I LOVE this equipment! Kudos Pioneer!

I am currently using the MEP as a stand alone unit (no computer as of yet). I was told by someone at Pioneer phone support not to use a thumbdrive larger than 8gb. I hooked up an older generation 40gb ipod with no issues. My newer 160gb ipod would not register .

Are there any problems with using a 16 or 32gb thumbdrive?

I haven't heard of any issues, it's really how you set-up the folders and how much content you put in them that is of concern. If you test out a 16 or 32 flash drive please let us know the end results...

I've used a 16GB drive without issues, I don't have a 32GB yet, waiting for the price to drop.

The trouble with iPod could be the format - both FAT32 (Windows) and HFS+ (Mac) types should work without issue but because of the folder structure created by iTunes <<shudder>>, if the iPod is full, it could take quite some time to read it all.

hi guys, im using a 32gb corsair flash drive and it works a treat. load times are pretty quick. it doesnt leave you standing there thinking is this going to work.
its wicked turning up at your gig with all your music in your pocket.

Iain

...I'm STOKED!!! In the past month I have bought and used a 32gb Corsair Flash Drive, with no problems (Thanks Iain!). Rebooted my 160gb iPod and was able to create a library on the MEP-7000 which enabled me to search the iPod with a keyboard- It works great!.

Then, I purchased a LaCie 500gb (powered) external drive... placed a copy of my iTunes folder into it, hooked it up to the MEP and tried unsuccessfully several times to create a library on the unit itself. I kept getting the message "FAILED". I then went through the copy of my iTunes library, removing all the videos, "known" corrupted files, etc. ...

On my computer, I replaced the "filtered" copy of my iTunes Library folder along with the MEP-7000 library creator (for Mac): into the LaCie external drive. Double clicked on the MEP library creator and let it do it's thing. About ten times it froze up on me. Each time showing the description of the corrupt Mpeg. I would just go into the folder and discard that song, restart the library creator app. and each time I got further along.

It took some time to weed out about ten corrupt or missing files. Upon completion of running the library creator program, I hooked the harddrive and keyboard into a hub, then into the back side of drive unit (USB1).

When I boot up the harddrive it takes just over a minute to load. The library search works fine with the keyboard, the songs boot up in seconds.

• I now have 63,000 songs at my fingertips, with NO COMPUTER

• Two CD/DVD ROM drives open

• As well as the front USB2 for last minute library additions on a thumbdrive

I am still going to eventually add a 20" iMac, running Serrato for easier song searching, but for the meantime, this Pioneer gear by itself handles all of my entertaining needs .

Awesome - thanks for sharing your experience Dave! Glad to hear you've got quick loadtimes with that large of a collection.

Could you share with us your folder structure? How is it you have your files sorted?

Pulse-

Yeah, It's funny... I just finished looking at the Library Creator Manual online, which pretty much sums up what I just wrote. (Duh!)

I'm more hands on and jump into things trial & error before reading manuals.

A month ago you "shuddered" at the thought of the folder structure created by iTunes. However, this is what I am using. I simply went into my apps folder, dragged & dropped my "iTunes Music Folder" into the external drive...

So props to Pioneer's Music Library Creator & props to Apple for their iTunes Library Folder Structure

Well, the downside of the iTunes folder structure is it's immensely disorganized - if you've ever looked at it, you'd know what I mean. The upside is they don't cluster thousands of songs into single folders, making it quite zippy!