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[wdesbrow]

I have a number of albums on flac files I'm using through JRiver that are stored on a home (WD) hard drive device. I am using Windows (both 8 and 10). I would like to select cuts to use in my car via a usb stick, although I am not 100% certain my car player will play flac files.  If I can play flac files using a usb stick, (1) do you recommend that approach? ..Or (2) if I cannot play them through a usb stick, should I buy a player that has that has flac playback capability and simply plug it into the "aux" jack, OR (3) should I convert the files I want to mp-3 level -- and then use them on a usb stick?  What is the best way to do that in JRiver?  THANK YOU.

[horse]

As always - it depends.

What I have done with the power of MC is create a portable device in MC and associate it with a USB FlashDrive, SD Card or folder for later use with a importing tool (depends on my device).
As for the format, it would mainly depend on if you can really hear a difference in the car between a High Bit rate MP3 or FLAC. My car is not high end, but quieter and better than most average cars. 5.1 DTS surround capable. I tried WAV and MP3 and settled on MP3 at normal as it was plenty good enough given the environment and it was most compatible with support for displaying album art, and other tags.

With our other cars (no USB playback support) we have the music (MP3) on our phones and either use a AUX in (not from the headphone but a Lightening to Analogue DAC cable) or over a Bluetooth receiver that supports streaming with a added advantage of having Hands free phone (its an older car but nice audio system) and some basic player controls. (Play Pause, next and previous)

like this one https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Comsoon-Wireless-Handsfree-Speakerphone/dp/B01MG490P2/ref=sr_1_124?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1494018632&sr=1-124-spons&keywords=BT+receiver+car&psc=1

With the Portable Device option in MC it is easy to convert music from your library format to any other supported one for this use. In my case my library is all WAV (tagged) as I did this back in 2003 - 2004 when FLAC was not supported by many devices and MP3 just didn't cut it on my home system. Storage is cheap.

[wdesbrow]

Horse,  Thanks Much for your speedy reply. 

I will try your approach using the Portable Device option in MC.  Maybe I missed this (?) -- ASSUMING I CAN PLAY FLAC FILES DIRECTLY FROM A USB STICK ON MY CAR ELECTRONICS (I still need to find that out) -- Can I assume it's possible to transfer and store FLAC files on a USB stick?  I tried moving some flac files to a stick (formatted in "FAT32") using only Windows commands and Windows refused to complete the copy.

[blgentry]

FLAC support in car audio equipment is almost non-existent.  Pioneer had a model or two that supported it.  Sony might have had a model or two as well.  I've NEVER seen a factory car head unit that would play FLAC.  I've seen WAV support a lot and of course almost all of them support MP3.  But never FLAC.

MP3 is probably "good enough" for car use, I agree.  But in today's world of storage, I see no need to convert my files if I don't have to.  ...and I don't have to with my setup!  My setup is a bit unusual; I'll describe it briefly:

I got a 4 year old used Android phone for free from a friend who didn't need it.  I installed various customization software to let me remap the buttons and things like that.  Then I chose what I thought was the best music player for Android, Rocket Player.  I bought Rocket Player (for all of $4) so I could use all of it's features.  It plays FLAC no problem, and even plays 24 bit 96kHz audio.

I bought a car mount for it with a jaw that holds the player and a suction cup device to stick it to the dash or windshield.  It's cabled to the AUX input on my player and has a charging cable running to a USB cigarette lighter adapter.  The charging cable also acts as a "sense" wire and my automation controls when the player automatically plays and pauses based on when it senses that the car is turned on or off.

Because this Android has an SD card slot, I can put quite a lot of FLAC files on a 64 GB card, which is very cheap these days.  I don't have to mess with MP3 conversion options; I don't have to wait while the computer does the conversion.  I don't have to maintain a cache of (otherwise useless) MP3s on disk.  I just copy FLACs to the SD card, insert it into the player and *done*.

