baltos550

I am currently using the 6-in-1 PCMCIA adapter with an 8gb SDHC class 4 card. The issue is that I have about 30gb total of music in MP3 files, but I would like to have access to all my songs without switching SDHC cards. Will a 32 gb card work in the 2009 S550 PCMCIA adapter? Another option is burning four dual layer DVDs (each holds about 8.5 gb) to leave in the unit. Also, can the PCMCIA adapter with an SDHC card be stored or left in the unit during hot summer months?

AMGfan

I just transferred all my music onto two 120G iPod classics...could that work for you?

listerone

I've filled a 16GB CF card and the MP3s played flawlessly.That suggests to me (but doesn't prove) that you should be fine with a 32GB card.I'm awaiting my 6-in-1 card reader and on arrival I'll be trying a 32GB SD card.As for keeping the adapter and card in the vehicle...I wouldn't.It seems possible that extremes of temperature (particularly heat/sunlight) would hurt the card.

Polar Bear

With the DVD Changer I think the DVD-R D/L would be a good option - you should be able to get a good bit rate and have a lot of music as long as you don't mind it is compressed. Would be interested in the results of the 32GB SD.

HiTach

I transferred ~35GB of MP3s to 6 Phillips Dual Layer DVD +R disks. Dual Layer disks gave me the extra capacity of ~8GB per disk. They play perfectly and the audio quality is fine for me. The only time the interface is slow is when I change between disks. I have the music organized alphabetically by artist and album and named the disks A-F, G-L etc. I can list all the artists, and then all the albums and then the songs of each disk.

Does anyone know how the read speed/Class of the SD card affects the speed of the interface when browsing through album/artist/song names?

baltos550

Thanks for the comments above. I copied 38 GB of MP3s over to 5 dual-layer DVDs. This worked well but the quality of sound is noticeably less than playing a song from an original CD. The same decrement in quality and richness of sound applies to MP3s transferred to an 8 GB SDHC card. When I ripped the MP3 songs from the original CD of music to my WMP, I chose the highest bit rate of 320 Kbps available.

My question is about the quality of music using a Lossless format (either Windows Media Audio or WAV). Can songs be ripped from an original CD conveniently to my WMP? If done, how many songs can fit on a dual-layer DVD, SDHC card or a Compact Flash card doing this? Would the quality of sound match the original CDs?

Thanks!

Polar Bear

Lossless would sound like the original CD however I am pretty certain that the head unit is incapable of decoding lossless codecs. I am a little surprised that there is a difference between the 320kbps and the CD as they are typically very close however the MP3 decoder software in the head unit may not be delivering the sound as accurate as CD-DA format.

famous550

I currently have about 3k songs on my ipod. I just create playlists with 150 songs in each.

vaiofan

Which PCMCIA adapter are you using?

famous550

Don't use the Pcmia card. I use the ipod connector in the glove box.

Diesel Benz

Good to have arguments well explained. I'm sure you could have added something in addition to the fact that "you are using an iPod".

famous550

Lol ok.

listerone

A final report on my "music library" research....just confirmed this morning that there's at least one PCMCIA-CF Card reader/32GB CF card combo and at least one 32GB flash drive that works perfectly with my Comand sound system.

The CF route features a CF Card Reader labeled "I Connect",made by "PPA International".I recently paid $8 for it at Micro Center which is a national chain.The 32GB CF card is made by Transcend and is labeled "400x".I paid $75 for it in Manhattan the other day.That combo holds 4000+ songs for a total of about 29GB.All the songs play perfectly.

The flash drive (connected via the glove compartment cable...$55) is a Micro Center brand and I think I paid about $30 for it.With the drive almost filled all the songs play perfectly.

baltos550

I have been looking for a convenient source to use in the car to listen to my large music collection (turns out that it is around 60 GB). While DVDs work, I find that switching from DVD to DVD is not as convenient as I would like. So. I transferred 30 GB of music onto a 32 GB SDHC card. All of the music on the card is accessible from a computer, but not the car. In the car, only the first ~20 GB of music is accessible and playable. What is the reason for this limitation?

HiTach

Look at the last album/song that is recognized in your car (scroll to the bottom of the folder list).

Put the memory card back in your computer, highlight the folders up to the last one and check the properties to see how many files there are up to the last playable song.

The manual states a limit of 4000 songs. I get less than that (~2700?), which is about 12GB of the 30GB available music on my 32GB Compact Flash card.

I assume the songs are in a folder structure, not in the root folder.
I use a traditional Artist/Album/Song hierarchy.

What bitrate are you using?

WEBSRFR

All my music is lossless and encoded with Apple lossless compression directly from CD. My music library is about 220 GB and I have absolutely no issue accessing it via the car's audio system and it can process the lossless audio just fine. I would not want to listen to my music any other way.

This is how I did it and it will only work with iPod Video units. The original iPod Video came in: 30GB, 60GB & 80GB sizes. Just get yourself one of these ipods and send it to to someone who can upgrade the hard drive to 240 GB! You can then put all the lossless audio you want (Well, up to 240GB anyway) into it and enjoy it in your car...

I am generally not an Apple person but this is the best way I could figure out to have access to all my music in the car...

http://www.iresq.com/ipod-repair/ipo...ard-drive.html

baltos550

I encoded the mp3s at a bit rate of 320 kbps, but I would like lossless. I guess using an pod is the best way. To give me an idea of size to buy, any idea what 220 gb lossless translates into mp3s encoded at a bit rate of 320 or even 256?

WEBSRFR

Honestly I don't know. I buy all my music on CDs and then encode it digitally using lossless because I absolutely don't want to loose any quality whatsoever. My music library is about 8000 songs so I think the equivalent MP3 encoding would probably take only about 1/3 or less of the space I am using.

If you are ever undertaking the task of encoding your entire CD library (it took me weeks) just use a lossless format so you don't loose any quality. You can make an MP3 copy at lower quality on a separate folder.