Not up to date with all the latest electronic music tech, nevertheless I have managed to download music from iTunes onto a CD occasionally and use it in my Toyota Echo.

However I'm definitely sorta ignorant re this pod stuff...
So, some questions?

Can I buy a $30 RCA MP3 player (or some other inexpensive player?) and still download music from iTunes onto it? (-I'd spend the $50+ for the Shuffle, but it's just too tiny for my arithritic fingers. And I don't want to spend $150+ for the Nano that has a screen I don't need or want!)

Or, if I need a different web music provider than iTunes for an RCA (or other) MP3 player, what might that be?

And when I do get an MP3 player, and the right software to load music onto it, how do I play it in the '10 Fit? Do I just lay it on the shelf by the glove compartment and plug it into the AUX jack?

Thanks for your patience; I know this stuff is probably pretty basic for a lot of you...

 

The RCA music player more than likely would need a mini to mini audio jack and will plug into the aux port. Itunes will work granted that you can transfer the music to the device from it. If not you will need a different way which I don't know if, you're buying music from itunes. I know itunes uses copy protection. I hope this helped.

 

You don't need a player at all. Assuming you have a computer, you can just copy the folders/files in your iTunes library to a USB flash drive. The user interface through the Fit head unit isn't quite as good as with an iPod, but a $15 flash drive is a lot less to worry about than an iPod. If you have your heart set on a player, look for a refurb -- someone else has burned it in, so it will probably be more reliable than a new one. I picked up a refurb 8gb iPod Nano 3g for $99 last year, and have been utterly pleased with it. But, I've got an 8gb flash drive plugged into the MP3 cable in my Fit. I usually play my music library in shuffle mode, so user interface isn't terribly important to me.

 

That sounds cool.. But I don't think I can do this as I don't have a USB connection in my '10 Basic Fit, only an in-dash AUX jack for MP3. Are you saying there's a way I can plug a flash drive into the Fit's AUX MP3 socket, w/o there being a USB connection?

 

Just burn the MP3s to a CD. It's the easiest way on a base model (no USB connection).

 

I missed that you have a base fit. I believe that it's possible to retrofit a USB cable, but CDs may be less hassle (although you have to figure out where to keep them, and prevent from them from getting scratched by constant jostling in an automobile).

 

no he thought you had a sport. You're limited to plugging in an Ipod or mp3 player through its headphone jack into the aux input on your radio. Any track selection would be directly on the ipod or mp3 player.

Another option I use is ripping music from CDs to windows media player and burning data discs in wma format. At 128kbs a standard CD holds about 15 hours of music that your Honda radio is smart enough to play (it'll even display the folders/titles).

If you buy music on itunes, digital rights management (DRM) will restrict you to only copying it to an ipod/iphone or burning regular audio CDs that you can play (but only 90 minutes worth) on your car's CD player.

I'm not aware of an easy way to take an itunes purchase and save it in MP3 or WMA format. Of course you could burn an audio CD and rip it using windows media, but that's a pain. Everything is set up to rip (copy) audio CD's but if you buy digital music DRM makes it difficult (understandably) to make copies.

Even if you buy music in WMA format and download to windows media player, it has it's own DRM preventing you from playing it on a non-authorized computer (or Honda radio) without first converting it to an audio CD.

I've taken to only buying music on CD so I can rip and burn what I want using Windows Media.

Edit: I should add that you can download MP3s from Amazon and others for a reasonable price without any DRM, but you are limited in what's available legitimately. Less scrupulous download sites are fraught with viruses and mal-ware. Maybe someone has some good suggestions, but you usually get what you pay for...

 

I LOVE the fact that I can plug a flash drive in and play MP3's right off of it. You can add the USB to your Base Fit if so desired but it does cost a little bit ($150). In my opinion, it is WELL worth it. The only down-side I've run into is that I picked up an 8GB Sandisk Flash drive for my data and to keep in my pocket... but it hasn't spent any time in my pocket... just the glove compartment. Now I need to buy another for my pocket! (my 512's are just too small).

sidenote: I have yet to put a CD in the stereo and I never understood those aftermarket Media Players for your car that have no CD slot... Until now. The CD is pointless (even with MP3's loaded) because a flash drive can hold sooo much more and are accessed much more quickly.)

Honda Fit Accessories - Genuine 2009-2010 Honda Fit Accessories Shipped at Discount Prices

~SB

 

Thanks guys...

