# Car music options **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 7, 2022, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102 "2022-05-07T08:44:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/41 "2022-05-10T02:19:51Z")
Yes, that comes with a free Brooklyn Bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/42 "2022-05-10T02:41:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 2TB for $8.88? Can that possibly be real? Why am I bothering to buy hard drives? I thought that too. I suspect it’s a typo. But you can still get a “button” size USB memory stick that would have many many months worth of continuous mp3 songs for almost nothing. [Here’s one that seems more realistic in price and capacity.](https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/sandisk-cruzer-fit-usb-flash-drive-32-gb-usb-20/apd/ab759875/memory?gacd=9646510-1025-5761040-266794296-0&dgc=st&ds_rl=1282786&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_-CUvPPT9wIVypyzCh0f7wAwEAsYAyABEgJ-gfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&nclid=97BQIqL9rPRjXZRo7KLPXsWiNXG6rz00NjV8g7p5H2DE8OdpbGX8j-AutnsyhDxn) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/43 "2022-05-10T03:02:06Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Pretty zen. All minimal effort on my part, and all free… I’ve done that. When you are out of range of the local college’s NPR station (which has the power of a AA battery) it was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus for much of the country. We were quite happy driving around the country with Sirius Radio and the music on my phone. No Jesus, except when we played the Book of Mormon soundtrack. And we played “Salt Lake City” (not the actual spelling, I know) as we drove through Salt Lake City. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/44 "2022-05-10T10:33:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > 2TB for $8.88? Can that possibly be real? Why am I bothering to buy hard drives? I have a “SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD”. It is not thumb-sized and was not $8.88, but it works well for digital audio files. There is also a 4 TB model, maybe more. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/45 "2022-05-10T13:59:30Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > 2TB for $8.88? Can that possibly be real? Why am I bothering to buy hard drives? > > I thought that too. I suspect it’s a typo. Or a counterfeit? > **[Don't Fall for the Flash Drive Scam!](https://www.instructables.com/Dont-fall-for-the-Flash-Drive-Scam!/)** > > Don't Fall for the Flash Drive Scam!: Hey Guys- I recently became aware of a major scam on eBay. Hackers in China are selling flash drives with less memory than they advertise. Users like PikesPeakTraders sell thousands of 'hacked' flash drives from... ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/46 "2022-05-10T17:14:26Z")
A good heads-up from Thudlow\_Boink. that’s why I like to but stuff like that from real stores. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/47 "2022-05-10T17:19:00Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’ve done that. When you are out of range of the local college’s NPR station (which has the power of a AA battery) it was Jesus, Jesus, Jesus for much of the country. Definitely; it varies widely depending on where you are. Sometimes you find absolute gems of stations, while in other areas, your choices may be only country music, religious stations, right-wing talk, and sports talk. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/48 "2022-05-10T19:57:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > …religious stations, right-wing talk, and sports talk. [Shudder]… sounds like Hell (remember Gary Larson’s depiction of Hell’s Library? “1001 Story Problems”, “Even More Story Problems” etc). I guess I’ve lucked out. Most of my trips are between Pittsburgh and Minneapolis, or some part of that route. All very civilized. Never out of range of an NPR station. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/49 "2022-05-10T20:19:58Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Amazon Music Prime (comes with my Prime Membership.) Hm. I have a Prime membership but have to pay extra for my Amazon music. I wonder what I’m doing wrong. I’m very much tech challenged and have never been able to get Alexa to work on my phone – or anything else for that matter. I download music from Amazon music to the app, put it in a playlist, and then open and start the playlist whenever I get in the car. I’d love to figure out how to just tell my phone “Play Jimmy Buffet, Floridays” and be done with it. I still have an extensive CD collection and for us luddites there are [Bluetooth CD players](https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Bluetooth-Rechargeable-Visibility-Headphone/dp/B09F6CT25V) available. I have several albums that I cannot find on Amazon Music. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/50 "2022-05-10T20:43:14Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > > [@pulykamell](#): > > > > Amazon Music Prime (comes with my Prime Membership.) > > Hm. I have a Prime membership but have to pay extra for my Amazon music. I wonder what I’m doing wrong. You’re not doing anything wrong, if you want access to more than just the music that’s available free to Prime members. > **[Amazon Music Unlimited vs. Amazon Prime Music: Which is Better?](https://www.lifewire.com/amazon-prime-music-unlimited-and-amazon-prime-music-compared-4160098)** > > Amazon offers two streaming music services for Prime members. One is free and one is paid service. Here's how to decide if one is worth the money. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/51 "2022-05-10T21:47:05Z")
