Customer Reviews

Pioneer CD-UB100 USB Adapter Set with cable

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So, I just installed this and spent the last couple hours reading through the manual (again) and playing with the interface.

The Good:

I gotta say, besides the interface (which I'll get to), it actually works pretty well. Install is as easy as every other IP-BUS device and so far it hasn't frozen or caused any side effects. It's been able to find every mp3 buried on my thumb-drive and play them back clearly and cleanly. All the basic functions are there: Track Skip, folder skip, Fast forward, rewind, repeat (3 modes), and [b]limited[/b] ID3 display (no shuffle, sorry). Despite its shortcomings, I can already see that it'll be perfect for what I bought it to do: to quickly and easily grab a few MP3's from my office or a friend's computer and play them in my car without having to sync an iPod or burn a cd.

The Bad:

The interface

Good god, why hasn't Pioneer fixed this yet. Thanks to a few reviews I read, I'd already abandoned my expectations for the interface. What you see on screen (when connected to the AVIC-Z2) is clearly a raw interface designed to work with any IP-bus enabled device. Instead of recognizing that the CD-UB100 is connected and properly displaying and relabeling only the functions used by that device, you're shown a generic interface allowing you to send raw IP-bus commands to the unit like "function 1" or "band." In the case of "function 1," sending the command pauses playback and changes the 8-character display to "paused." Awkward, having to go into a menu to pause, but it works and should be seldom needed. In the case of "band" however, sending the signal does nothing. HUH? It took a great deal of trial and error to even figure out how to skip tracks and/or fast-forward, but since the the functions are so few it's not too difficult to get used to. 'Short-but-steep learning curve' as they say.

Shuttle controls

Speaking of fast-forward and rewind, get this. The <-TRK-> button on the Z2 (and the left and right on-screen arrow buttons) either skip tracks OR fast-forward/rewind -- they do not do both simply by pressing or holding as we're all used to -- depending on which mode they're in (denoted by "AUTO" or "MANUAL" showing at the top of the screen).

-To fast forward, the "shuttle mode" must be set to "MANUAL."

-To skip tracks, it must be set to "AUTO."

That means, to Fast forward, you have to go into the function menu and toggle the AUTO/MANUAL mode. Then, When you want to switch tracks again, you have to go back into the function menu and toggle the AUTO/MANUAL mode again. WTF?! At least you can do both; if not it'd be useless.

Information Display

Speaking of useless, let's talk about the information display. Eight non-scrolling characters? Why even bother having 8 different display modes including the ability to read ID3 tags if you're only going to show the first few characters in the title? if you've got more than a few folders on your drive, expect to get lost. If you think you'll be able to hook up your 120gb USB hard drive and mount your massive collection of illegally downloaded MP3's, forget it. With no means of searching or browsing (besides skipping to the next folder), this is NOT a viable means for anything other than playing a few mp3's off your thumb-drive or disc-enabled usb mp3 player.

For those who might be curious, I've mapped out the different functions below.

Band - No function

UP/Down - Folder up/down

Left/Right - Depends on mode:

--Manual = Fast-forward / Rewind

--Auto = Track skip

1-6 - NO function

Function - Enter Function menu:

--Function 1 - Pause (toggle)

--Function 2 - Display Cycle:

----Folder

----Filename

----Artist

----Title

----Album

----"USB F006"

----USBTrack#

----Track progress [HMMSS]

--Function 3 - Scan (toggle)

--Function 4 - Repeat

----All

----Track

----Folder

--Auto/Manual - Seek mode for "TRK" & <- -> buttons

----Auto = Change tracks

----Manual= FastForward / Rewind

If you already have an iPod or MP3 player that can be played through Pioneer IP-Bus enabled head units or connected directly, you may find, as I did, that this device doesn't give you any extra capability.

What it does is play music found on USB Flash Drives. It will not play USB powered external drives (I tried), which would have been really great - imagine a 250GB drive with uncompressed digital music on it! But no, alas, no can do.

As another reviewer wrote, the user interface is tedious at best, with very limited display of characters, and a hopeless method for navigating folders on the drive.

