I'm looking to replace my aging 160 GB iPod classic with a new MP3 player device for use in my vehicle. The battery in my iPod has deteriorated to the point that it won't even stay on when powered up via a charging cable. And beyond that, I'm tired of the clickwheel interface and prefer something like the interface on the iPod Touch or a phone's music player. A high-capacity iPod Touch would work except for two things: the prohibitive cost, and the fact that it requires the iTunes interface for syncing. I much prefer the simple drag-and-drop method of copying music over to the device.
One solution I've considered is buying an inexpensive Android 7-inch tablet with decent microSD card expandability to serve as my mobile music player. Walmart sells an Onn tablet (their house brand for electronics) for $50 and it will accept a 128 GB card. That would come close to matching my 160 GB iPod, and I could always swap out cards to add music.
Another one is to buy an Android phone with the capability to accept a larger SD card, and use it as a wifi-only device. That would give me the added advantage of having a backup phone should something happen to my phone (an iPhone 6); I could just move the SIM card. I can get one for about $40.
I have been using a very old Motorola Android phone as a player, but it only takes a 16 GB card, and is so old I can't even upgrade the Android OS or access the Google Play Store to download music player apps. That's why I want to upgrade to something with more capacity and can download music players with more features than the build-in Android player.
Most of my MP3s are rips of my own CDs, done either with iTunes or with a piece of software called SoundJam MP that iTunes was based on. I have some that have been acquired from other sources over the years (Napster, Usenet binary downloads, Hotline servers, conversions from YouTube videos, etc.)
I'm curious as to what devices others might be using as music players in their vehicles. If I ever get my Saturn Vue dependably running again, I'd be playing through the AUX port on the device. (I do have a Bluetooth AUX device to plug into the port in case the device doesn't have an AUX/headphone jack, like the iPhone 7 and later). Otherwise, I'd be using a Griffin iTrip Universal FM transmitter or an external Bluetooth speaker.
I bought a little player called a HiFi Walker through one of those "reimburse for testing" programs but it's awful. From what I've read, a number of the available dedicated MP3 players will have the same software issues. The player can't read the tags from the files and will not play albums in the correct track order.
For those of you who do use Android devices for your vehicle playback, what player apps are best? I'm wondering how well the built-in Android player will handle gapless albums. One place where the iPod excels as a player is its ability to do gapless playback. There's no annoying bit of silence between tracks on a live album, or when one song segues into another but is split into separate tracks (think Chicago's "Ballet for a Girl in Buchanon").
So, what's everyone using, hardware and software-wise? Am I offbase in wanting to get an inexpensive Android device to use as a dedicated MP3 player?
(For the record, using my iPhone is out of the question. I don't have the capacity on it, and I prefer a dedicated player device anyway; much as I'd rather use a real camera for my photography and not the phone's camera. And then there's iTunes for syncing the music files, which I hate.)
I use a SanDisc MP3 player and an AUX cable for my car. They take the same SanDisc cards I use on my computer so the downloads aren't too unusual and the device is easy to use given it is meant for outdoor runners.
Edit: Specifically I'm referring to the Sport Clip:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SanDisk-Clip-16GB-Black-Sport-Plus-MP3-Player-FM-Radio-Bluetooth-Water-Resistant/113808532242?epid=2255914154&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item1a7f846312:g:fF0AAOSwW2tdICsm&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACcBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkAgU0umhwUTmgTFbE5cu7zc%252FVp%252B7rHZ0H0iuGXH33%252FE2g%252FuGVvQ0JbZDKEj6aJdkd1FoqGM4MMYPPIdz5gKpKbns0xYX7ALoQEJyxoErTY1kIvLNByn54slb1DtUQqma%252B8rVl5k2ozt74hnrm5etTQ6fnOlIpiRRHl5xyPhndGg0YXTXf2eUT3Mw4zXgepsSHdsZ9hw3snz6PH9EBlc%252Bji0E1RBAsqkhzEwRvwpwkAiM6gW4JMMz%252FGxQVRjbsgwgP%252FyLvs2CCumrk62jXJjDz74MvPEt869d6JLt81uX%252BEwmJ1%252FovngGHpWc0YHk2LnVbjlDb8Chy94ixDwm5hZ18SFNm2pAUH3up7UwrwPDYCzelp8b5xgp2LMG8ta%252FFBeRvhb%252FleXIaEOSh6KRfDetmNXPe6RFRFUelcg808yUsx7DuPdkmpwzOAPvVGWAYzcBL7%252FKm2C%252FSWvJOmbt7rT%252FMo%252FlcREETMMIck7Nluya8QVOncV1PL0I56Iz2SuKOzgKXbRQKKLgjbt0JasVmNiGzCAR06FF4saKz7KiMNTjF0i7Nvi1xfexIBb6r%252FH5gS7zSoOAjlnVVfA0mZae1iXrjiaE2tVDD%252FUnCpzA2CVR0C8bRw8F1Atx4rjIm%252Fy79dXFfPCg3MBBeu6s46q%252BikobSs93Q0%252FE7kN62x4ZeolT41r33z46kweQQxH%252FR8hamSKWiPOIqqhipLTlNuRlt69xjJH2kIXZD2NgOAcvuT%252B9L7LPFNN%252B1zEbjDsc6Iw5sWYRyutTrNah1KVbDDk3j30PJXg%253D%253D%7Ccksum%3A113808532242a6e48e957d844d6a997254f310502897%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524
I will note that used for it's intended purpose I'm on my third Sport Clip in the last five years. The device when it is bounced around a lot sometimes shakes the San Disc out of place which will reset it. I've never experienced this issue while driving the car though. The battery tends to die after two years but there is a USB adaptor that has worked on every car I've owned to play it as a media device. I personally like to be able to swap songs with the device in my hand which is why I use the AUX Jack.
At one point, several years ago, I had a Galaxy MP3 player that ran on Android, but it quickly lost OEM support so it fell by the wayside. I just use my old iPhone 6S+ as a glorified iPod now, since I still use iTunes.
I typically repurpose old phones, and currently use my previous phone, a Samsung Galaxy S8 (recently upgraded to a Note20 Ultra. Mostly use the stock Samsung Music Player downloaded from Play Store. It does support gapless playback and even crossfading, but there should be plenty of offline music player apps that will do the job.
Any modern phone with decent processing power and proper SD card support should work, and they're cheap. You can also use on-screen music player widgets, and uninstall non-stock apps for the added effect.
My iPod Classic is on its last legs as well. I'm considering an Astell & Kern KANN because it can play DSD.
