[s-cars] RE: MP3 players instead of CD Changers

[CyberPoet]

Well, there are several other options as well (although yours sounds
good at that price point):

Blaupunkt makes several in-dash MP3 players, including the San Jose
that I am planning on putting in this weekend ($429.95 SRP, $192 was
the best 'repeatable' new price I found -- and I'm happy at that price,
about $100 under Crutchfield's price). I thought it was the best
price/performance combo, based on the fact that the Gamma was starting
to act up badly at the volume knob (a common occurrence according to
previous list postings) and I was looking at either repairing or
replacing the head unit.  See
http://www.blaupunktusa.com/receivers/receivers_01_mp3.html for full
Blaupunkt car MP3 devices list.

If you already use a portable MP3 player, like the Apple iPod, or
various other brands, there are car kits available that will transmit
the signal to the FM antenna or through a cassette adaptor (Dr. Bott's
iPod Connection Kit w/FM Transmitter, about $40 stand-alone, or about
$50 with cigarette charger for both the transmitter & iPod), available
through Amazon, drbott.com, among other places.

Several companies are manufacturing CompactFlash-compatible in-car MP3
players which are compatible with the IBM CompactFlash hard drive
(available in various sizes, 1 & 2 Gb have been out for a while).
Blaupunkt offers such an option with their MDP-01 (1Gb) add-on MP3
player at what I consider an outrageous price ($799.95 SRP, probably
$399.00 or so low-price on the street). The advantage of CompactFlash
based players is that because of their solid-state technology they will
take physical abuse that a hard drive (like that used in the Neo
JukeBox) can't. Expect the Neo to have a hard drive failure rate of
about every 18 to 36 months in real-world applications (just like other
low-end PC hard drives -- price point pushes this requirement).

Oh, and if money is no object, check out
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/CarProducts/
CarProductDetails/0,1429,21417,00.html
Which is pioneer's in-dash MP3 CDRW/memory-stick player with integrated
10Gb hard drive -- don't bother transferring, just slap in your CD and
let it encode it onto the hard drive!

Best Wishes,
=-= Marc Glasgow



On Thursday, January 16, 2003, at 03:50 PM,
s-car-list-request at audifans.com wrote:

> As most of us know there is a very specific cd changer needed to use
> with our factory Bose system.... These Changers tend to break and cause
> problems,and only hold a small number of cd's.
>
> Why not use an MP3 player instead? using your PC you can rip cd's to
> your hard drive and play them back with an mp3 player. I have included
> a link to a hard drive based mp3 player made by Neo (Neo car jukebox)
> that can hold up to 80 gig worth of music!
>
> http://www.ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/index.shtml
>
> This is a real nice player, it can be mounted in your trunk like a cd
> changer, and has a display that is mounted on your dash. For some
> Aftermarket head units it has an adapter that allows it to display
> track information on the radio display.
>
> I tried to get a group purchase going last year and would be glad to
> try again, I would hope to get the price down below $350.
>
> Please let me know if there is any interest; if there are others with
> more knowledge on MP3's please post your thoughts.
>
> Thanks
> Chris