MashButtons reviews the Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go Car Audio USB

 

Shortly after getting and reviewing Verbatim’s Store ‘n’ Go USB 3.0 external hard drive, they figured to shoot us over the Store ‘n’ Go 8 GB Car Audio USB Drive. Little did they know was that I have had about as much experience with car stereos as I do with video games.  Nowadays if your car does not have a USB port, it is likely a dated product, but those of us that have a head unit that does have a USB input likely have multiple thumb drives chock full of tunes or one of the numerous iPod/iPhone models that seem to be the only MP3 player head units support. With the Store ‘n’ Go USB drive, the drive is a low profile drive that does not stick out like the typical thumb drives, but just enough to be unobtrusive and is designed specifically for use in car stereos along with just about anything that supports images and music through USB connection. Lets see how this performs in comparison to the handful of the 2 and 4 GB thumb drives piled in my console.

 

I often times switch between my iPhone and thumb drives in my car stereo when commuting to work, gym, desert, wherever. I also prefer a large music selection for my mood and like it loud and not on a CD, my stereo tends to make it skip. So when I pulled this little drive out of it’s packaging, I had it filled as fast as I could. The design of this compact drive is small enough to be barely noticed when plugged in and the size (8 GB) is enough to keep you from tampering with the on drive library for a substantial amount of time. Store ‘n’ Go is right, you simply just plug it in transfer folders or files consisting of MP3’s, eject, place in car stereo and forget. I had no issues in regards to any of the said process, but did learn that .m4a files would not play from the drive, thinking it was my head unit, I tried the same files from the iPhone and it worked, so I had to make sure to use strictly MP3’s on the drive. Lastly, in comparison to the transfer speeds seen in the Store ‘n’ Go external hard drive I previously reviewed, this drive’s transfer speeds were significantly slower.

 

In my time spent with this itty bitty thumb drive, I can easily say that this is a must have for anyone that has a car stereo with a USB input, even if you have an iPod or iPhone. The size is by far the best part of this drive as it adds up to 2000 songs without sticking out of the head unit and being an eyesore all for an affordable price of $21.99. Though it does not keep me from hooking up my iPhone to my stereo, mainly because it does not support .m4a files. It does add variety and for me, that it a major plus side as the standard size drives tend to stick out and get bumped around. That and 8 GB is a nice sized drive to the point where you will have enough to listen to without having to update your playlist often.