My Ipod Classic is still working well, but at some point something is going to happen to it and then I'll be in the same boat. I've been wondering about the same thing for eventual replacement. I believe most of the CDs I've ripped to it via the Itunes program were in Apple's format (AAC?), so I would need something that could play it (not looking forward to converting all of them to MP3).
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on February 08, 2021, 01:29:01 AM
My Ipod Classic is still working well, but at some point something is going to happen to it and then I'll be in the same boat. I've been wondering about the same thing for eventual replacement. I believe most of the CDs I've ripped to it via the Itunes program were in Apple's format (AAC?), so I would need something that could play it (not looking forward to converting all of them to MP3).
Depending on the model, battery replacement on the iPod Classic isn't difficult if you are skilled in such things. I've had two batteries put in my iPhone by someone who has the knowledge and the tools. Some iPod batteries are soldered to the device, and some aren't. The hard drive died in my brother's iPod, and he replaced the battery when he replaced the disk with one of those SD card readers, and he's agreed to replace my battery if I want, but he cracked the screen on his iPod when he did the replacement (it still works). But there's the clickwheel interface and iTunes syncing to hassle with.
I'm leaning toward the Alcatel Insight (an AT&T prepaid phone for only $39 that accepts a 128 GB microSD card) if my local Dollar General will ever get any in stock. Although the idea of a 7-inch tablet sounds good as well.
I get my music on CDs and use my car's built-in CD player. If an album is only available as a digital download, I write it to CD, as that's a legal means of media transfer as long as I don't distribute it. My previous car only had a tape deck, so I recorded my CDs to cassette tapes to listen to them in the car.
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on February 08, 2021, 01:29:01 AM
My Ipod Classic is still working well, but at some point something is going to happen to it and then I'll be in the same boat. I've been wondering about the same thing for eventual replacement. I believe most of the CDs I've ripped to it via the Itunes program were in Apple's format (AAC?), so I would need something that could play it (not looking forward to converting all of them to MP3).
You can convert them in one shot in itunes. In preferences, change the import settings to MP3 and whatever bit rate you want. Then, highlight all the songs that are in AAC format, file/convert/create MP3 version. If you have an SSD it'll fly, but a normal HDD it'll take a while. However, it should be workable in one step. You can at least spot try it with an album or two, see how fast it does it, and go from there. It'll make a duplicate so you then just delete the old version.
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
I set up playlists and set the player to shuffle tracks. One tap skips to the next track. If that doesn't solve my problem, I wait until my next stop to futz with the screen, or switch to the radio.
Quote from: JREwing78 on February 08, 2021, 09:02:41 PM
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
I set up playlists and set the player to shuffle tracks. One tap skips to the next track. If that doesn't solve my problem, I wait until my next stop to futz with the screen, or switch to the radio.
Another advantage of the SanDisc player I linked is that it is button controlled and really intuitive to use without looking.
For about 8 years or so I loved my SanDisc Sansa Clip. It came with 8GB "onboard" and had a SD slot I added another 8GB (I think there was a size limitation on how large the card would be, and I think it might have been 8GB).
It hooked into the computer via USB (and charged that way too), so I also ripped and compressed most of my collection and just copied and pasted it over (didn't need any special software or anything)
It had an FM tuner, which was nice, and played pretty much any file format you threw at it (from uncompressed .wav's, loss-less .flac, .mp3 (of course), and I think I went with mostly .ogg at the time.
Over the years, the battery started holding less of a charge, and then my dumb ass forgot to take it out of a pocket when I did a load of laundry. That didn't kill it totally, but it was "wonky" afterward.
I can't vouch for the newer generations...... and I certainly understand the appeal of having stand-alone devices instead of using the phone for everything, but at the point that died, I did just start using my phone to play music.
One thing to watch out for with the ultra cheap Android devices is some of them have poor sound quality out of the 3.5mm jack. I bought a super cheap prepaid Android phone with the intention of using it as an MP3 player. I only paid $20 for it from Fred Meyer (Kroger). The software was fine and it had a MicroSD slot, so I had no issues copying my music over and loading them into a music player app, but the 3.5mm output quality was just not very good (sounded very flat and kinda muffled), so it did not make a good MP3 player. I've never noticed bad quality on any other phone or MP3 player I've owned, but that's the only time I've bought such a low end device. That was years ago so maybe the DAC quality has improved in low end devices, but I'm not sure.
My recommendation if you go that route would be to buy a used older flagship or midrange device. Something like a Galaxy S7 for example, old enough that most people will have upgraded to something newer so you can probably find them cheap, but still plenty usable to download apps from Google Play, and the hardware likely isn't going to crap out (and it's better built than low end devices). It could also serve as a backup phone if you needed it to. The 3.5mm output on any device like that should be just fine, as would Bluetooth if your car supports that.
I've seen mention of SanDisk MP3 players and I had one in the past that I was very happy with. I installed a custom OS Rockbox onto mine but it's not necessary. No idea if they still make them, or how much they've changed. Haven't used one in about a decade.
One last thing to note, a lot of devices will say things like "supports MicroSD card up to 32 GB" but in most cases, larger cards will work just fine. Some of them right out of the box, some you might need to format to FAT32 from a computer first.
My Saturn Vue has a six-disc CD changer, but it's a pain to keep up with a bunch of CDs in the car (I did it in my truck for years) so I'd rather have a player.
The very first dedicated music player I had was an Archos Jukebox. Can't remember the capacity, but it had a USB 1.0 connection that made copying files agonizingly slow. I still have it; I ought to power it up and set it up to copy the files off of it to another drive while I sleep. It might be done when I wake up the next morning. :-D
Quote from: doorknob60 on February 09, 2021, 03:34:09 PM
One thing to watch out for with the ultra cheap Android devices is some of them have poor sound quality out of the 3.5mm jack. I bought a super cheap prepaid Android phone with the intention of using it as an MP3 player. I only paid $20 for it from Fred Meyer (Kroger). The software was fine and it had a MicroSD slot, so I had no issues copying my music over and loading them into a music player app, but the 3.5mm output quality was just not very good (sounded very flat and kinda muffled), so it did not make a good MP3 player. I've never noticed bad quality on any other phone or MP3 player I've owned, but that's the only time I've bought such a low end device. That was years ago so maybe the DAC quality has improved in low end devices, but I'm not sure.
My recommendation if you go that route would be to buy a used older flagship or midrange device. Something like a Galaxy S7 for example, old enough that most people will have upgraded to something newer so you can probably find them cheap, but still plenty usable to download apps from Google Play, and the hardware likely isn't going to crap out (and it's better built than low end devices). It could also serve as a backup phone if you needed it to. The 3.5mm output on any device like that should be just fine, as would Bluetooth if your car supports that.
