In Car Hard Drive MP3 player

[Doug_RS2]

Has anyone got any recomendations for an In car MP3 player, ideally with a built in hard drive and one that connects up to an Alipne AI-Net bus?

I don't want to change my headunit as it has a monitor, TV, satnav amd autochanger all connected.

I've been thinking about getting an MP3 autochanger but I like the idea of having all my cds in the car! I liked the look of the Neo one as it has it's own small remote LCD display - so that will show the MP3 ID tags - I don't think my headunit will show these even if the player connects to the bus.

[shadquattro]

i had my rio riot linked to my radio by irock fm thing also used cassette adapter but gave up as radio signal terrible in audi and got to much interference i have also considered sony explode mp3 changer ,am currently using jvc chameleon mp3 i use a map to find my way

[Martynf]

Doug,

as per usual our US cousins get all the good stuff... check out these babies and drool!! : http://www.phatnoise.com/products/di...ayers/audi.php they are being sold direct through USA Audi main dealers!! not through the Euro dealers yet though :-((

Martyn

[Doug_RS2]

:mad: they don't do one that plugs into my headunit.

I wonder how much an incar PC with tv out and decent sound out would cost - and would I be able to use it on a small tv screen? Somewhere must make these?

[Dr H]

Doug

Have you seen these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...category=14933

They are available from a number of places and I think there is a newer version available now. Not the best looking unit but............

Leigh

[Doug_RS2]

The price of all those things is too much - I'm looking into the small PCs for the car now - like the Shuttle or Cube things - then I can have VAG-COM, videos and MP3s all hooked up.

[S2central.net]

My only question is - WHY

Paul

[Doug_RS2]

Originally posted by S2central.net
My only question is - WHY

Why Not?

It's only £150 for a barbone minature PC
+ processor + 40gig HD + RAM (all of which I have lying around)
I have an inverter if I can't get a 12V one.
All I need is a remote hand held mouse.

It is £190 for a 6 disc MP3 Autochanger. It is at least £250 for the MP3 Jukebox.

I have all the music I listen to on MP3s.

I can have VAG-COM plugged in all the time.

So, Why not? :nana:

[Sweeper]

Yeah Doug and don't forget that PC's are not welcome in any unstable enviroment like : wet/hot/vibrating/unstable power.

As for hard drive I know for sure that if you install pc into the car you definetly need something like silicon balasts for hard-drive or it will be dead in seconds after a hard bumpy drive.

[MT01631]

Dougal,

Good site here to get you started, I started off down this route but just plumped for the incar mp3 head unit (sony xplode) to be honest I have 5 cd's in the car, that holds about 50 albums, believe me you aint ever going to be bored listining to the same stuff twice.

BUT

From a gadget perspective, wish to hell I had the PC in the boot




MP3 Car

Cheers

Mark

[Doug_RS2]

Mark - I have a Pioneer MP3/CD head unit in the other car and while I like it, I think it could be better.

I don't want to change my current head unit as too much is already connected to it!

Cheers for the link.

[Lee]

I now have a Blaupunkt DAB52 which gives me MP3 CD, DAB, MMC card reader and decent tuner in one neat box. It illuminates red too to match the interior. This unit has since been superseeded by the DAB53 I think. Coupled to that I have a Blaupunkt microdrive MP3 player with 1 Gb of MP3s stored on each microdrive (compact flash sized).

Prior to this I had a 10Gb MStation MP3 player which I immediately upgraded to 30Gb. This is a unit that Halfords were selling for 500 quid but I can get you as many as you like for less than 250 each...plus a handling charge (perfectly legitimate too). The drive can go anywhere in the car. Mine was under the steering column but it could have sat in the trunk). The unit comes with a remote display which replicates the buttons on the front of the unit and you can place this anywhere (in the ashtray, stuck to the dash etc). They use an 3.5" IDE hard disk to store your tunes and the unit unplugs to slide into an empty 5.25" drive bay for file transfer. The PC sees it as another drive. You can also buy a home unit so you can have your entire music collection on PC, in car and through the home HiFi. It connects to your head unit through an AV input or with the supplied FM modulator. It is a great unit but it couldn't cope with the 80+Gb for my entire collection. I use the microdrives due to portability and can set up a sufficiently-big-enough 1Gb playlist and change it when I get bored. If I was driving to Munich again though, I think I would take 4 or 5 Gb!

I was looking at in-car PCs but the biggest problem is the power supply and being bothered to wait for it to boot so that you can listen to some tunes (not compatible for my short commutes!). I have bought a small laptop with an 8.4" widescreen screen which I wanted to intergrate into the car (I only bought the laptop to use VAG-COM). To do this I would have needed to loose the three central air vents, remove the radio and relocate the bank of switches further down. The plan was to have a TV tuner, FM radio, DAB, CD player etc all in one unit but unfortunately a PC good enough to do all of that is not blessed with a small, suitable screen for populating in the dash. So I will wait until the current generation Sony picturebooks come down in price (secondhand). Using a laptop is quite good since they run from a single DC voltage and you just need a DC-DC regulator and some filtering (the battery is a nice voltage buffer too). Some of the small laptops have touchscreens too which would be ideal for integrating into the car. Maybe, one of the current generation tablet PCs will make a good in-car unit in a couple of years when they are dirty cheap. I have been following in-car PC development for many years (since CAJUN etc) and I am not convinced that anyone has sorted out all issues yet in a neat, simple package.

Good luck mate.

Lee.

PS. It is the return of the 'long poster'. Have been away from the forums for a long time!!

[S2central.net]

@Doug - you missed my point on 'why'

I meant 'why' bother with all this PC & ICE gubbins in a 420bhp car that will need all of your attention to keep on the road dude.

Is this the 'He who has most toys wins' scenario ?

Don't get me wrong - I'm as big a gadget and muso as anyone on this board - except Mikki maybe but there is no sweeter sound than a five cylinder symphony at maximum boost.

I was gonna make a joke about Bay City Rollers MP3 files, but I'd better not - yer bigger than me.... and have more toys


Paul

[Doug_RS2]

Good to hear from you again Lee.

Is the mstation one like this:

Link

The more I look into a PC, the more I can't be arsed!!

How easy is it to change the hard drive? - I think 40G would be big enough for me!

Thanks
Doug

PS - If you are chucking those brakes of yours away, I'll take the disc/hubs off your hands, if you can get a bracket to space my ap calipers out to fit

[Doug_RS2]

Originally posted by S2central.net
@Doug - you missed my point on 'why'

I meant 'why' bother with all this PC & ICE gubbins in a 420bhp car that will need all of your attention to keep on the road dude.

I know - but if I listen to those 5 pots when I drive down south to meet you guys I will loose my license and need to fill up every 100miles - There are times for sounds and times for that engine