Something I forgot to add near the start of my last post - in my experience, there's no one brand of USB stick that you can go buy and be confident it will never have this issue - the same goes for basically every computer component you can think of really. Your best defense against this is redundancy.

I like th KISS approach:

I created a directory in my music folder called "X5". I copy new songs into that dir and remove others from that dir to stay within my 8 gig space limit. I then plug the stick in and run a sync script.

I like this approach because I can make changes to the local copy any time and sync when I remember to bring the usb stick inside.

I completely agree and have lived by this logion for all my computer life. I was simply too early in the building of the project to think about backup. But no more. Backup first (when using USB sticks with BMW ports), then building next and the method described in the post that follows yours merit careful consideration.

I just noticed that the manual says (p. 191) not to subject the audio device (e.g. USB stickP to extreme temp, esp hot temps. I wonder if the same is true for cold temps?

Now to those of you in the earlier thread that said you use these sticks, do you remove the stick on hot days? I have been leaving mine in and the outside temps here have been in the 106 range.

If I am going to have to remove and insert the device twice a day then it will be time to use a USB extension cord since it is not simple to insert the jump drive into the Xb USB port. Still a headache though.

Edited to say that I just noticed the Lexar guide says to protect their jump drives from extreme temps, both hot and cold. But I am still curious of Ipod and USB users remove their devices at the end of every day.