New Radio / New Music?

I had my radio conk out a couple weeks ago, and just recently got a new one installed. It's got an auxiliary input (for an iPod or mp3 player) as well as a USB connector (for flash drives). A lot of people have already got those features in their cars, but for me this is a whole new world. I don't have to make CDs anymore (though I'm sure I will).

All of that is an extremely boring lead-up to me saying I'm going to finally get a chance to listen to more music. The sheer amount of music I have at my disposal is staggering; it's time for me to delve into the archives to find some gems.

I'm currently working with my brother's Creative Zen Touch, but I've run into a compatibility issue. The mp3 player is older, and doesn't have a Vista-compatible driver. And of course, I was too cheap to pay the extra $100 to have XP installed on my new computer, and just accepted Vista (which every day seems like a bigger mistake). So in order to update the content on the Zen, I have to use an older computer, which means I'm transferring music files from my main computer to an external hard drive, then to the older computer, and finally to the mp3 player. What kind of joke-ass operating system can't use drivers from its predecessors?

The other option is to just use flash drives, but the storage capacity on the ones I already own isn't exactly overwhelming. I've got a 2 GB one that I use for my personal work, and a 512 MB one that I've had forever and I'm unsure as to how much longer it'll work. Oh, and I have a 256 MB one that went through a washing machine, still works, but I don't trust.

So my options are

• Use mp3 CD's, storage capacity of 700 MB apiece.
• Use my old flash drives, storage capacity of 512 MB.
• Use the Zen Touch, and commit to spending 15-20 minutes in file transfers every time I want to change the music.
• Buy a new flash drive or two with greater storage capacity.
• Buy a new mp3 player.

For the time being, I think I'll use the old flash drives, but I'm going to start prowling the Internet for cheap flash drives and mp3 players, and wait for something to pop out at me.

Top 5 Artists Whose Music I'm Going to Explore Now:

1. Kiss - Plundo has been a fan of Kiss for as long as I can remember, and I've added a song once every year or two to my regular rotation (I Was Made For Lovin' You, then Detroit Rock City, most recently Love Gun). It's time to get knee deep and see if these boys can play.
2. Rush - I've heard songs by Rush I've liked, and songs I haven't. I enjoy progressive rock as a genre, though, and Rush is allegedly one of the best. It's only fair that I give them a legitimate chance.
3. Pharoahe Monch - While I've cooled off on rap as a whole, I still enjoy the occasional foray, and Pharoahe Monch seems to be my most frequent target. He just rhymes everything. It's pretty impressive.
4. O.A.R. - Know thy enemy.
5. Yes - Another "prog rock" band, but I've only heard maybe two songs from Yes. They seem to skew a little bit more towards standard music than Rush, so I actually expect to like more Yes songs, but I feel like I need to listen to more Rush.