MP3InTheCar

• There must be a better solution, and I think I've found it! I noticed it in the automotive department at WalMart. (Other stores probably carry it too.) It's made by Scosche, model FMTD5R. The blister packaging says, "Digital FM Transmitter with Remote Control - works with USB flash drive and MP3 players." It's a device that plugs into the lighter socket, accepts a flash drive filled with MP3 files, and plays them through the FM radio in the car stereo. I mentioned it to a buddy (Rob S.) where I used to work, and he bought one. One concern I had is that I did not want it to start at the top of the play list every time I started the car. He told me it simply picks up where it left off. Good enough for me! So I bought it for $29. On the way home I stopped at K-Mart and bought a 4-GB flash drive for $15 (HP model v125w) . When I got home I loaded a bunch of MP3 files onto the flash drive. Next I plugged the Scosche FMTD5R into my lighter socket. It came on already set up for 88.7 MHz, which happens to be unused in my area, so I did not change the channel. Next I plugged in the flash drive and the music started! I was worried about the ability of the FM transmitter to send a clean signal to my radio antenna, which is on the center of the roof at the rear of the vehicle. But it works well! Actually less noise than the previous solution I was using with all those wires.Some operating notes after about 30-minutes of playing with it:Indeed, when the power to the lighter is turned off, and then on again, it picks up with the last song played -- and it starts the song at the beginning. I prefer that over picking up right in the middle of a song.
• It has a built in equalizer function, but so does my car stereo. So I left the FMTD5R on Normal setting, and set my car equalizer to Pop setting. Rock setting also sounds good.
• There is also a volume control on the FMTD5R. I found that setting it at 90% gives me plenty of signal, but without distortion. I noticed some distortion with volume set at 100%, probably because it was over driving the FM transmitter.
• This is essentially a hands-free operation. I turn on the ignition, and the FMTD5R turns on the FM transmitter and starts playing music all by itself!
• And there are no batteries involved! It really doesn't get easier than this -- unless your car stereo had a USB jack on the front panel and played MP3 files.
• The FMTD5R also comes with a wireless remote control, which can advance to the next or previous song, change the volume, change the FM channel, and more. If you know the order of your songs, you can punch in the number (say song #1,362), push the Pick A Song button, and that's where it will jump to.
• I put all my MP3 files into folders, and then copied the folders onto the flash drive. The FMTD5R isn't hindered by the folders. However, it will play all the songs in a folder before moving on to the next folder.
• Another nice feature I guess I would call "wrap around." After the last song is played, it will go back and start playing the first song. Also, the advance/previous buttons wrap around too. The play list is really a carousel of songs with no end.
• The Scosche FMTD5R comes with a male/male stereo plug wire, in case you want to plug in your own MP3 player. Not sure I will ever use it since my music is on my flash drive.

In summary, I am very happy with this solution to play MP3 content in my car.

1/19/2009 -- I had some driving time yesterday and there are a couple more notes to make about the operation:

• The Scosche FMTD5R appears to be read-only. It does not create any files on the flash drive. This is fine. However, it creates an interesting situation if you plan on using more than one flash drive. The FMTD5R remembers that you were listening to song #328. But it has no way of knowing that you switched flash drives while the car was off. It will try to play song #328 on the new flash drive. If there are only 50 MP3 files on the new flash drive, it won't be able to find #328, so it will start playing from #1 and recount the number of songs on the flash drive. Too bad it can't leave a "cookie" on the flash drive. This could open up some interesting possibilities. For example, wouldn't it be nice to have a different flash drive for different libraries of MP3 content? This is still possible, but the FMTD5R will not remember where you left off on each flash drive.
• The Scosche FMTD5R also exhibits limitations on the types of MP3 files that it can play. A song encoded at 160 kbps (file size 4.4 MB) would not play correctly. It sounded very strange. However, nearly all my MP3 collection is recorded at 128 kbps and that plays perfectly. My buddy, Rob S., also shared some highly compressed songs that would not play correctly on the FMTD5R. Since there are so many different bit rates for MP3 files, this could be a problem for some people. The solution for me is to identify those songs that need transcoding to 128 kbps, and perform that operation on my computer. The easiest way I can think of is to convert the MP3 file to WAV, and then reconvert it backto MP3 at a different bit rate. Or even re-rip the track from my CD, being sure to tell my ripping software what bit rate to use.
• The display on the Scosche is very small, of course. At night it is very easy to read, and I see now that it has two colors: Blue and Yellow. The Blue section provides information about the current operation, including the scrolling of MP3 tags on the MP3 file that is playing. The Yellow section has icons, I think. I'm not sure what they do. The amount of information on the tiny display is remarkable. This is a sophisticated little device! Maybe someday they will offer a version with a larger display, like you might find on a digital camera.
• The remote control works well, and is more handy than I thought it would be. My daughter loves being able to hit the Skip-To-Next-Song button from the back seat! Now she wants one for her car -- once she is old enough to drive! :-)

1/24/2009 -- After using the Scosche FMTD5R for about a week:

• I have noticed that a couple more of my MP3 files will not play properly. I am still working my way through 500+ songs loaded on the HP flash drive, so there may be more "defective" songs. Going forward I will need to have a pen and paper ready to jot down which songs don't play. The filename / MP3 tags still display normally on songs that do not play properly.
• I have also noticed that on some songs, the first second is garbled. Some of my songs have a silent "lead in", which may be masking this problem. It looks like I will need to experiment to determine if a quiet lead in is needed on all tracks, or if the start-up garbling problem is related to the sampling problem. Don't misunderstand, this is not a serious issue, but in my spare time I would like to dig deeper.
• The display is essentially impossible to read in the bright sunlight, or even in cloudy daylight. But at night it is really easy to read, although small.

For the future, I need to rip some CD tracks at various sample rates, and with various lead-in set-ups, and see what the results are. I will post them here after the experiment.

I will keep adding to this web page as I discover more insights. I welcome readers to add comments. (I think Google allows that. I'm new to Google Sites.)

9/4/2010 -- OK, I never got around to doing experiments on sampling rates and lead-ins. And I never recoded the two or three "defective" songs. In fact I have been listening to this device almost every day since I bought it almost 2-years ago. Since it is always plugged in, and always on, it is like "Art's Radio Station." I hit the preset button on my FM radio and there it is, blasting out my oldies but goodies. Some operational notes:

To improve my overall AM and FM reception, I upgraded the stock "rubber duck" antenna to a "stick" style antenna. And it *did* improve my reception, especially on AM. In my area, I ended up landing on 90.3 MHz FM as the best channel for my MP3 set-up. All was fine; life was good. Then a few months ago my stick antenna on the roof broke off, and took the antenna connector with it! So I've been driving around with no antenna. No AM, and weak FM reception. However, this MP3 set up never sounded better! Not sure how or when I am going to repair the car radio antenna.