Just popped back in because I’m sharing music with a couple of friends and it reminded me of this thread, and how different everyone is. Marty listens to nothing but CDs, he has a whole wall of them. He won’t listen to any music I give him on any kind of drive. In fact, if he’s going to listen on his computer, he wants me to burn tracks to an Audio CD, then he’ll rip them to mp3 files. Which means, any time I want to give him over an hour of music, I have to burn multiple disks, and of course the music is getting compressed. I told my friend Larry about that _Wall O’ CDs,_ and he said “If I ever have to own my music in a physical medium, just shoot me.” He doesn’t want me to _give_ him any music, he just wants me to name the performer and he’ll ask Spotify for a playlist built around that. Not easy when I’m trying to get him to listen to an obscure band, or a specific song. Then there’s Tommie. She’ll only listen to huge audio files. She gave me a blank 2TB Hard Drive with instructions to give her nothing but High Bitrate Lossless Files (AIFF or FLAC). The drive was needed; some of the songs were a couple of Gigs each. I don’t dare ask them what they listen to in the car. I’m not up for yet another lecture on why the way they do everything is _acccctually_ the best… . eta: I just remember that I offered to burn a great audiobook by a friend’s favorite author as he and his family were planning a long road trip… _“Uhh, thanks, but we only have a cassette player in the car, and we don’t have any music or books on our phones”. 😮_ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/52 "2022-05-10T23:57:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > You’re not doing anything wrong, if you want access to more than just the music that’s available free to Prime members. Yeah, I find that the regular tier covers about 85% of what I ask to listen to and 100% of what my kids listen to. I have since gotten Apple Music after checking out their trial, so I pretty much get everything I want (like I can even call up an album I played on with a Hungarian indie rock band back in the early 2000s – it can be that thorough), but even before that, it was pretty solid for being included in the Prime membership. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/53 "2022-05-11T00:26:06Z")
I have this sometime impression of mp3 files as “cute” and “fun”; they are so small they are easily shared with your friends, and seem like an appropriate thing to pop in your car (also for jogging, working out, etc.) And (depending on the type of music, etc etc bla bla) they sound fine in those contexts (unless you encounter those files encoded at 128 kb/s or worse(!), which really do sound like shit. However note the Spotify 128 kb/s is AAC which will not be quite so bad, and of course most of the Bluetooth codecs will be totally fine for the car use case). ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/54 "2022-07-03T01:35:38Z")
Okay…totally didn’t think I was going to be revisiting this, but something just came up. While I was trying to switch drive letters on my pendrives, I made the mistake of formatting them. (The default option was “FAT32”, which I assure you is a mystery to me.) When I tried to play the mp3 files in my car, I found that one drive stopped working altogether and the other is nearly as bad. They’re not damaged…they\ can serve their intended function as file storage all right…they just don’t work in my car anymore. Any remedy? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/55 "2022-07-03T22:44:47Z")
FAT32 should be universally fine for any USB storage. Which makes me suspect your drive is one of those fake ones which don’t re-format well. BTW: I use a uSD card plugged into a tiny USB adapter. I full size USB stick is a breakage hazard. You bump against it and you might break the stereo’s USB connector. I bought a bunch of [these](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028R3NCU/) back when they were commonly stocked. They hardly stick out at all. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/56 "2022-07-03T23:55:00Z")
Oh crap, is _that_ what happened? Yes, I got one of those “micro” drives, but it felt hot every time I took it out, so I switched to my full-size stick . Then for some reason the connection got janky…I think I jiggled the stick a _tiny_ bit a couple times, binder clip hit the end or something. So I switched back to my micro drive, where I found out that my car connection now couldn’t pick it up at all. But I just tried my micro drive on a different vehicle, and it looks like it can’t pick up at all. So who knows. My regular size drive is an Easystore and my micro drive is a Scandisk, if that’s any help. (Dammit, I’m going to have to buy a portable CD player at this rate…) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/57 "2022-07-04T00:50:32Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > my micro drive is a Scandisk, if that’s any help If it really is a “Scandisk” instead of a Sandisk, I suspect a fake knock-off. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102/58 "2022-07-11T04:38:27Z")
Okay, (hopefully) last update: The microdrive is a SanDisk (not a brand guy to begin with, do _not_ appreciate weird hard-to-remember names), and despite working perfectly on my computer is now completely incompatible with my car for some reason. So I switched back to my Easystore, and whaddya know, it works like a charm. No port damage, no drive damage, no formatting woes. I’ll just leave it like that. Won’t even waste any energy speculating as to what happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-music-options/964102.md?page=2)