I'm not exactly a vehicle audiophile, so that's not a huge factor. Price, however, is. If I can't find a Galaxy S7 for around $40, I'd be better off with the new prepaid phone or mini-tablet option. I do have a Bluetooth AUX jack that I could plug into the AUX port on my car stereo and run Bluetooth from the device instead of a cable if need be.
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
I get my music on CDs and use my car's built-in CD player. If an album is only available as a digital download, I write it to CD, as that's a legal means of media transfer as long as I don't distribute it. My previous car only had a tape deck, so I recorded my CDs to cassette tapes to listen to them in the car.
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
For years, I copied vinyl albums and CDs onto cassettes until I got a Sony Car Discman as a Christmas present from my brother one year. It played through a cassette adapter (remember those?). What few digital downloads I've bought, I've burned CDs from them as well, and I had gotten in the habit of burning copies of CDs I bought and playing them in the vehicle instead of keeping the originals in the car.
I don't think it's awkward to fumble with a touch screen in the car. No more so than anything else involving the screen (such as punching in directions for the GPS app; I would include reading a text or email but some people find that behavior to be improper so I won't mention it). It's more awkward in my opinion to deal with the iPod's clickwheel.
Try asking around at the office if anyone has any obsolete Android phones they might be willing to part with. I've got three (a slider–remember when those were a thing?–a Galaxy 4, and a J7) that I just have sitting around the house collecting dust because by the time I replaced them they were obsolete enough that I had no hope of reselling them for enough to justify the hassle of finding a buyer.
I second Scott's advice. Not all Android devices are created equal, and a lot of the cheap ones are just that- cheap.
I use my Google Pixel 4 XL phone with Rocket Player. My options are, however, limited, because my car has no aux port, so I'm limited to connecting via Bluetooth. Of course, this phone has no headphone jack...
If you're looking for something relatively inexpensive, stick with a low-midrange Samsung device. That $50 Walmart tablet might sound like a good deal, but most of the ONN stuff is complete garbage.
Buy one of these: https://gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapters/gmc-chevrolet-saturn-buick-06-12-usb-android-iphone-car-integration-adapter-kit.html
Then buy a flash drive or a cheapo Android phone since it has a standard USB port on it. Using the car's controls to change tracks makes life easier, you'll wonder why you fumbled with the click wheel in the past. That and much better audio quality and it'll charge your phone or player automatically.
My van has a USB port, so I record all my music on a flash drive and play on the USB post
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
I get my music on CDs and use my car's built-in CD player. If an album is only available as a digital download, I write it to CD, as that's a legal means of media transfer as long as I don't distribute it. My previous car only had a tape deck, so I recorded my CDs to cassette tapes to listen to them in the car.
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
You can buy inexpensive adapters that will allow you to plug in both a charger cord and an audio output cord AND have all of the usual control buttons for the player. Very intuitive controls that you can feel for.
BTW, I'm still using a set of cheap computer speakers that are thrown onto the back seat floor of my car that I got in the mid 00s, they are shaped like triangular prisms so that they stay put, they have an internal power supply (no 'wall wart' power supply), plugs into an inverter for power from the car, plug into the 160 Gb 'classic' iPod that I still use and it sounds great (people riding with me have commented on how good it does sound). I then just Zip-Tied the cords together to keep everything neat and orderly.
I can also listen to the car radio for a game or current affairs/events discussion at the same time I that have tunes playing in the background (I like that :nod: ).
BTW, I am likely going to have to replace the iPod in the foreseeable future, not because its mechanical hard drive might be showing early signs of failure (it is not), but due to obsolescence - it now has just under 23K files in its library and is thus approaching its 25K file software limit (Grrrr...). I play the files in random order ('shuffle') from its entire library, resetting it every time that I set out for the day.
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on February 10, 2021, 11:49:33 PM
BTW, I am likely going to have to replace the iPod in the foreseeable future, not because its mechanical hard drive might be showing early signs of failure (it is not), but due to obsolescence - it now has just under 23K files in its library and is thus approaching its 25K file software limit (Grrrr...). I play the files in random order ('shuffle') from its entire library, resetting it every time that I set out for the day.
Mike
I think you're OK there. The 25K limit was only due to the iTunes match service. In fact, the 160GB models stated you could have "up to 40,000" songs on it. I actually did have 27K on my 160GB iPod so I know it's OK. I also had, for a bit, an iPod with a custom 256GB SSD on it that had over 30K songs on it, also without an issue playing or syncing with iTunes.
Quote from: NJRoadfan on February 09, 2021, 06:00:30 PM
Buy one of these: https://gromaudio.com/store/usb_adapters/gmc-chevrolet-saturn-buick-06-12-usb-android-iphone-car-integration-adapter-kit.html
Then buy a flash drive or a cheapo Android phone since it has a standard USB port on it. Using the car's controls to change tracks makes life easier, you'll wonder why you fumbled with the click wheel in the past. That and much better audio quality and it'll charge your phone or player automatically.
Three negatives about that solution. First is the cost. It's $150, or three times the cost of an aforementioned Android device. Second is the installation. I'd either have to mount it myself (not gonna happen due to my lack of aptitude and skill for such things) or pay to have it done, with the auxiliary issue of where to place it. Third is that apparently it would rely on the text display of my factory stereo, which is rather limited and doesn't give the cover flow-type option that displays album artwork.
I am partial to something that reads the tags from the files to group them into albums, etc., instead of reading a file structure organized by folders.
Before I bought my current van, I used a portable CD player that ran off the cigarette lighter and had a special adapter that ran through the cassette player
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GkMAAOSw691gJIy3/s-l640.jpg)
Quote from: US71 on February 11, 2021, 03:05:00 PM
Before I bought my current van, I used a portable CD player that ran off the cigarette lighter and had a special adapter that ran through the cassette player
(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GkMAAOSw691gJIy3/s-l640.jpg)
The CD Discman my brother got me for Christmas back in the early 1990s changed my life. It was powered through the lighter and used the cassette adapter as well. I went through several portable CD players, but never found one as good as that first one. I quit taping CDs to cassette to play in the car after that.
I got my first Discman in 1986 and it lasted me until 2003. I was all set to get another until I read a Newsweek article about the iPod, which convinced me the device wasn't just for punk kids pirating music. The idea of not being limited to whatever set of CDs I happened to have at the office was very appealing.
I mentioned the Astell & Kern KANN before, but after doing some research, I think I'm leaning towards their A&norma SP15 instead because it's MQA-capable (the KANN isn't) and costs $100 less than the KANN.
