the music and all was well. Over time he added other people's music to his ipod. I reformat my computer every few months, to keep it running like new. I also reformatted his computer, so all the music went away. However because of the way itunes is designed, as soon as we plugged the ipod into the computer which had no music on it, all the music was deleted because the itunes library was empty. bad design. (we knew this would happen but had no choice) Flash drive, just click and drag, and voice command works well. every song gets synced without a problem, and there are no problems when indexing the music. not to mention the insane amount of RAM itunes uses when running, for no reason. Use windows explorer to copy the music which uses no more computing power than when you're just on your desktop with nothing open.

[akirby]

However because of the way itunes is designed, as soon as we plugged the ipod into the computer which had no music on it, all the music was deleted because the itunes library was empty. bad design. (we knew this would happen but had no choice)

 

Absolutely totally incorrect. You had 2 choices.

 

Choice 1 is to turn off automatic syncing. itunes will only sync the ipod when you click the Sync button. You can turn this off and on even if the ipod isn't connected. It only syncs automatically because you didn't turn it off.

 

Choice 2 is to restore the itunes music library to the computer BEFORE plugging in the ipod. You have to do this anyway so why not do it first?

 

 

Don't blame Apple because you don't know how to use the product.

[Oldguy16]

Absolutely totally incorrect. You had 2 choices.

 

Choice 1 is to turn off automatic syncing. itunes will only sync the ipod when you click the Sync button. You can turn this off and on even if the ipod isn't connected. It only syncs automatically because you didn't turn it off.

 

Choice 2 is to restore the itunes music library to the computer BEFORE plugging in the ipod. You have to do this anyway so why not do it first?

 

 

Don't blame Apple because you don't know how to use the product.

restoring was not possible. like I said, he got a lot of music from other people, those songs we did not have, we would have had to go through all 800 songs and found the ones I had. All my music is backed up. I still think i-tunes is pathetic, and seriously uses tons of ram for no reason. You wouldn't even need to do any of this with a usb drive. and the autosync isn't what I was talkin about. As soon as you hit sync, the music that is not in the library still goes away.

[akirby]

restoring was not possible. like I said, he got a lot of music from other people, those songs we did not have, we would have had to go through all 800 songs and found the ones I had. All my music is backed up. I still think i-tunes is pathetic, and seriously uses tons of ram for no reason. You wouldn't even need to do any of this with a usb drive. and the autosync isn't what I was talkin about. As soon as you hit sync, the music that is not in the library still goes away.

 

Why would you load all that music without a backup?

 

There is a way to retrieve all the songs off the ipod and load them back into itunes. I did it myself a couple of years ago when my daughter lost her music library.

 

You connect the ipod (without syncing), then go into it from My Computer like a usb drive. You may have to enable the option to allow the ipod to be used as a usb storage device. From there you can drag and drop the songs back to your computer and import them into itunes.

 

Don't bash things just because you don't know how to use them.

[Oldguy16]

Why would you load all that music without a backup?

 

There is a way to retrieve all the songs off the ipod and load them back into itunes. I did it myself a couple of years ago when my daughter lost her music library.

 

You connect the ipod (without syncing), then go into it from My Computer like a usb drive. You may have to enable the option to allow the ipod to be used as a usb storage device. From there you can drag and drop the songs back to your computer and import them into itunes.

 

Don't bash things just because you don't know how to use them.

Ok you need to relax, I stated my opinion before, I stated clearly that I was not a fan of i-tunes, and that was my opinion and you're gettin really pissed here. This is a discussion about who thinks what was better. I also stated that this was one reason I do not like i-tunes, there are others. I was simply stating an opinion. Look when you need a program to drag and drop that uses 60mb of ram for no reason, I call that a waste. Why should I even need to go do all that, when I can use a flash drive and just click and drag 1 folder, never having to worry about when I reformat etc. Way too many options to turn on and off. Remember this was not my ipod either. I have my music backed up. It's too large of a folder to lose. I also believe in my opinion that for people who have very large music libraries, a flash drive is way better than an ipod because they can hold more. Yes you may be able to only get a 64gb flash drive, but you can easily get a 500gb pocket drive, and there is no such thing as a 500gb ipod, or anything close to that. This way, you cannot only put music on there, but use this same drive for transferring anything you need, and holding whatever media you want. I download blu ray movies, and back up everything on an external hard drive, I could easily plug that into my fusion, Ipod doesn't have that capacity.

[akirby]

Ok you need to relax, I stated my opinion before, I stated clearly that I was not a fan of i-tunes, and that was my opinion and you're gettin really pissed here. This is a discussion about who thinks what was better. I also stated that this was one reason I do not like i-tunes, there are others. I was simply stating an opinion. Look when you need a program to drag and drop that uses 60mb of ram for no reason, I call that a waste. Why should I even need to go do all that, when I can use a flash drive and just click and drag 1 folder, never having to worry about when I reformat etc. Way too many options to turn on and off. Remember this was not my ipod either. I have my music backed up. It's too large of a folder to lose. I also believe in my opinion that for people who have very large music libraries, a flash drive is way better than an ipod because they can hold more. Yes you may be able to only get a 64gb flash drive, but you can easily get a 500gb pocket drive, and there is no such thing as a 500gb ipod, or anything close to that. This way, you cannot only put music on there, but use this same drive for transferring anything you need, and holding whatever media you want. I download blu ray movies, and back up everything on an external hard drive, I could easily plug that into my fusion, Ipod doesn't have that capacity.

 

You don't get it. You said that itunes added and deleted music on it's own. It doesn't. You said you were forced to sync the ipod to an empty itunes library losing all of the music on the ipod. That was also incorrect.

 

I'm not saying one is better than the other nor am I saying itunes is good or bad nor am I telling you that you have to like it or use it. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't go around saying things that aren't true just because you don't like itunes or you don't know how to use it.