First, there has been a bunch of good info added to my original thread about
'Good experience with Crutchfield', thanks.
Second, I mentioned in a later post in the thread that I might exchange my
$70 unit for a $90 unit that had USB input so I could keep my MP3 player
charged while driving (the Aux cable doesn't charge the unit).  Well,
yesterday I tested my little MP3 player and it goes well over eight hours
before it might need charging (and I have a 12v USB charger for it) so that
shouldn't be a problem.  If ordering again I'd make the change but not worth
the effort of reordering and returning.  And that leads to another
observation.
Several people have mentioned that with the USB port on the front of their
head unit they can use a thumb drive and have very large music libraries at
their command.  But I have to ask this question:  How do you manage to pick
and choose what music to play while on the road?   I have to assume all the
information is displayed on the front of the receiver, not really readable
or usable when driving.  What I've done is put the MP3 player on a six foot
cord.  I can pick it up and select music while driving.  But more important
to me that long cord reaches back into the living space when parked so that
I have full control over what's playing.  And the little remote for the head
unit give me the ability to turn the whole thing on and off from the rear.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the ability to have gazzillions or
hours of music on a little thumb drive.  But that setup just doesn't look
like it would work for me.