daveruby

I went and test drove a ZDX today (I have a 2006 RL that I'm looking to trade in) and the salesperson wasn't extremely helpful about the HDD or the USB port. What format of music can the HDD hold (will it hold MP3s?) and how does the music get transferred over (is it by inserting a CD into the player)?

Also, with regard to the USB, I've had a loaner that had a USB attachment, so I know what it can do with an iPod, but what would happen if I attached a disk drive (would it see all the music files and how would playback work)?

Thanks in advance. The new technology is one of the things that I'm most interested in so I want to better understand it from people who have had a chance to really use it.

Stevestr

Dave, from what I remember there really is not enough power in the onboard USB port to drive a HDD. I found a copy of the ZDX Owner's Manual and it states not to use a Hard Disc drive but no reason is given other than the generic:

Do not use a device such as a card reader or hard drive as the device or your files may be damaged.

From page 265 of the ZDX online manual. They may state this because there is no way to "Safely Eject" a hard drive through the head unit. I'm not sure.

I have not tried it personally but hope this helps somewhat.

As for how to copy music - it appears that as soon as a CD is inserted into the unit and the system recognizes it as a new CD it is automatically copied. I inferred this from page 315 of the owner's manual. It also mentions that the auto copy feature can be turned off if it is not desired.

From the Owner's Manual:

Recording a Music CD to HDD Audio

If you play a music CD that has not yet been recorded on the HDD, the system will automatically begin recording to the HDD once the disc is loaded. To turn this feature off, see page 316.

Please note that there will be no compensation offered in the case of unsuccessful recording of audio data or the loss of audio data due to any cause whatsoever.
 During recording, operation of this product may be slower.
 You can listen to tracks from other playlists that have already been recorded while recording. Press the HDD button and switch over to HDD Audio.
 With the factory settings, all of the songs on a music CD are automatically recorded.
 Recording settings cannot be changed during recording.
 If the number of songs in the playlist exceeds 999, the oldest song will be overwritten each time you add a new song.
To Cancel Recording a Music CD to HDD In order to suspend recording, push the interface selector down, select Cancel Rec to HDD, and press ENTER on the interface selector.

If you stop the engine or the power system is turned off while recording a CD, there may be pauses between songs when you play back from the HDD.
 Tracks from music CDs are recorded at four times the playback speed. You can listen to tracks as they are being recorded.
 Repeat, random and scan functions are not available during recording.

More general information about the system from Page 313 of the manual:

The Hard Disc Drive (HDD) Audio function can record tracks from music CDs to the navigation system’s hard disc. This function also allows for various playing methods, such as playing recorded tracks on an artist- by-artist or genre-by-genre basis. For example, you can play the tracks that you want to listen to in any order that you like for each playlist.
NOTE:
 Only recordings from a standard CD-DA (44.1 kHz, 16 bit stereo PCM digital sound data) to HDD are supported.
 Digital music files, such as MP3, WMA, AAC etc., in CD-R, DVD-R and USB flash memory devices cannot be copied to HDD. Likewise, digital music files recorded to HDD cannot be copied to CD-R, DVD-R and USB devices.
 Music data recorded on HDD can only be used for personal enjoyment.
 Data is recorded using ultra- efficient compression technology, therefore, sound quality may vary slightly from the original.
 Title information will be displayed when the information is found in the Gracenote␣ Album Info (Gracenote␣ Media Database) on the built-in hard disk drive. See page 337.
 Recording function from following media is not supported.
– CD-DA which prohibits the copy by SCMS
– CD-DA with copy control – SACD (Super Audio CD) – DTS-CD – DVD-A
– CD-R/RW
– DVD-R/RW
– Copy controlled CDs (Playback cannot be guaranteed)
– DTS-CDs (Only enabled for playback)
CONTINUED
2010 ZDX
313
Playing Hard Disc Drive (HDD) Audio (Models with navigation system)
If the HDD is ever replaced, all data will be lost and stored music will not be recovered.
Playlists
Playlists are track lists in a certain playback group.
Original Playlist
This playlist is automatically generated when the music CD is recorded. The maximum number of original playlists that can be stored to the HDD is 999, with 99 songs on each playlist. Each album name on the music CD is counted as a playlist.
User Playlist
The HDD has six playlist folders for user customizing. Each playlist can be edited by the user, and will store up to 999 songs. For more information of how to edit the user playlist, see page 325.

daveruby

Thanks for the help!!