I've spent the last few days ripping my CD collection to a 16GB flash drive, and I'm happy to report - it works great on the Fit! I can access any album or track from the (non-nav) headunit. I'm sure the Nav is even better with its big display. Seek time is fast.

If you turn the car off and then back on (or cycle the audio power), it starts playing from where it was. There is a few-second delay ("USB LOAD") before it starts playing, prolly buffering some data into memory.

I used CD-EX to rip, using the LAME encoder with 160 kbps/VBR and it sounds pretty much like the CD. Good enuf for me anyway.

I'm very impressed. Who needs an iPod when you got a cheap flash drive?

I have a bunch of audiophile friends who swear that vinyl sounds better than CD. Well, get one of those nifty USB turntables and go to town. Mounting could be problematic.. ;-) And fitting tube-type amps might be a pain.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. I just picked up a 4 gig to put my music on. It is just going to stay in the glove box too.

 

I agree! The USB interface is great on this car. I cannot understand how manufacturers still sell CD changers for $500. I threw a couple hundred MP3s on a tiny USB flash drive, stuck it in the USB connector, and it played right up with the non-Nav stereo. You can navigate directories, etc. No iPod needed. You can choose among displays such as file name, album, track, etc.

 

I use the flash with my navi unit. I love it! But it does load really slowly when i bring up the track list for a folder that has a lot of songs...

oh well, i shouldnt be reading through that when im driving...

 

I want to shake the hand of whoever invented this feature...

 

Is seeking through all the playlists really fast? I connect my 8GB iPod to it and it takes a long time to scroll through the many playlists. The other peeve I have with it is if you're playing a track and you want to say see a track title in that playlist or see a playlist near that current playlist it always reverts to the 1st playlist, which means you have to scroll down and that takes your eyes off the road for too long.

 

And oh yeah, vinyl always sounded better than CDs. OTOH, DVDs sound better than either.

 

It's a shame DVD Audio never caught on. MP3s theoretically should sound worse than CDs but my hearings not that good so I don't care. Plus, I can get all of my music I ever listen to on a 4 GB flash drive and listen to whatever I want.

How is the sound quality of the fit? It was decent on my 07, but I didn't get to isten to it much on the test drive (too much talking).

 

When I first played a CD in mine on the first day I thought it sounded tinny, similar to the 08s'. But after the speakers broke in it got way better. It's noticeably improved from the 08s. It gets most bass frequencies and the mids are clear with body. Imaging is a okay - it sounds like most of the sound is coming from the lower dash more on the passenger side. And some bass is boomy. But overall I'm very surprised and pleased with the sound from a car in this class.

 

I find it sounds better with bass cranked to +3 and treble +4.

I've ordered a small powered sub, once that comes in I'll lower bass to 0 or -1 and let the sub take all the LF pounding.

If that doesn't satisfy I'll replace the 6.5" drivers in the door with something better.

 

i'm sad, my creative zen was a no go... @least derez still da aux in

 

I loaded a bunch of MP3s on a 2GB SD card and plugged it into a USB device adapter. Received message (Unsupported format).
Read the manual and it said don't use card readers so.......
I ordered a 4GB Kingston flash drive from Newegg.
I hope that works.

 

I need to get an adapter for my Ipod.

 

Agree with above. I have an iPod and a Creative Zen. However what goes in (and stays permanently in the glove compartment) the Fit is a big USB (currently at 8Gig at $19, waiting for the 16Gig to come donw in price). Have not used the radio since.
I think the sound is unbelievable for such a cheap car.
Navigating the USB is fairly straight forward with the big round button.
The only minus is that you have to upload to the USB the albums in the same order you want it to play.
Genius indeed.

 

And I'd like to kiss their butt.

I LOVE this feature. One of the many things that sold me on this car. I love being able to see the artist/song when I'm listening to it.

 

Interesting. My USB setup (16G) plays the albums sorted alphabetically by artist. (Abba, Bowie, .... Zappa). I wonder if it has to do with the ripping software, and how the mp3 tags are filled in.

I use CD-EX (it's free, check it out) and all tags(artist, album ,track..) are put in place when the mp3 file is ripped.

I have my flash drive formatted as FAT32.

 

True, the ability to use thumb drives is pretty cool, but it does not quite compare to an ipod hookup. With the thumb drive, you can display the folder name, file name, album name (tag), or track name (tag). Maybe the artist tag name also, but I don't remember. Anyway, you can only search alphabetically through folders, and not by any of the tagged information. If you are lookihng for anything specific, it could take a long time with a full 8 or 16GB thumb drive!

The Ipod display, however, functions much the same as the Ipod itself, allowing you to search by playlist, artist, album, genre, etc.

Of course, if you are only plugging either in and playing tracks randomly, it really makes no difference. You'll have to decide whether the loss of control is compensated by the cheaper price.

 

I wish there was a way to fast-scroll through artist names on the iPod interface, the way you can on the iPod itself. With several hundred artists on mine, I end up listening to Alice Cooper, The Bangles, and The Beatles quite a lot.

I can unplug the iPod then scroll wherever I want, and it will play from there when re-plugged, but that's a nuisance.

Great feature though!

 

Yeah, I almost wish you could use the number input to "skip ahead" to the desired artist.

 

if you can get a high speed usb. i find there is a lag to go from song folder to the artist folder. few seconds but still not instantaneous.