Does anyone out there use a Thumb drive in the usb auxiliary input? I have tried it but it stops playing after about 10-15 minutes and I have to take the drive out and reinsert it. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks
B

 

I have actually noticed the same problem with certain brands of Thumb Drive...almost all *gasp* Sandisk. I've not had the trouble with the 8gb Sony I use now, YMMV.

 

Mine is a 16G kingston. My brother has a different model Kingston and never had a problem in his Nissan, I am going to try his in my car

 

I use a Corsair 16GB Flash Voyager. Works perfectly. I connect it using a BELKIN F3U134VFLEX Flexible USB Cable Adapter. The adapter let's me fold the stick 90 degrees so it tucks under the console and doesn't stick out. I got both at Amazon.

 

4GB Geek Squad from Best Buy... and the Orange matches perfectly with the MINI colors.

 

I am using an 8 GB PNY Attache and have had no problems.

 

This is very clever. Do the song titles and directories show up on the radio display as if there was an ipod/iphone plugged in?

 

do you think it has trouble reading mp3's encoded from different sources? it seems to have trouble reading mp3's encoded from itunes (yes they are mp3 not aac) but has no trouble reading songs i bought from amazon...

 

It may be something related to how the mp3's were encoded in itunes. Check to ensure that the mp3 settings (i.e. bitrate is set for CBR [constant bit rate] vs. VBR [variable bit rate], has a standardized bps i.e. 128 - 256kbps in stereo is usually a good starting point).

Feel free to PM me directly if you need some assistance with identifying and comparing these figures.

 

It does display song title, directories and artist on the radio display.

 

Its possible they won't play if you purchased them through iTunes because they use digital rights management.

Amazon does not use digital rights management on their mp3 downloads.

Here is a link to an iTunes support article about DRM

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2698

 

There may also be some sensitivity with the encoding, I couldn't say...I do know that when I had this same trouble on the first thumb-drive, I copied the music directly to my Sony and havn't had trouble since.

Multiple issues perhaps?

 

8GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro - Removed U3 stuff
Variety of mp3 and m4a files - various bit rates, all play fine
m4p (protected) do not play obiviously

Display is as if it were an iPod/iPhone

Might just be me, but I find the initial load/indexing of this 8GB USB drive to be slower than that for a 16GB iPhone 3G...

 

I use "protected music converter" to remove DRM from mp3's. Great little program. Oh it supports ALL formats.

 

It is the power consumption that some usb drives use that makes some brands work and others not.

 

Is there any way to tell the difference?

 

I don't know how to tell the difference. The hit or miss on thumb drive brands is not just limited to the Mini USB Drive. There are other electronic drives that are also limited to certain brands of usb drives.

 

I just got this microSD card reader. Its a tiny little thing. Its tested to a 2GB sanDisk card. 8gb is next, if I only had more songs :( It works great and you you can't see it. Sorry for the crappy pic.

 

I use a Dane-Elec from target and it works fine. plays all my songs