Maybe I was making some inappropriate assumptions. Like you were using a notebook with maybe 8 Gb of RAM in the truck, not a server with 16 Gb. I also assumed a RAM drive might not be stable enough for that sort of environment. It would be a bummer to load up memory with a 12-hour playlist, then lose Windows (i.e., something requiring a reboot) because of a bump in the road (or whatever). It doesn't seem worth it when the same playlist would fit on a 4 Gb flash drive (or most of it, even if FLAC files) costing $10. Another relevant assumption is that your "playlist for the day" is indeed for the day and doesn't need to be changed or updated. It would be a PITA to do that.
No, I was trying to stay within a $20 budget—another presumptuous assumption. 
I don't currently have a use for it, but with 32 Gb flash drives for less than $50, I was curious about the feasibility of syncing a selection of music to a portable installation. According to a smartlist, that would hold 1000+ FLAC files with a playtime of 3.4 days. It might be a convenient way to take some tunes to the office or other location where there's a suitable computer available.
Setting up a usb flash drive does work I have used that workaround before, the issue there is that MC does not clean up after it's self vary well. let me try to explain,
if i set up a flash drive as an external device and set any kind of directory structure like
[genre]\[author]\[book series]\[book title]
MC will initially copy the files correctly, but when I am done listening to a playlist and un check it for sync Mc shows on the sync that it is removing files but in reality nothing is changed on the flash drive.
I have to manually clean off the flash disk and re sync with the new playlist.
i know this sound trivial but it can be quite time consuming and with me I need a solution that i don't have to fiddle with for an hour before I start driving for the day. dispatcher's get pissy when I don't get moving in the morning when i should.
If I was every going to build a carputer, bet your ass it'd have an SSD.
My truck Server's boot drive is an ssd 60 gig so far I have had no problem with it but i don't trust it to hold any media yet.
my data drives are all 1TB 2.5 laptop drives , 2.5 drives are the only type of drive that seem to stand up to the pounding they take i typically have to only replace them once every 1.5 years. i think it helps that I have them auto park as soon as they are not needed by the system. I have used 3.5 inch drives only briefly when I first started driving truck i went through 5 of them in less then a year and that was that for me, 2.5 drives so so much more reliable for me. Soon i will have enough drives to set up a raid 6 array with 8 data drives all 2.5 1tb .
