[ZeroThoughts]

I am in the process of converting my CD collection to FLAC format for seamless access and play through my home NAS and the home music system. Presently the total size is around 160 GB. Should end up near about 400 - 500 GB. Will keep increasing as more CDs are bought and added.
I wondered if any one can suggest means of playing FLAC files through any portable media player which has hard disk of high capacity, like 300 Gb or so.
The idea is to be able to carry most of my music around and play it in the car through an audio cable attachment going into the Aux In of the ICE.
In order of importance would be the following:
1. Plays FLAC file.
2. Has a good capacity hard drive.
3. Good battery life & / or can run off / charge through the 12V outlet of a car.

[Sankar]

There must be some large capacity player which supports FLAC too. But connecting the player through aux you will be using the headphone may not as good as using line out or a digital connection. If your HU is ipod enabled what you can do is get a ipod classic 160GB, convert all the most listened FLAC to ALAC and play it in your ipod and through your HU via ipod interface. -ve being you can hold only 160GB worth of FLAC per ipod.

[Astleviz]

I was also looking for a hard disk based FLAC player, so far these 3 products seem to fit the bill-

eBay India: Asus HD2 - HD TV Media Player with USB 3.0 and 3.5" HDD (item 380271391172 end time 29-Sep-2010 09:00:00 IST)

eBay India: Iomega® ScreenPlay Director HD Media Player USB 2 -1TB (item 250699719259 end time 29-Sep-2010 08:30:00 IST)

eBay India: Free Agent Theater Plus HD Media Player (item 250699718813 end time 29-Sep-2010 08:00:00 IST)

However I am not sure if they can be actually used in a car due to 2 reasons-
1. Power supply: Not sure if we can run these with a car battery. maybe a car inverter can be used.
2. Hard disk skipping: Not sure how reliable it will be on our roads with the constant hammering that it will take.

[Astleviz]

Sankar, initially I had thought of rockboxing my ipod to play flac files, however my flac library exceeds 250 gb and still growing so the ipod is not a solution if I want to carry my entire music collection with me. A hard disk based solution is more viable in this case.

[Sankar]

But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them). For in-car lossless listening I think ipod is the best integrated solution albeit with a capacity deficiency. But to be honest do we need all our FLAC collection with us while we drive? I don't get to listen even half of what i have which is a meagre 50GB.

[ZeroThoughts]

Originally Posted by Sankar

If your HU is ipod enabled what you can do is get a ipod classic 160GB, .

One car is ipod enabled, other two will need to use aux in and either the headphone out or line out if possible with the player.

Originally Posted by Astleviz

Sankar, initially I had thought of rockboxing my ipod to play flac files, however my flac library exceeds 250 gb and still growing so the ipod is not a solution if I want to carry my entire music collection with me. A hard disk based solution is more viable in this case.

Any idea what kind of hard disk is used in ipods? If it is not proprietary maybe one can think of upgrading it?

Originally Posted by Sankar

But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them). For in-car lossless listening I think ipod is the best integrated solution albeit with a capacity deficiency. But to be honest do we need all our FLAC collection with us while we drive? I don't get to listen even half of what i have which is a meagre 50GB.

Could you please elaborate on "But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them)." What are the reasons for this?

I agree that we do not get to listen much, but that is the very reason for me to try and carry as much as I can so that one can listen to whatever comes to mind rather than being limited to what one is carrying. And to keep changing over the music is a real pain or may be I'm just too lazy!

[nitrous]

a.Convert to Apple Lossless and play it from an Ipod with a Wolfson DAC.
b.Buy the Pioneer P99RS for 60k

I chose option c.
Don't be greedy and be happy with 320kbps mp3.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by ZeroThoughts

Could you please elaborate on "But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them)." What are the reasons for this?

Rockbox is another firmware which is loaded onto the apple hardware. iPod enabled headunits are designed to work with an ipod with the ipod firmware. So once the firmware is changed on the ipod it ceases to be an ipod and HUs built to connect to ipod won't be able to do so.

[ZeroThoughts]

Originally Posted by nitrous

a.Convert to Apple Lossless and play it from an Ipod with a Wolfson DAC.
b.Buy the Pioneer P99RS for 60k

I chose option c.
Don't be greedy and be happy with 320kbps mp3.

a & c mean that I will need to keep duplicates for all the music. Not only more troublesome but too much of a bother for back-ups too.

b = 60K X 3= 180K (thinkable?) + Not counting Lawyer fess and lifelong alimony!

Originally Posted by Sankar

Rockbox is another firmware which is loaded onto the apple hardware. iPod enabled headunits are designed to work with an ipod with the ipod firmware. So once the firmware is changed on the ipod it ceases to be an ipod and HUs built to connect to ipod won't be able to do so.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Google, wiki & amazon to the rescue!

Archos 5 500 GB seems to fit perfectly!

Got it from wiki, here is the link
Comparison of portable media players - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But Amazon's user reviews are not very great, does any one here have any experience with this Brand?

[navin]

Originally Posted by ZeroThoughts

The idea is to be able to carry most of my music around and play it in the car through an audio cable attachment going into the Aux In of the ICE.

Try Western Digital.

Originally Posted by Sankar

convert all the most listened FLAC to ALAC and play it in your ipod and through your HU via ipod interface.

Originally Posted by Sankar

But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them).But to be honest do we need all our FLAC collection with us while we drive?.

Originally Posted by ZeroThoughts

Any idea what kind of hard disk is used in ipods? If it is not proprietary maybe one can think of upgrading it?

Could you please elaborate on "But rockboxed ipod will not integrate with car head units (at least mos of them)." What are the reasons for this?

Originally Posted by nitrous

a.Convert to Apple Lossless and play it from an Ipod with a Wolfson DAC.
b.Buy the Pioneer P99RS for 60k

Originally Posted by ZeroThoughts

a & c mean that I will need to keep duplicates for all the music. But Amazon's user reviews are not very great, does any one here have any experience with this Brand?

I dont know much about computers and stuff so please excuse any errors on this but this is what i know.

1. Only ipods upto the 4th gen Ipod Video (60GB) can be rockboxed. Later ipods firmware cannot be rockboxed
2. Current 6th gen ipods do not have the Wolfson DAC.
3. ALAC is the highest bit rate format ipods can play (without modification)
4. The easiest way to create duplictes of your music (MP3 and Lossless) is to use programs like WACK (along with EAC and LAME/FLAC decoders)
5. The Archos machines are economical but aren't very good
6. ipod hard disks are not propeitory but the biggest 1.8" hard disk you can get is about 320GB I think (maybe 400GB). Last I heard Toshiba made a 320GB that Apple considered but dropped in 2009.
7. Most car HUs cannot drive big hard drives like the 1TB Western Digital My Passport AV 320 GB ( WDBABS3200ABK ) or Seagate drives otherwise Foobar awould be an option.