Good info here. I'll have to decide what I want to do...

a} Buy a refurb $99 Nano maybe?
b} Try burning CDs in an MP3 or WMV larger CD format?
c} Have a USB connection installed in my base 2010 Fit?

Decisions, decisions...
-But at least you've filled me in with the right stuff, so I'll know now what I'm doing!

 

Normally I would recommend the cheapest/easiest solution like simply burning CD's, but I remember going through that stage with my old car and never being quite satisfied with it. From the CD's skipping, scratches, (it seemed my MP3 disks were much more vulnerable to scratches and skipping) storing/organizing disks and updating my collection, it just wasn't fun.

Getting the USB connection installed would be a nice option. I'm not sure how much a dealer/audio installer would charge to install this (maybe $60-120) plus the cost of the kit, but when all is said and done your will likely pay more than the price of an iPod. A great benefit of the flash drives though is that you do not need to plug them into a separate power source. I use a 32GB model in my Fit Sport and it's very convenient for me since I prefer to manually manage/organize my own music collection and acquire music from a variety of sources.

Ultimately, if you are comfortable with iTunes, have all your stuff configured on there, and primarily download iTunes content and other legal music downloads, in your situation I would probably recommend an iPod. You would also have the option to bring your music anywhere and have a true music/video player. For the record I don't own an iPod and don't normally recommend them, but it seems like a good option in this scenario. You would need a car charger for it though as well, so keep that in mind.

It also depends on the status of your current music selection. I would start with burning MP3 CD's first. They are dirt cheap and beginning to organize/manage your collection in this way to likely illuminate any deficiencies with enjoying your music collection without spending a lot of time/money.

 

Thanks...
And am I right in assuming that putting the music in MP3 format (instead of whatever the regular commercial format is,) means I can then get a lot more songs on a single CD?

And I guess I would only be able to play an MP3 CD in my car or on my PC because my home stereo system is old and doesn't have MP3 format capability... (Yet?)
But that's okay; having special CDs just for the car is no BFD with me anyway!

 

You might be surprised on playing MP3's on your home stereo. Anyway, yes when you burn in MP3 or WMA format (both are playable on your Honda radio) you can select the bit rate (bandwidth, compression quality). If you copy from an audio CD to MP3 or WMA without compression it won't hold that much. I typically use 128kbps using Windows Media to burn the disk. The sound quality is great, although not as good as the original CD could be. I can fit 13-15 albums on a CD in WMA format at 128kbps.

The USB module that attaches to the radio head is $215, the USB wire that goes to the glove box is $50. installation involves pulling the radio head, probably an hour labor so you're looking at what, another $80 labor? $350 to be able to use a USB device is a bit rich.

An SD memory slot is what is really missing. I'll make do with burning CDs. I know, it's so 5 years ago, but hey this is the first car I've had with a CD player. It's light-years ahead of tapes.

 

128kbps is too low of a bitrate in my opinion. I would say 192kbps minimum.

 

Thanks for alla good info guys...
Much appreciated!

 

college Hills is $150 for the USB (probably $10 to ship) including the cable and control unit. The Head unit is fairly easy to get out so adding in the USB could be a fairly easy DIY project. College Hills Honda I think has instructions on their site and a quick look at them shows me that this is one of the easiest DIY projects for installing the Factory USB Control. under $200 total including an 8GB flash drive.

I'd disagree about the SD slot. SD is changing technology on a somewhat regular basis because of physical size. First their was MMC, then SD, Then SDHC, now SDXC. While XC will be around for a little while (promising up to 2TB of storage), the standard is almost in a constant flux. USB has been upgraded to 2.0 (and now 3.0) but flash drives aren't limited in capacity by their physical size (there is no physical size limitation)

128 in WMA is better quality than 128 in MP3. 128wma is closer to 160 or 192mp3 so it is a nice compromise of quality and compression. With the interior noise level of the Fit, I'd say that's also a good choice as you won't really hear much (if any) difference between 128 & 192.

~SB

 

The CD is fine but I wish it would be able to read DVD media. The 4.7GB or even 8.5GB on dual layer would hold a lot of MP3s for very low cost. Too bad it doesn't work.

 

I just bought a bunch of cd-rw disks and copy my mp3s over

wished the USB option was cheaper, also it would block my kleenix box which is in the top shelf