HHR4JK

for someone that isnt that updated here........ what is the advantage of having the usb in the radio, what does it allow you to do different or advantage of having it.

halfpanel08

allows you to plug usb cords into your dash

just messin with ya, i dunno what advantages it holds

HillsdaleHHR

From the Chevy Site:

"The NEW USB port, available in LT and SS models, connects the jump drive and offers complete functionality through HHR's stereo system.
Flip through your tunes using the available steering wheel-mounted audio controls while the radio displays all of your playlist information from your
MP3 player or select iPod(R) models. (iPod(R) not included."

In other words it allows you to control your iPod/MP3 Player through your radio controls.

twistrman

as far as i know as well you could also plug a standard jump/flash drive into it and read the files off of it. So in essence, you could buy an 8gb flash drive, load it up with music and keep that in there. Giving you 10x the amount of space a MP# cd could hold

This also eliminates the need for the PAL (personal audio link) which they sell as an add on for $150 or so plus install. So just plug your ipod or other mp3 player right into the USB port and use all of your steering wheel and radio controls and the songs would display on your radio's display.

Last, the benefit over doing this to just using an 3.5mm mini jack to go from the headphone port of your mp3 player to your ipod. If you use the doc connector on the bottom of the ipod to USB cable, you are getting true line out audio which is higher quality. If you use the headphone port, it is not as high quality. Plus the added function i mentioned above of just plugging any jump drive in.

all reasons why i want the upgraded radio...

pappa_smurf

Yeah, what he said. I'm just using a 2gb flash drive and it holds, at the moment, 410 songs or 35 hours of music. You get the song title, artist and album info on the radio display also. And, you don't have to use .mp3 format. It will play .wma files also. Besides, a $7 flash drive is much cheaper than whatever you pay for an ipod or the PAL kit. It is less noticeable and probably less likely to get ripped off. I'm lovin' it.

Rcflyboy

Yea what they said. I use mine for my Ipod. Sound quality is better than the 3.5mm jack.

evillvi

does anybody have a p/n for the radio? my jvc had a usb port on it and i loved it. i had an external harddrive hooked up to it and worked no problem.

Rcflyboy

There are tons of aftermarket radios out there that offer the USB feature.

QuickRick

I have been playing with this USB feature on our 09 HHR. I have come to understand that 500 short songs will go on a 2GB flash drive.

This is really neat and I placed my wife's entire iPOD library off the computer on the Flash and plugged it into the USB. This works like a charm, my flash is a 2GB, imagine what an 8 could hold?

So far I can only go backwards and forward with the songs one at a time. I have not mastered jumping to different artists on the USB storage flash drive.

I'd like to try an iPod on it next to see how the steering controls work.

Being able to lug this much music from car to any computer on a cheap storage device is so very cool!

QR

twistrman

if you have the songs arranged on the flash drive in any particular way, that is how they will play. The only way you would be able to go from artist to the next one would be if you had each folder set up by artist and then you would be able to jump from one folder to the next. If you just have all the songs in one main area on the drive, you're not going to be able to jump like that.

If her entire ipod library fits on a 2gb stick, you either need a lot more music or you need to put it at a much higher quality when you import them. I've got 15gbs in my itunes right now, and i haven't put all of my wifes on here from her computer yet and i'm not that much of a music nut.

The ipod you should have a lot more control over what you can do with it.

I would love to replace my radio with the newer one so much.

rcyflyboy - There are a ton of after markets you can do this with, but not one of those after markets will look like a stock radio. I would rather pay a little extra and/or give up a few extra fancy options and have my radio look stock. I used to do after market ones and told myself no more. Too much of a chance of it getting ripped out, and taking the faceplate off is a PITA, i eventually left it off in my Jimmy for shorter drives.