Music storage drive for car stereo

[Edd]

I bought a new Kenwood car stereo last week and am going over portable music options. I have an MP3 player that I run through the existing aux port in the car which I"m using for subscription music as well as tunes that I own.

The new stereo has a USB cable routed into the glove box. I'd like to dump all of my CDs onto a portable drive and keep them in the glove box full time, powered by the USB port. Kenwood has software I can use to organize the songs on my computer. Then I can scroll through the files using the stereo controls. This would free up my MP3 player to use exclusively for subscription tracks through Rhapsody.

What should I use to store the music? I'm talking about maybe 300 CDs. Flash drives are awesome but expensive when you go north of 32GB. I can get a USB powered portable 320 GB hard drive for under $60 which sounds like a no-brainer. I'm wondering about the moving parts on bumpy roads or sub-zero temps however.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, the HD may have issues...summer heat too. Although, I know there are some people who rig up HD's to put in their car; entire PC's I think? I know there was a website about it.

 

[RootDKJ]

I'd look into a 2.5" drive in an external enclosure.

 

[bvibert]

Yeah, the HD may have issues...summer heat too. Although, I know there are some people who rig up HD's to put in their car; entire PC's I think? I know there was a website about it.

I'd be a little worried about bumps and whatnot too. You're correct though that people rig up entire computers in their cars. I don't recall if they typically use a HDD or a solid state drive. I'd imagine that laptop HDDs can take some bumps without failing though.

For ~$60 I'd give the HDD a shot, just make sure you have everything backed up.

 

[Geoff]

I'd be a little worried about bumps and whatnot too. You're correct though that people rig up entire computers in their cars. I don't recall if they typically use a HDD or a solid state drive. I'd imagine that laptop HDDs can take some bumps without failing though.

For ~$60 I'd give the HDD a shot, just make sure you have everything backed up.

The hard drive in an iPod Classic handles bumps & temperature just fine. It uses a 160 GB Samsung Spinpoint. I'll bet you can find it in a USB form factor.

 

[Marc]

Yeah, I have a friend with a car-puter. Laptop under his driver seat to a touch screen on his dash. HDD still works fine. Never leaves the car. I wouldn't worry much.

 

[gorgonzola]

i'm so out of touch - analog radio and a dozen or so cd's, but i don't commute or dirve too far

 

[Edd]

I think you guys have talked me into the hard drive.

 

[ctenidae]

My car has a 40GB hard drive built in for ripping CDs. I started to copy some to it once, then gave up, and haven't actually used that option in a year.

Hooking up a USB hard drive is inetersting, though, since it's portable.

 

[o3jeff]

My car has a 40GB hard drive built in for ripping CDs. I started to copy some to it once, then gave up, and haven't actually used that option in a year.

Hooking up a USB hard drive is inetersting, though, since it's portable.

I have HD built into my Jeep. Like someone said make sure you have everything backed up, I lost my music twice in 6 months. Mine also has a usb port which is a lot quicker than doing it by ripping the cds to it.

 

[Edd]

I experimented with a buddy's 320GB portable hard drive; one of the smaller ones on the market physically. It didn't work. The USB cable coming from the radio doesn't have the muscle to make the thing spin. People experience this with laptops and portable drives and run a second cable to it; one for power, one for data. Not an option with this setup.

So I went with a 32GB flash drive. Turns out my tunes take up roughly 2/3 of that. Works beautifully on the stereo.