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
I get my music on CDs and use my car's built-in CD player. If an album is only available as a digital download, I write it to CD, as that's a legal means of media transfer as long as I don't distribute it. My previous car only had a tape deck, so I recorded my CDs to cassette tapes to listen to them in the car.
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 08, 2021, 05:38:08 PM
I get my music on CDs and use my car's built-in CD player. If an album is only available as a digital download, I write it to CD, as that's a legal means of media transfer as long as I don't distribute it. My previous car only had a tape deck, so I recorded my CDs to cassette tapes to listen to them in the car.
How does one even use an MP3 player in a car without having to awkwardly fumble with a damn touch screen?
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
That's close to what I have now. The port is in the glove box and I can use the radio controls on the steering wheel to adjust volume, skip forward or go back.
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
That almost sounds like the ideal way to play MP3s in a car, except
nothing in a car should involve a touch screen (yes, new car designers, I'm talking to you).
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 13, 2021, 12:08:48 AM
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
They won't listen.
That almost sounds like the ideal way to play MP3s in a car, except nothing in a car should involve a touch screen (yes, new car designers, I'm talking to you).
Quote from: stridentweasel on February 13, 2021, 12:08:48 AM
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
That almost sounds like the ideal way to play MP3s in a car, except nothing in a car should involve a touch screen (yes, new car designers, I'm talking to you).
Seconded. I love my Mazda, where you use buttons and a scroll-wheel to control the infotainment center. The screen is disabled at speed, and I don't even use it stopped as it is.
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
What kind of display and navigation does it have? Does it read album artwork and track tags off the file data (preferred) or does it navigate the folder hierarchy of the source media? I'd much rather have a player that groups by artist and album, which would allow for individual tracks to be placed anywhere, than one that reads file name data. One reason is because you can end up with a display like
Van Halen -- 1984 -- 05-Hot for Teacher.mp3. A long band name and a long album name means sometimes you have to wait for a lot of letters to scroll across the screen to pick your song.
I'm not crazy about touchscreen controls on vehicles -- I'd imagine there's a lot of expense required when repairs become necessary -- but it's my preferred method of selecting music.
I replaced the factory stereo on my old Toyota truck with one that had an iPod interface that allowed the head unit to control the device. I disabled that and continued to use the iPod because I didn't like the scrolling track names.
Quote from: hbelkins on February 13, 2021, 10:59:10 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
What kind of display and navigation does it have? Does it read album artwork and track tags off the file data (preferred) or does it navigate the folder hierarchy of the source media? I'd much rather have a player that groups by artist and album, which would allow for individual tracks to be placed anywhere, than one that reads file name data. One reason is because you can end up with a display like Van Halen -- 1984 -- 05-Hot for Teacher.mp3. A long band name and a long album name means sometimes you have to wait for a lot of letters to scroll across the screen to pick your song.
I'm not crazy about touchscreen controls on vehicles -- I'd imagine there's a lot of expense required when repairs become necessary -- but it's my preferred method of selecting music.
I replaced the factory stereo on my old Toyota truck with one that had an iPod interface that allowed the head unit to control the device. I disabled that and continued to use the iPod because I didn't like the scrolling track names.
Some of the tunes on my memory stick have long names, so I edit them on my computer before saving to the stick.
Quote from: US71 on February 13, 2021, 11:23:13 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on February 13, 2021, 10:59:10 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
What kind of display and navigation does it have? Does it read album artwork and track tags off the file data (preferred) or does it navigate the folder hierarchy of the source media? I'd much rather have a player that groups by artist and album, which would allow for individual tracks to be placed anywhere, than one that reads file name data. One reason is because you can end up with a display like Van Halen -- 1984 -- 05-Hot for Teacher.mp3. A long band name and a long album name means sometimes you have to wait for a lot of letters to scroll across the screen to pick your song.
I'm not crazy about touchscreen controls on vehicles -- I'd imagine there's a lot of expense required when repairs become necessary -- but it's my preferred method of selecting music.
I replaced the factory stereo on my old Toyota truck with one that had an iPod interface that allowed the head unit to control the device. I disabled that and continued to use the iPod because I didn't like the scrolling track names.
Some of the tunes on my memory stick have long names, so I edit them on my computer before saving to the stick.
The longest track on my iTunes:
Bach: Cantata #202, BWV 202, "Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten" (Wedding Cantata), BWV 202 - Aria: Sich Üben Im Lieben
(116 characters, 118 bytes)
Quote from: hbelkins on February 13, 2021, 10:59:10 PM
Quote from: Brandon on February 12, 2021, 10:55:14 PM
Some, newer cars allow you to simply plug the USB flash drive directly into the radio system. That's what mine does (2017 Jeep Renegade). I plug in the flash drive and it plays automatically. After that, I can control much of it through the buttons on the back side of the steering wheel and, if I need to, control it via the radio touch screen.
What kind of display and navigation does it have? Does it read album artwork and track tags off the file data (preferred) or does it navigate the folder hierarchy of the source media? I'd much rather have a player that groups by artist and album, which would allow for individual tracks to be placed anywhere, than one that reads file name data. One reason is because you can end up with a display like Van Halen -- 1984 -- 05-Hot for Teacher.mp3. A long band name and a long album name means sometimes you have to wait for a lot of letters to scroll across the screen to pick your song.
I'm not crazy about touchscreen controls on vehicles -- I'd imagine there's a lot of expense required when repairs become necessary -- but it's my preferred method of selecting music.
I replaced the factory stereo on my old Toyota truck with one that had an iPod interface that allowed the head unit to control the device. I disabled that and continued to use the iPod because I didn't like the scrolling track names.
It's a 3"x5" (I think) screen. It doesn't show scrolling names, but keeps them stationary, such as:
Van Halen
Hot for Teacher
If you want to see more of the file name, say it's a long song title or group name, you can hit the info button to see the whole thing. However, it doesn't show the whole filename as you have above.
I can group the flash drive files by group, and even type of music (rock, pop, country, etc.) It's a fairly smart system as far as I've seen.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcanadianautoreview.ca%2Fimages%2Fcar_photos%2F2016-honda-hrv-2015-jeep-renegade%2Ficons%2Frenegade-infotainment-screen.jpg&hash=7d9fb210eb5e1ee9e6a2ae3adbf7114aac6760ef)
An epilogue to this post: I ended up getting one of the little $50 Onn 7-inch tables from Walmart. The native music player for native files is YouTube Music, believe it or not. I ended up downloading a bunch of free players including Rocket Player and VLC, but ended up spending the $3 or so for the ad-free version of Rocket Player. The tablet uses USB-C (which means I had to invest in some cables, because I had expected it to take micro USB cables, and I have a bunch of them) and the Micro SD card slot will take up to a 256 GB card, which should hold anyone's music collection.
