I have not really read about car stereos in years and I was surprised
to see that they have the ability to play MP3s right from a USB flash
drive, and also have an AUX input for any audio source. One in
particular I read the box, (Pioneer brand), is AM, FM, CD, AUX, USB,
and Bluetooth
Yep, those are fairly typical features for most stereo systems.
I still dont quite understand what the bluetooth does.
It's basically just a wireless communication protocol that lets different
devices talk to each other.
For instance, you could play songs on your smart phone and have them
played over your car stereo via the wireless bluetooth connection.
Essentially like connecting a cable via the AUX input, only without the
wires.
Personally, I would rather put songs on a USB drive, but many folks have
everything on their smart phones.
If those car stereos have USB and the ability to play music directly
from a flash drive, that's all I need. Heck, a 16GB flash drive holds
over 5 times more music than my 3GB MP3 player.
My wife and daughter both have stereos with USB ports. They load up music
on a tiny USB drive, then plug it into their car stereo. Much more music
than a CD and no skips. We haven't played a CD in our cars for years.
I don't know about current stereos (ours are about 10-15 years old) but
ours are limited to 4GB flash drives. That's still a lot of music in a
tiny package. You could always carry multiple flash drives if that's too
limiting.
Our stereos are limited to MP3 files but I think newer ones support other
formats like WMA, AAC, and FLAC.
I keep saying I'm going to upgrade my ancient stereo to one with a USB
port. Unfortunately, every stereo on the market these days uses a knob
for the volume control. My car rides fairly rough so trying to make small
adjustments while bouncing around is kind of difficult. Worse yet, the
volume knobs usually have different functions when you push them in, so I
really mess things up when I hit a bump.
My old Alpine stereo had
separate volume up and volume down buttons, much easier to use with a
stiff suspension. But, I don't really drive much anymore and generally
only listen to the radio anyway. Low priority.
Just as examples, here are some cheap car stereos with USB ports that may
work for you:
https://www.amazon.com/JVC-KDR670-CD...6/ref=sr_1_228
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-DEH-X...-Din-Receiver-
Internet/dp/B01463VCMG/ref=sr_1_236
https://www.amazon.com/kenwood-KDC122U-Receiver-Front-
USB/dp/B00PWX9TJS/ref=sr_1_252
Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com