My solution is far from perfect.  It's had some issues in cold weather.  ...and the Android is starting to show it's age.  I'm currently shopping for either a ~5" phone to replace it, or for a 7" tablet.  I'm not sure yet.  I'm almost 100% sure that I can get a perfectly functional device for $100 or under and that's awesome.

I guess this wasn't brief at all. 

Good luck,

Brian.

[wdesbrow]

Brian...

THANK YOU -- Your timing could not have been better -- and with a very "easy-to-understand" explanation.  I happen to have a 3 year old Smartphone that I just took "out of service" due to switching mobile providers, and I really like the idea of not having to convert and store music files.

I will try to purchase Rocket -- which I assume "takes the place" of a more expensive, more versatile hi-res player (?), which seem to start at around $450 -- and add a larger capacity card.

Perhaps you might have had some experience with this (?):  In the regular Windows file system, after plugging in a usb stick formatted to FAT32, I tried to copy (also tried to "drag") flac files from a hard drive connected to my home network to the stick.  Generally, each album seemed to start to copy properly (slowly) -- then dragged to a halt after 3-4 cuts.  Of course, I am wondering if I will have the same problem in copying flac files to my phone card ?!?.

I am receptive to any other tips you might be able to offer.  THANKS AGAIN.  wayne (412 860-5700)

[blgentry]

I will try to purchase Rocket -- which I assume "takes the place" of a more expensive, more versatile hi-res player (?), which seem to start at around $450 -- and add a larger capacity card.

Note that Rocket has a free version that does most everything.  You can try it and see if you like it's interface.  You might find it to be exactly what you want.  Or you might not.  Luckily there are many other players for Android.  A bunch of people really like PowerAmp.  I think it was designed by aliens.  I find it incomprehensible.  You might like something else.  It's nice that it's so easy to try programs on Android and remove them if you don't like them.

I'd suggest getting a player or two or three, and then transferring some test songs to the phone's internal memory.  You can get about 3 albums of FLAC in 1GB give or take.  Play with it and see if it seems like a decent solution for you.

...and yes, I use my Android player in lieu of a dedicated expensive player.   

Perhaps you might have had some experience with this (?):  In the regular Windows file system, after plugging in a usb stick formatted to FAT32, I tried to copy (also tried to "drag") flac files from a hard drive connected to my home network to the stick.  Generally, each album seemed to start to copy properly (slowly) -- then dragged to a halt after 3-4 cuts.  Of course, I am wondering if I will have the same problem in copying flac files to my phone card ?!?.

Hmm, that's odd.  I'm  not sure what might be going on.  I don't really use Windows much; I'm mostly a Mac and Unix guy.  Sorry I can't be more helpful on this problem.

Good luck!

Brian.

[aoqw76]

FLAC support in car audio equipment is almost non-existent.

There are plenty of flac capable car audio units available in the uk market, I have a kenwood model, easy to buy one from jvc or pioneer or sony. Must be different in other parts of the world.
http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-stereos/pioneer-mvh-190ui-car-stereo
Plays Via USB: FLAC, MP3, WAV and WMA audio files
http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-stereos/jvc-kd-x241-car-stereo
http://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-stereos/sony-dsx-a200ui-car-stereo

[MikeO]

Onkyo has a hi res player app , it's about $10 for android and apple

It has free demo to look at

Mike

[Racedog]

FLAC support in car audio equipment is almost non-existent.  Pioneer had a model or two that supported it.  Sony might have had a model or two as well.  I've NEVER seen a factory car head unit that would play FLAC.  I've seen WAV support a lot and of course almost all of them support MP3.  But never FLAC.

Things are changing quickly....my 2017 GTI can handle FLAC from my 256GB SD card from its built in SD card reader in the head unit. It can also handle my 96/24 music without issue.

[blgentry]

Interesting to note.  I'll be curious to see how things progress for FLAC support in car head units.

Brian.