I had a few issues getting everything copied over to it. An Android device won't mount on a Mac as an external drive like it will a PC. You have to have a third-party app to transfer files from a Mac to an Android device. The Mac version of the Android file transfer app is buggy as all get out. Most of the time, it won't even mount the device so you can copy files to it. And when I used the micro SD cards I had with a full-sized SD card adapter and put it in the card slot in the Mac laptop, oftimes the files would not copy. I'd drag a folder onto the card, let it whir and clunk to copy a few GB of data, and then find out the new folder wasn't on the card. I think I had some bad cards. And the lone 256 GB card I had suddenly stopped being recognized by the tablet. I can format it on the Mac as a FAT-32 device just fine, but out of the blue, the Android quit seeing it. And for what I did manage to get copied, for some reason, the player wouldn't recognize all the songs when I copied them to the card. When the player apps scanned for new songs, it would only see a few of them.
After buying a couple of new 128 GB cards and a couple of USB card reader sticks, I got the problem solved. i was able to set up the card for use on an Android, copy about 123 GB of MP3 files onto the card using the Mac, and Rocket Player finds all the albums. (I haven't tried VLC Player or YouTube Music yet to see how well they do.) Unlike a lot of the standalone MP3 players that read file names, this one reads embedded tags and puts the songs in the correct album order. I have a couple of 256 GB cards on order so I can add even more music to my collection.
With this method working, it leads me to believe there is a market for a standalone Android-based music player. I'd even call it AMP (Android Music Player) and it would perform like a mini-tablet with a form factor and functionality similar to an iPod Touch. An alternative might be to acquire an Android phone with a large SD card capability and use it as a wifi-only device as a dedicated music player. I had identified a couple that would work, including one from AT&T that I could use as a backup phone if necessary. I might still end up investing in it since it's only around $40 or so.
It cost more than I anticipated because I had to buy some more cards and a couple of card readers, but it seems like this is going to be a workable replacement for my iPod Classic. And I don't have to worry about dealing with iTunes anymore, either.
And another followup. The little ONN tablet works fine, but it's a bit too big for good use in a vehicle, so I found a Motorola E6 Android phone that accepts a 256 GB MicroSD card. Got a refurbished Tracfone model for $20 on eBay.
But I continued having issues with getting files copied to a couple of 256 GB off-brand cards I'd bought from Walmart.com. So I bit the bullet and bought a SanDisk card and also an ONN-branded card from Walmart. Apparently those cheap cards have issues, and if I hadn't let the return window expire before I figured out the problem was with the cards, I would have sent them back for refunds. Both the SanDisk and ONN cards work just fine, and the copy speeds are much faster with them than the other two cards, plus the files reliably copy.
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device. The official Android software is buggy, and all the other alternatives I've found aren't freeware or shareware. So I've developed a workaround. I process all my MP3 files on the Mac. In my case, I'm copying gobs of old albums I downloaded from Usenet over the years and saved on DVDs, or downloading MP3s of playlists off YouTube via the WonderShare AllMyTube Downloader software. I'm processing the files, renaming and tagging as needed using the MP3tag Windows software that's wrapped up in a "wine bottle," and then copying them to a portable drive. Then I have to use a PC to strip out all the extraneous files the Mac creates on a FAT-formatted drive -- files that start with ._ or .DS_Store files -- and then copy from the PC to the Android device or the card itself.
The result is that I have a functional MP3 player that will hold a huge collection of songs and functions much like an iPod Touch.
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2021, 08:18:45 PM
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device.
My solution has always been to use a USB SD card reader (you can either get one that works with Micro SD cards or get an adapter that allows you to insert the Micro SD card into a full-size SD card reader) and just copy the files over directly.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
Unless you like listening music you already bought and paid for and don't want to pay a monthly fee to listen to it again. Or you like music that isn't on Spotify. Or the music that you listened to on Spotify has been deleted because of contract disagreements. Or you live somewhere with spotty cell service, like, I dunno, Kentucky.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 10, 2021, 08:44:42 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2021, 08:18:45 PM
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device.
My solution has always been to use a USB SD card reader (you can either get one that works with Micro SD cards or get an adapter that allows you to insert the Micro SD card into a full-size SD card reader) and just copy the files over directly.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
Unless you like listening music you already bought and paid for and don't want to pay a monthly fee to listen to it again. Or you like music that isn't on Spotify. Or the music that you listened to on Spotify has been deleted because of contract disagreements. Or you live somewhere with spotty cell service, like, I dunno, Kentucky.
You can download music off of Spotify if you have premium. The other points are good, however.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 09:34:43 PM
Quote from: me
Unless you like listening music you already bought and paid for and don't want to pay a monthly fee to listen to it again. Or you like music that isn't on Spotify. Or the music that you listened to on Spotify has been deleted because of contract disagreements. Or you live somewhere with spotty cell service, like, I dunno, Kentucky.
You can download music off of Spotify if you have premium. The other points are good, however.
Well, I mean, like, I have a CD of
Dark Side of the Moon that my mom gave me for Christmas 2005. If I want to listen to "Time", I
could pay however much a month for Spotify Premium and download it from there...or I could pop the CD into my computer and copy the MP3/OGG/FLAC over to my phone and listen to it for free because my mom already paid for it as my Christmas present when I was 15.
In general I look with suspicion upon any sort of subscription model, preferring a pay-once-and-you're-done approach, because my financial exposure has a finite limit when I buy something and it is infinite with a subscription. The same reason is why I prefer to own a home rather than rent (at least I know the payments on my house will stop in May 2047, whereas they'll continue until the day I die if I rented the whole time).
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 10, 2021, 08:44:42 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2021, 08:18:45 PM
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device.
My solution has always been to use a USB SD card reader (you can either get one that works with Micro SD cards or get an adapter that allows you to insert the Micro SD card into a full-size SD card reader) and just copy the files over directly.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
Unless you like listening music you already bought and paid for and don't want to pay a monthly fee to listen to it again. Or you like music that isn't on Spotify. Or the music that you listened to on Spotify has been deleted because of contract disagreements. Or you live somewhere with spotty cell service, like, I dunno, Kentucky.
Or if you don't like how Spotify's pay structure works. Spotify is basically nothing more than exposure for independent artists.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
I guess that you guys could be right.
My Spotify is a mix of local .mp3 files and "subscribed" tracks. Spotify and other cloud-based music services are full-blown music applications ... to a point. Although local file support beyond just the computer is often behind a paywall (Spotify is like this).
