Mac in upper case is something else.

 

microsoft's business model is to lock people into their software and products and using digital rights management is one of of locking people in. so that is why it does not work they are one of the big pushers of digital rights management along with the movie and record producers.

 

Microsoft is hardly alone in this, and Apple only recently started making unlocked copies available on the iTunes store. If proprietary solutions bother you, take a look at Linux, in particular Ubuntu, which is aimed at the desktop end user, rather than the Linux geek. Ubuntu Home Page

Ubuntu comes with a more complete package of software than Windows XP, about comparable to Mac OS (which is also built on a Unix foundation). The Ubuntu installer 9.04 will even partition your Windows hard disk, so that you can choose which OS you want to use. I run Ubuntu about 90% of the time, and fire up Windows only when I have to. Ubuntu runs very nicely on low end hardware such as a netbook. Say goodbye to paying for software upgrades, viruses, and malware.

 

Since this thread has resurfaced, I can confirm that my Toshiba GigaBeat does not work either. I didn't expect it to because I know the files get re-encoded when they go in, and no longer have an mp3 extension. Interesting though, the radio readout just says 'no song', which had me hoping it was a setting I could tweak in the gigabeat- to no avail. I LOVE my gigabeat player, so I'm fine with using the aux input.

I have a question though- do you find you have to crank the radio up loud using usb, as you have to using the aux? The radio volume maxes out at 40. With the aux, I need to put the volume up to at least 30 to 'fill' the cabin. I can put my mp3 player volume up high, which I do, but not at max because I don't like clipping that DAC converter. It's better to not clip the player, and boost the radio volume. But is this the same volume response with usb?

Dan

 

great to hear - I am a linux/sun administrator full time. use nothing but ubuntu at home. great to hear people are using it and realizing there is a better product in town.

 

Using USB, it's about as loud as the radio -- I normally listen to the radio at a volume of 12 and when using the USB put it at about 10.

 

I have a Sansa MP3 player. made by Sandisk, which Im pretty sure INVENTED Flashdrive. My Fit will play flashdrives just fine. In either MSC or MTP, the Sansa player is rejected as unsupported. Its just an 8 gig, but compared in features it kills a similar Ipod. Yeah I know I can use the little drives to get around this, just seems odd that the Fit hates MP3 from the same brand player while it loves MP3 from the same brand of little drives.

 

That's strange, I would have expected it to work if it uses MSC, since it should just be a flash drive once you set it to MSC. Did you try setting it to MSC before plugging it in and verify it just shows up as a flash drive on your PC?

 

I tried it in both modes, before and after I plugged it into the USB, so I guess Im stuck with little flashdrives. I wish the owners manual was a little less deceptive tho

 

Something here might be useful too, for compatibility:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-generation-ge-08-present/40996-supported-mp3-players.html

 

I agree with buying the USB flashdrive. You can get them pretty cheap now, set some folders up, load up the songs, and use the stereo controls on the fit to play your music. And if they usb drive gets stolen, you've only lost a small piece of equipment comparted to an iPod or Zune. Just reload the music from your computer on your new flashdrive and away you go.

I really like the USB controls on the Fit. My Rodeo's (previous car before Fit) stereo went out, so I bought a head unit that had the USB port. I was sick of burning CDs. I was in heaven. I have a 4GB usb drive and had plenty of music on it to use in my car. The only issue I had with this unit was it was hard to control and pick songs you wanted. You either had to press "next" to get to next song, press the button for the next folder and guess which folder you were in. It was a slow process.

With the Fit, you can use the volume knob to quickly find a folder (it displays the folder name), then press again to scroll through file names. I love it.

 

I’ve had the Fit for only a few days and using the MP3 features has produced mixed results – mostly bad. I’m still working to define the parameters under which this system works. What I have so far:

The aux input is similar (or identical) to a computer’s “line in.” You feed the sound in by a mini stereo jack and set the playback and amplitude at the device you are using for your music source. Setting the Fit player’s level at 12, to start, is probably the best starting point.

An MP3 data CD (as opposed to a regular audio CD) seems to sort of work where DRM (Digital Rights Management) are included, through “conversion.” In creating a CD full of WMA and MP3 files, I used MAT conversion on the sound files being added. About half my files were convertible through DRM because I had purchased these tracks under a DRM mode. The others were “open” files without any metadata or protection. In the playback in the Fit, the “converted” files worked just fine and the open/unlocked files kept coming up “unsupported.”

For the USB, I used a 1GB thumb drive and loaded up a large sampling of data-audio files in WMA and MP3, mixed DRM protected and open (unprotected) files. Everything came up “unsupported.” In the manual it says the USB flash drive has to be formatted to FAT. I had mine formatted to FAT32, so I reworked the whole thing, this time formatted under FAT. Same result.

What with more and more audio files being sold unlocked for an extra fee, this promises continuing future problems in using the Fit’s sound system.

I’m not done figuring out how to work this system yet, but even if there is a solution I’m still not a happy camper over all the problems built into this thing.

 

Owning a Fit is a huge reason to not buy a Zune.