I liked the idea, wish it did better display options, and wish it worked with real USB-powered drives, not just thumb drives. I almost bought a 128GB Kingston thumb drive, but when I thought about the price and how limited it would be, abandoned the idea and returned this device*. With AM/FM/CD/HD Radio/XM/iPod, and an external device available for plugging in an MP3 unit using a 3.5mm plug, this device just didn't offer me anything worth spending a hundred bucks on.

If you don't have an iPod, want to carry a few songs on a thumb drive and play them in your car, and THAT'S IT, then you will LOVE this. It works well as designed but it's an also-ran in terms of what's available today.

* When the price for this item went down, I decided it was worth having as an alternative music source. It's now installed in my car for "guest" usage.

Well, I called Pioneer to make sure if this would work with my 14 year old cassette unit KEH-P808. Their answer was NO and recommended me to buy a new CD unit. I just took a chance and ordered it from Amazon at 30 somthing dollar.

To my surprise, it worked perfectly with my 14 year old pioneer unit. It was a top of the line unit in 1996. So my guess is CD-UB100 would work with ANY unit with IP-BUS interface (as long as your old unit can choose external unit as a sound source). CD-UB100 is a mp3 player that outputs analog signal via IP-BUS which also controls playing of the unit. The sound quality is excellent, as good as CD quality IMO (but KEH-P808 has ample controls to fine-tune sound). All of basic control function works including random playing. The manual lists all possible combinations of command keys. You just have to take some time and try those. I tested with a hard drive, flash drive, microSDHC card with a USB reader. They all worked fine as long as you have one FAT partition only in it, up to 250 gig(for example, a USB reader with multiple slots would not work since it has multiple drives or partitions). But KEH-P808 does not display everything shown on the manual. Just track number and folder number and first a few characters of artist name and song titles.

The installation was straight-forward. Just pull IP-BUS from your old unit and plug it into CD-UB100. Then if you had external CD-Player, also connect CD-UB100 to your old CD player with the provided IP-BUS cable (just make sure you connect input/output correctly!). Only thing (for a non-professional like me) was where to tap a power line from. For that, I needed the installation diagram for my old Pioneer unit. And luckily I still had that after 14 years. It turns out the power line for my KEH-P808 was orange colored unlike the yellow color in CD-UB100. So i cut that orange line and connect two lines (one for CD-UB100 and one more for my old KEH-P808). And that was it. Just make sure you have installation diagram for your old unit.

I am happy that I can play 250 gig of music in my 17 year old Honda with just $30 investment (my 3 year old BMW 5 series can not!) . I am also happy I've got a Pioneer unit 14 years ago and would like to thank Pioneer release this unit for a customer like me who like to stick to a product for a very long time.

works as advertised. a bit of a nuisance as in where to put it. i have mine under my deck. On my deck pioneer deh 9800BT it feels as if it was meant to be there. USB comes up as an option on the screen and once the mp3s are tagged properly it displays two lines of text. one for artist and one for song title. It also reads my 160 GB WD hard drive if conected straight to the adaptor without the extension..

This little add-on works like a charm. I use it with an AVIC Z2 in-dash navigation system. It supports all sorts of USB devices, including all varieties of ipod, and thumb drives.

I used in my pionner avh-p7800, I use my Flash memory 16GB, sometimes it's very slow but the sound it's fine. the only think that I hate of this product is that I can't see the list of files, only the song that I am listening, one by one in 16GB so its a b... . I don't know if works in the same way with all the models.

I wanted the module ever since I got my avid, but the price tag was steep. I even ordered it once and got canceled when it was on sale. When I saw it for 1/4 of what it was I jump on opportunity well knowing that display sucks, control sucks but otherwise it does what it does. After using the usb plug for 6mo+ I am very happy. I can charge the phone, I can use a flash drive (just don't try to find a particular song) or 2.5" HDD. Boots up lightning quick, as quick as radio (avid HDD if it boots up takes 20-30 second before I hear any music and perhaps 40 seconds before I can have m touch screen).

So if you know the issues and can deal with it is a neat add on at phenomenal price.