I personally prefer the subscription model because local files are not available on every device, even with Spotify Premium. My local files are on my computer and my phone, but they are not supported on all devices. For example, neither my Apple TV or Amazon Echo support playback of "local" files, even those within the same playlist as subscribed music.
In the screenshot below, we see three songs. The first two were subscribed via Spotify, and the third is a local .mp3 file. The first two will play on all Spotify-supported devices, but only the .mp3 file plays on my phone and computer.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51305028741_229850fa81_z.jpg)
Spotify "Soundtrack" Playlist (https://flic.kr/p/2maDFB4) by Jacob Root (https://www.flickr.com/photos/62537709@N03/), on Flickr
So as it how it helps someone like HB: you can use Spotify to manage local files, but unfortunately you would need to pay for Spotify Premium to play them back on your phone. But you then have the advantage of being able to play them over the cloud without downloading them. This seems like a fairly minor difference, especially if you live somewhere with intermittent data coverage. But that does mean you could have your entire local library on your iPhone without taking any storage.
Reading through the thread, my gut told me that an older Android phone or tablet was the way to go, so good purchase there.
I'm not a fan of music subscription services for a number of the reasons listed above. Plus, I listen to very little new music and instead rely on my collection that mostly spans the years 1970-2000something.
I once attempted to use a free trial of Spotify, streamed the albums and captured them with software (Audio Hijack, I think) and then tried splitting up the long album files into individual tunes. But I found the sound quality to be lacking so I didn't re-up when the trial ran out and I needed to start paying.
My brother is an Amazon Prime member (I'm not) and he's been streaming music on Prime and capturing and converting them to files locally stored. I think he's had better luck than I did with Spotify.
It's not as rich of a source as it used to be, but once upon a time Usenet was a great place to obtain music if you had access to the binary newsgroups.
And then of course, there was Napster and the Hotline client and its various servers.
Plus, I have some music that was never released digitally that I'd like to preserve. I recently used a Mac app called Vinyl Studio to digitize a cassette recording I had of a recently-deceased friend's band from 35 years ago. They recorded several songs at a studio and I had a cassette copy of it. Upon his death, I digitized that tape, saved the files as MP3s, and shared them with his friends and relatives, and even a couple of his bandmates who didn't have copies of the tracks they cut. I also have a number of albums that never made it to cassette, much less CD.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 10, 2021, 08:44:42 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2021, 08:18:45 PM
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device.
My solution has always been to use a USB SD card reader (you can either get one that works with Micro SD cards or get an adapter that allows you to insert the Micro SD card into a full-size SD card reader) and just copy the files over directly.
Yep, that's what I do. With the added step of moving the files from my Mac (where I process my files) onto a separate card/flash drive and then using a PC to strip out the extraneous files (the aforementioned duplicates that start with ._ and the various .DS_Store files the Mac generates on a FAT-formatted drive). Now that my existing collection has been copied over, I'm batch-copying new additions in folders named for the date of the transfer. I'll work on 10-12 albums, get them ready to go, put them in a folder called "Copied to music player (date)" and copy that to the card that goes in the phone. I'm afraid I'll end up breaking the back case of the phone from popping it off and back on so many times, though.
Quote from: jakeroot on July 11, 2021, 04:22:14 PM
So as it how it helps someone like HB: you can use Spotify to manage local files, but unfortunately you would need to pay for Spotify Premium to play them back on your phone. But you then have the advantage of being able to play them over the cloud without downloading them. This seems like a fairly minor difference, especially if you live somewhere with intermittent data coverage. But that does mean you could have your entire local library on your iPhone without taking any storage.
Reading through the thread, my gut told me that an older Android phone or tablet was the way to go, so good purchase there.
I've always been the one who preferred a separate device for separate functions: a phone for calls and texts and rudimentary Web browsing/app usage, a tablet for more advanced usage, a camera for taking pictures, a music player for playing music, etc. Plus, i wanted to get away from having to use iTunes to manage the songs on the device. And Apple really needs to get with the program and allow external memory cards in its devices.
With this setup, if I'm visiting my brother and he has a great new album he wants me to hear, I can merely copy the files onto the card that goes in my device and I'm good to go.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 11, 2021, 04:40:44 PM
I've always been the one who preferred a separate device for separate functions: a phone for calls and texts and rudimentary Web browsing/app usage, a tablet for more advanced usage, a camera for taking pictures, a music player for playing music, etc. Plus, i wanted to get away from having to use iTunes to manage the songs on the device. And Apple really needs to get with the program and allow external memory cards in its devices.
I wouldn't even consider that too unusual. For years, my setup was some regular phone and a Zune. It was only about ten years ago after being robbed that I realized it was easier to replace one device than two.
There's no chance Apple will ever allow external memory apart from USB-C devices (iPad has a USB-C port). Many Android phones don't even have them anymore, and the trend is definitely not towards more external memory, as most people
seem to prefer cloud backups and storage over local files (particularly a helpful setup when replacing the device).
Quote from: jakeroot on July 11, 2021, 05:12:36 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 11, 2021, 04:40:44 PM
I've always been the one who preferred a separate device for separate functions: a phone for calls and texts and rudimentary Web browsing/app usage, a tablet for more advanced usage, a camera for taking pictures, a music player for playing music, etc. Plus, i wanted to get away from having to use iTunes to manage the songs on the device. And Apple really needs to get with the program and allow external memory cards in its devices.
I wouldn't even consider that too unusual. For years, my setup was some regular phone and a Zune. It was only about ten years ago after being robbed that I realized it was easier to replace one device than two.
I still use my old iPhone 6s as a glorified iPod, because other than battery life and the camera it still functions as good as it did when I first got it several years ago, and it still has a headphone jack. Getting a set of good quality wireless earbuds is low on the priority list for me right now, but I'm sure I'll have to do it eventually. Nothing lasts forever.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 11, 2021, 04:40:44 PM
I'm not a fan of music subscription services for a number of the reasons listed above. Plus, I listen to very little new music and instead rely on my collection that mostly spans the years 1970-2000something.
I once attempted to use a free trial of Spotify, streamed the albums and captured them with software (Audio Hijack, I think) and then tried splitting up the long album files into individual tunes. But I found the sound quality to be lacking so I didn't re-up when the trial ran out and I needed to start paying.
My brother is an Amazon Prime member (I'm not) and he's been streaming music on Prime and capturing and converting them to files locally stored. I think he's had better luck than I did with Spotify.
It's not as rich of a source as it used to be, but once upon a time Usenet was a great place to obtain music if you had access to the binary newsgroups.
