Play music on USB stick on home receiver

[westkane]

Good Evening from Kane PA, I am looking for something that I can hook to my home stereo via rca cables and play music that is on a usb memory stick. Everything music wise is digital format, but I need someway to hook and play through a home receiver that does not have usb capability. I have 3 home receivers, but most of my music has been put onto pc's, sd's usb, etc. CD's are becoming obsolete and low capacity, so burning everything is a step backwards.. This is driving me crazy, in today's world of technology, there's got to be a reasonably priced device that can do this without using a pc. Thanks for your assistance

 

[fralexandr]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_media_players
the only one i saw that has usb input + composite audio output via 3.5mm to rca is the netgear neotv MAX
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0096KLQN0

the western digital WD TV and the amazon Fire TV have optical audio output and USB though, but they're also more expensive

 

[gar655]

I'd just get some type of wireless adapter, either wifi or BT and just stream to the AVR.

 

[razel]

The issue with a device that plays music from a USB stick is that you need controls (play/pause/stop) and a basic display. Back in the mp3 player hayday Creative did have such a thing. It came with it's own USB stick, but you can use any.

The closest I have seen to what you mention now are for a car. They are those cigarette adapter media player that read off SD card with basic playback control and sent music FM to your car radio, but it sounds like you want something via RCA?

I can't think of any simple, cheap device for you other than the cheapest $60 Blu-Ray players from Samsung or Sony that have a USB in. Problem with them is you need your TV on to get to the music player then you can finally use your remote to control. It's sad players don't even have basic displays anymore.

If your receiver is HDMI, my suggestion though, since you seem technically inclined is the $30 ChromeCast. It's ridiculously easy to stream things to it. It's just a extension in Chrome or built in support in apps for your mobile device (Android/IOS). Your music sits on your PC or phone and you just stream it. It's surprisingly high quality. It outputs the correct sampling rate and seems to get the highest rawest video streams off YouTube/Hulu and Google Play.

Did I mention how cheap it is? Over the holidays I've seen it for ~$25 with $20 worth of Google Play credit.

 

[fralexandr]

similarly, you could probably just go with an mp3 player or smart phone that has 3.5 mm/headphone out and use a 3.5mm to RCA stereo connector. That bypasses the USB requirement, and the need for the TV to be on. This assumes your receiver doesn't have a 3.5mm input otherwise you'd just get a 3.5mm male male cable.

 

[Binky]

A cheap media player device would probably work. I'm not sure how good the menu's are for music, but it would play. It would also give the ability to play video content.

There are several like this one available. This one includes RCA outputs for video and audio. It also has physical controls on the top of the unit.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QIHQCCO?psc=1

This appears to be the same unit, but I can't be sure.
http://www.amazon.com/Gbargain-1080P...KA0TP0YGGPYDAV

Here's another unit, but the pics don't show the outputs, but it does say analog audio in the description.
http://www.amazon.com/Micca-Full-HD-...5510818&sr=1-1

 

[westkane]

Thank to all for the replies. As Razel said, the issue is that none have displays so I need a tv for the display to see the menu, not what I was hoping for for my garage, but if so, so be it, I have a couple of 19" tvs unused in the basement, now I wonder where their remote is. Something so simple, yet so complicated. Thanks again to everyone for their help.

 

[westkane]

I actually did order a mp3 player to do such, its just that then you are using their "noisy" output instead of something with a line out. I even tried to find a portable cd player that had a line out, my sony walkman has one, but it's starting to act up. I bought a player that advertised a line out, but it didn't have one, it was a earphone output which is not the cleanest, but not much out there to choose from. thanks

 

[Muse]

similarly, you could probably just go with an mp3 player or smart phone that has 3.5 mm/headphone out and use a 3.5mm to RCA stereo connector. That bypasses the USB requirement, and the need for the TV to be on. This assumes your receiver doesn't have a 3.5mm input otherwise you'd just get a 3.5mm male male cable.

I still use my old Sandisk Sansa M250 MP3 players to play MP3s. 2GB capacity, not a ton, but that's a lot of music in the 128kbps 44khz sampling rate I generally employ to make my MP3s. Has a decent LCD display system, runs on a single AAA battery, I use Sanyo Eneloop rechargables. I drive headphones directly from them and also plug a mini jack into them that goes to a cheap Lepai amplifier that drives the speakers in my kitchen. Alternatively, I plug the Lepai into the headphone output from a mini-stereo system. The Lepai drives nice bookshelf speakers.

Instead of the MP3 players, I can and do use my smartphone (with its 64GB microSD card) for the audio (MP3) source to drive my kitchen system.

 

[Hinda65]

for around $200 you can get an avr that will have USB and Network connections. I bought a Harmon Kardon 1510 so I could use a USB stick which worked OK....I actually ended up buying a powerline adapter and hard wiring the AVR directly to my PC which I like a lot better. I don't actually use it that often now that I have it set up. I have a ton of records and CD's...at the end of the day, I'm content just reaching over and grabbing one.

the usb/network option is nice for parties where you want a variety of music playing for a long time.