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 - OK, but with some major drawbacks...At its most basic, this is an OK product. The whole multi-control business is pretty flaky and I use the included remote whenever possible. The sound quality is great, however, and the price is fair. But there are some really, really big drawbacks: 1. If you have an early iPod as I did, this isn't going to work for you. Way in the back of the manual it states that only 5th generation or later iPods are supported. Check page 57 of the manual (Google for a copy) and see if your iPod is listed. For older iPods, I understand that there is an external cable that you can buy for another chunk of cash, but I've heard that that has its own problems. 2. Since I couldn't use my iPod, I opted to use an external USB hard drive (a Seagate FreeAgent Go). While I did have to reformat the drive to Fat32 and buy a USB cigarette-lighter adapter to boost the power to the drive, it works well. EXCEPT that the DEH-P4000UB only recognizes 500 folders! If you have a significant music collection, and if that music collection is organized like most with a folder for artist and subfolders for albums, the 500 folder limitation is hit very, very quickly. I can't imagine what the thought process was that brought about this limitation. Since the unit can read 15,000 songs, and say an average album is 12 songs, you're talking over a thousand folders just for albums. Then artist folders on top of that! The P4000UB just ignores folders that go over the 500 limitation. The only way to work around it is to flatten out your music collection. This ends up being very time consuming and almost impossible if you're using something like iTunes with its default folder-based organization to manage the music on the external hard drive. 3. You can't specify the order the songs play in. Really. I'm not sure what the P4000UB is using to determine playback order. Since I had to flatten out my music collection as described in 2, I just have a bunch of songs in a few folders. Sometimes they play back in the correct order. Sometimes not. There is no recognition of song order in tags, alphabetization or anything else. The manual claims that you can force the playback order by prepending a sequence number to each song, and then subsequently says that this probably won't work (!) (manual pages 53 and 54). I suspect it might be playing back based on something like the file creation time or something. All in all, if I had it to do over again I would have researched it more carefully. I am sticking with it for a variety of reasons, but mostly because I put so much time into making it work that I want to get some kind of return. Because of the sound quality and price, I maintain that it's an OK product. But not really worthy of a recommendation. Rating:  - ExcellentI am very pleased and excited about this purchase. Pioneer was recommended to me by a radio installer at another electronics store. I did not expect to get the sound quality and options that this receiver has.It replaces the factory installed cassette player that came with my Toyota Camry. Excellect highs, great bass (which is very important to me), USB, 1/8 front aux input,RCA outs for front, rear and sub. I love the multiple EQ options. As an added bonus, it did not cost a small fortune. Rating: - Just what I was looking forI have greatly enjoyed this product. The CD player is great and I love the direct control iPod feature, the only disadvantage is that you can't use the iPod controls to change the music. You don't have to buy the additional cord, you can use the one that you use to connect to your computer. The dial is easy to use, I was afraid it would be too sensitive, but it's not. It produces great sound! I don't have a subwoofer in my car, but if I wanted to, the bass output can shake my car just with what the stereo creates. I love it! Rating:  - Confusing controlsSounds great - better than than my prior factory radio. And it's great to have all your music on a basic thumb drive with no DRM hassles. But the horrible user interface detracts. Changing settings is totally confusing. The button legends are too small and the sequence of clicks you need to go thru to do anything more complex than skipping the current song are illogical and poorly planned. The buttons also don't register or double register at times, making the mode even more confusing. Rating:  - Skip this one.I bought this one specially b/c I wanted something that can read ThumbDrives. However, I am highly disappointed because of the Menu/rotary control. If nothing else, at least Radio Station Presets Buttons should be on Faceplate and the Remote. You have to go thru presets in sequential order - Up/Down, since presets buttons are missing. This unit isn't a plug and play solution, like it should be for being a Car Stereo. Be prepared to spend hours going thru manual to figure out simple stuff. Even after that, you need to take you eyes off the road a whole lot of time for doing simple stuff every-time. If I hadn't brought it with me overseas, I would have returned it first day. I can't think of any reason to recommend this to anyone. I have been trying to use it for little over a month now. Only plus point I can give is that Pioneer included cables for IPOD and USB Drive connections.
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