And then of course, there was Napster and the Hotline client and its various servers.
Plus, I have some music that was never released digitally that I'd like to preserve. I recently used a Mac app called Vinyl Studio to digitize a cassette recording I had of a recently-deceased friend's band from 35 years ago. They recorded several songs at a studio and I had a cassette copy of it. Upon his death, I digitized that tape, saved the files as MP3s, and shared them with his friends and relatives, and even a couple of his bandmates who didn't have copies of the tracks they cut. I also have a number of albums that never made it to cassette, much less CD.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 10, 2021, 08:44:42 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 10, 2021, 08:18:45 PM
I still can't find a good solution to copy files to the cards directly from the Mac to the Android device.
My solution has always been to use a USB SD card reader (you can either get one that works with Micro SD cards or get an adapter that allows you to insert the Micro SD card into a full-size SD card reader) and just copy the files over directly.
Yep, that's what I do. With the added step of moving the files from my Mac (where I process my files) onto a separate card/flash drive and then using a PC to strip out the extraneous files (the aforementioned duplicates that start with ._ and the various .DS_Store files the Mac generates on a FAT-formatted drive). Now that my existing collection has been copied over, I'm batch-copying new additions in folders named for the date of the transfer. I'll work on 10-12 albums, get them ready to go, put them in a folder called "Copied to music player (date)" and copy that to the card that goes in the phone. I'm afraid I'll end up breaking the back case of the phone from popping it off and back on so many times, though.
Quote from: jakeroot on July 11, 2021, 04:22:14 PM
So as it how it helps someone like HB: you can use Spotify to manage local files, but unfortunately you would need to pay for Spotify Premium to play them back on your phone. But you then have the advantage of being able to play them over the cloud without downloading them. This seems like a fairly minor difference, especially if you live somewhere with intermittent data coverage. But that does mean you could have your entire local library on your iPhone without taking any storage.
Reading through the thread, my gut told me that an older Android phone or tablet was the way to go, so good purchase there.
I've always been the one who preferred a separate device for separate functions: a phone for calls and texts and rudimentary Web browsing/app usage, a tablet for more advanced usage, a camera for taking pictures, a music player for playing music, etc. Plus, i wanted to get away from having to use iTunes to manage the songs on the device. And Apple really needs to get with the program and allow external memory cards in its devices.
With this setup, if I'm visiting my brother and he has a great new album he wants me to hear, I can merely copy the files onto the card that goes in my device and I'm good to go.
Separate devices? Seems like a pain to handle.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 11, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
The same reason is why I prefer to own a home rather than rent (at least I know the payments on my house will stop in May 2047, whereas they'll continue until the day I die if I rented the whole time).
Property/school taxes also continue until they day you die - and around here at least, they're high enough that even a homeowner with a paid-off mortgage is paying practically the same amount as rent for a decent apartment would be. As such, I've never really bought the financial aspect to homeownership. Seems the only way one comes out ahead (vs renting) is if they sell and downsize when they retire, especially after maintenance/yard work/snow removal (in the parts of the country where that's an issue) costs are taken into account.
Quote from: jakeroot on July 11, 2021, 05:12:36 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 11, 2021, 04:40:44 PM
I've always been the one who preferred a separate device for separate functions: a phone for calls and texts and rudimentary Web browsing/app usage, a tablet for more advanced usage, a camera for taking pictures, a music player for playing music, etc. Plus, i wanted to get away from having to use iTunes to manage the songs on the device. And Apple really needs to get with the program and allow external memory cards in its devices.
I wouldn't even consider that too unusual. For years, my setup was some regular phone and a Zune. It was only about ten years ago after being robbed that I realized it was easier to replace one device than two.
There's no chance Apple will ever allow external memory apart from USB-C devices (iPad has a USB-C port). Many Android phones don't even have them anymore, and the trend is definitely not towards more external memory, as most people seem to prefer cloud backups and storage over local files (particularly a helpful setup when replacing the device).
Heck, when I replaced my phone, the new phone wouldn't recognize the micro SD card unless it was reformatted, so I ended up having to re-copy my music library anyways. I mainly use the card as a way to have the music there and take pictures without affecting the amount of space available for phone functions (though I wish I knew that it doesn't function the same way as native storage for the phone when I got my first smartphone and the card). If I ever end up with a phone with not a ton of storage and no ability to expand, I probably would just go without the music library; I mainly use it when vacuuming the apartment, and half the time I deem the hassle of dealing with headphones while vacuuming to be more trouble than it's worth anyways. I have an aux cable for the car, though I've never actually used it since I put my music library on my phone; around 2015, I started just going with silence when out of radio range, though I'm starting to question whether that was a good idea (I just changed my Syracuse station, resulting in a MUCH more enjoyable drive between Rochester and Albany, and filled out FM2 to significantly expand the area where I have radio coverage).
Quote from: vdeane on July 11, 2021, 05:45:26 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 11, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
The same reason is why I prefer to own a home rather than rent (at least I know the payments on my house will stop in May 2047, whereas they'll continue until the day I die if I rented the whole time).
Property/school taxes also continue until they day you die - and around here at least, they're high enough that even a homeowner with a paid-off mortgage is paying practically the same amount as rent for a decent apartment would be. As such, I've never really bought the financial aspect to homeownership. Seems the only way one comes out ahead (vs renting) is if they sell and downsize when they retire, especially after maintenance/yard work/snow removal (in the parts of the country where that's an issue) costs are taken into account.
Here, property taxes are more or less equal to two months of rent of an equivalent house.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 11, 2021, 07:40:12 PM
Quote from: vdeane on July 11, 2021, 05:45:26 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 11, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
The same reason is why I prefer to own a home rather than rent (at least I know the payments on my house will stop in May 2047, whereas they'll continue until the day I die if I rented the whole time).
Property/school taxes also continue until they day you die - and around here at least, they're high enough that even a homeowner with a paid-off mortgage is paying practically the same amount as rent for a decent apartment would be. As such, I've never really bought the financial aspect to homeownership. Seems the only way one comes out ahead (vs renting) is if they sell and downsize when they retire, especially after maintenance/yard work/snow removal (in the parts of the country where that's an issue) costs are taken into account.
Here, property taxes are more or less equal to two months of rent of an equivalent house.
Likewise even in high-tax Illinois. My property taxes are only about what it would cost to rent for 2-1/2 months. In addition, if you rent, you are paying property taxes. They come with a surcharge as well that is the profit for the landlord. Shoot, my mortgage plus taxes come to less per month than I could rent for.
I use the cheapest music player I can find. That gives me the two things I want most. The first is physical buttons, so I can use it without looking at it. The second is a monochrome screen, because the color screen on devices with buttons are useless in daylight, if I ever do look at it. I can't imagine using a touch screen device while driving.
Quote from: wxfree on July 12, 2021, 01:36:41 AM
I use the cheapest music player I can find. That gives me the two things I want most. The first is physical buttons, so I can use it without looking at it. The second is a monochrome screen, because the color screen on devices with buttons are useless in daylight, if I ever do look at it. I can't imagine using a touch screen device while driving.
In the case of many modern infotainment systems, most functions can be controlled through voice or steering wheel controls.
I haven't seen a monochrome screen in years. Modern color LED screens are quite good in sunlight. OLED less so.
I'm using a 2020 rental car for a bit while my usual (a 2011) is in the shop, so with that I've made the jump from monochrome to full-color touchscreen display.
The 2020 car has awful music controls and can't even shuffle properly off a USB stick. The screen often fails to display the embedded album art I have for each song in my collection and also can't read some tags properly. Less is more, a dumb car does it better for me.
Quote from: Takumi on July 11, 2021, 03:35:06 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
i mean, my own solution is just to copy all my music onto the phone.. the microsd card holds a shit-ton of it, i have probably 2000 songs on the phone. the problem becomes my old-ass car stereo. no bluetooth or aux jack, and the cassette deck just spits the tape back out, or i'd use a cassette-bluetooth thingy. my cuurent solution is an fm-thing, which works great in the canyon, but as soon as i pop out of the mouth of the canyon, there's no clear channels for it to use. disconnect the fm antenna from the radio, maybe?
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 12, 2021, 10:15:24 AM
Quote from: Takumi on July 11, 2021, 03:35:06 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
i mean, my own solution is just to copy all my music onto the phone.. the microsd card holds a shit-ton of it, i have probably 2000 songs on the phone. the problem becomes my old-ass car stereo. no bluetooth or aux jack, and the cassette deck just spits the tape back out, or i'd use a cassette-bluetooth thingy. my cuurent solution is an fm-thing, which works great in the canyon, but as soon as i pop out of the mouth of the canyon, there's no clear channels for it to use. disconnect the fm antenna from the radio, maybe?
I had one of those in my previous car, and I always found a channel that would work fairly well. Normally something like 90.7 or so.
Chris
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 12, 2021, 10:15:24 AM
Quote from: Takumi on July 11, 2021, 03:35:06 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
i mean, my own solution is just to copy all my music onto the phone.. the microsd card holds a shit-ton of it, i have probably 2000 songs on the phone. the problem becomes my old-ass car stereo. no bluetooth or aux jack, and the cassette deck just spits the tape back out, or i'd use a cassette-bluetooth thingy. my cuurent solution is an fm-thing, which works great in the canyon, but as soon as i pop out of the mouth of the canyon, there's no clear channels for it to use. disconnect the fm antenna from the radio, maybe?
The vehicle I'm currently having to drive, a 1990 Chevy pickup, has an absolutely crappy factory sound system. The control head is totally separate from the cassette deck, which no longer works, and the various FM transmitter devices I have don't really work really well. My solution was to buy one of those "tailgate" Bluetooth speakers for tunes. It's not the highest of high-fidelity mobile options, but I don't really need that, especially since I listen to podcasts as well as music. It works for my purposes.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 12, 2021, 11:32:36 AM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 12, 2021, 10:15:24 AM
Quote from: Takumi on July 11, 2021, 03:35:06 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
i mean, my own solution is just to copy all my music onto the phone.. the microsd card holds a shit-ton of it, i have probably 2000 songs on the phone. the problem becomes my old-ass car stereo. no bluetooth or aux jack, and the cassette deck just spits the tape back out, or i'd use a cassette-bluetooth thingy. my cuurent solution is an fm-thing, which works great in the canyon, but as soon as i pop out of the mouth of the canyon, there's no clear channels for it to use. disconnect the fm antenna from the radio, maybe?
The vehicle I'm currently having to drive, a 1990 Chevy pickup, has an absolutely crappy factory sound system. The control head is totally separate from the cassette deck, which no longer works, and the various FM transmitter devices I have don't really work really well. My solution was to buy one of those "tailgate" Bluetooth speakers for tunes. It's not the highest of high-fidelity mobile options, but I don't really need that, especially since I listen to podcasts as well as music. It works for my purposes.
How many times has the odometer flipped over?
Quote from: Rothman on July 12, 2021, 02:57:14 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 12, 2021, 11:32:36 AM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 12, 2021, 10:15:24 AM
Quote from: Takumi on July 11, 2021, 03:35:06 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 11, 2021, 01:33:02 PM
Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on July 11, 2021, 08:11:53 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 10, 2021, 08:32:07 PM
Spotify is the best way to listen to music
unless your commute includes 15 miles with no service...
You can download music on Spotify if you have premium.
Until the music becomes unavailable on Spotify for whatever reason.
i mean, my own solution is just to copy all my music onto the phone.. the microsd card holds a shit-ton of it, i have probably 2000 songs on the phone. the problem becomes my old-ass car stereo. no bluetooth or aux jack, and the cassette deck just spits the tape back out, or i'd use a cassette-bluetooth thingy. my cuurent solution is an fm-thing, which works great in the canyon, but as soon as i pop out of the mouth of the canyon, there's no clear channels for it to use. disconnect the fm antenna from the radio, maybe?
The vehicle I'm currently having to drive, a 1990 Chevy pickup, has an absolutely crappy factory sound system. The control head is totally separate from the cassette deck, which no longer works, and the various FM transmitter devices I have don't really work really well. My solution was to buy one of those "tailgate" Bluetooth speakers for tunes. It's not the highest of high-fidelity mobile options, but I don't really need that, especially since I listen to podcasts as well as music. It works for my purposes.
How many times has the odometer flipped over?
None. The vehicle has about 129K actual miles on it. It has fewer miles than any other vehicle in my family.
It belonged to my dad. When he bought it new in 1990, he and my brother drove out west in it. Since my dad was retired by 1990, he didn't need a "daily driver" and therefore he didn't put a lot of miles on it. He later bought an 1998 Chevy 4WD truck. When my dad went into a nursing home in 2008, he gave the truck to my brother. After my dad's death, since I already had a 4WD truck (the Toyota Tacoma some of you probably remember), my brother suggested a trade.
The '98 had had some problems, my brother tells me, while the '90 is extremely dependable. The only major repairs it's had done are a new alternator and a new muffler.
It looks awful -- the paint is terribly faded -- but it runs really good.