[Chris Williams]

Excuse my rather stupid question but how do MP3 players work in the car how do you transfer your MP3s from for instance your PC to listen to in the car. I am very interested in investing in a MP3 player at some point in the future. I currently have over 4,000 MP3s....admittedly I also have over 400 CD albums...so I guess the recording industry owe me a discount!!

Any suggestions for suitable models and cost.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Christopher

[Kinster]

put them on a CD

[Dom]

http://www.uk-mstation.co.uk/

had one in my car for months... fantastic things

[Chris Williams]

Thanks Dom. That looks like really good value too.

Regards
Christopher

[Kinster]

That looks great for £225. Pity I have a laptop Will have to keep putting them on a CD/RW and buy a CD/MP3 car stereo.

[Chris Williams]

Dom,

Again excuse my ignorance...does the unit simply slot into your exisiting CD autochanger in the boot?

Apologies for retarded questions!

Regards
Christopher

[stryder]

Most people have MP3 players that plug into your computer with a wire, (USB or Firewire are popular) you transfer your mp3s that way.

Then you use the player itself which runs off its own batteries, get an adapter (like a blitzsafe) which then allows you to plug the player into the car system, and do all the controlling from the player itself.

(fyi, my 20 gig iPod has 4300 songs on it at the moment)

[dco43054]

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Williams
Excuse my rather stupid question but how do MP3 players work in the car how do you transfer your MP3s from for instance your PC to listen to in the car.

Christopher -

To answer your question - MP3 players (and I will be buying the iPod soon) work in the car in one of two ways. Both use the audio output on the MP3 player.

Either you get an FM Modulator, like the iRock, or the iTrip, or you use an adapter like the Blitzsafe. If you search on any of these terms, you will find a bunch of info.

The 2003 MINI radios are supposed to have the ability to plug in an auxiliary device, like an iPod, but from everyting I have read on the site, it will require an adapter for the radio, at an additional cost, from the dealer.

As for how do they work, the iPod uses a Firewire port off a computer. These are installed on most Macs, and can be added to most desktop PCs as an expansion card for about $39 in the U.S. USB can be used for some players, I guess, but when you are transferring gigabytes worth of information, USB is much too slow. Firewire is much, much faster

The other thing I have heard, but not experienced directly, is that the radio/CD players in the 2003 MINIs are capable of playing an MP3 CD. So, if you have a CD burner, you could burn your MP3s onto CDs.

Hope that helps,

Dave

[minhi]

Quote:

Originally posted by dco43054
The other thing I have heard, but not experienced directly, is that the radio/CD players in the 2003 MINIs are capable of playing an MP3 CD. So, if you have a CD burner, you could burn your MP3s onto CDs.

Dave

please don't start another rumor, the AUX IN still has not been confirmed (for me that means actually in hand and working), the factory MINI radio WILL NOT play a CD burned with MP3s!!!!

[dco43054]

Quote:

Originally posted by minhi
please don't start another rumor, the AUX IN still has not been confirmed (for me that means actually in hand and working), the factory MINI radio WILL NOT play a CD burned with MP3s!!!!

Got something for shouting?!!!!

Am I remembering the MP3 CD issue incorrectly? Well, pardon me.

As for the Aux In, I believe I stated that correctly.

It is interesting that on the MINIUSA site, the description of the HK radio says: "And, just like our standard audio system, the Harman Kardan system comes with an auxilliary input and is satellite ready". Everything I have read says there is no aux jack on the back of the radio to plug something, like an MP3 player, in. But, when I get mine to look at in about 4 weeks, I will certainly let you know.

[Dom]

Chris...

£225 is good, it cost me £450 when I got mine last year, had a 20gb hard disk though.

It has two connection options to the headunit - using RCA's which would work on most aftermarket equipment, or an FM modulator which, for a slight decrease in sound quality, you can use by just tuning into it with the radio

Kinster - those pictures are slightly misleading, it also comes with a 'docking bay' which then acts as another disk drive but connected by USB

Dom

[gjenkins]

I bought one when I got my MCS. I have never regretted it. 4000+ songs and you can carry it anywhere. I had to get a blitzsafe adaptor as well.

[HarryHBMCC]

I've got a Nomad Jukebox MP3 player and a Blitzsafe adapter. I used to futz around with an FM modulator but the sound quality was never up to CDs so I stopped using it in the car until the Blitzsafe AUX arrived. That thing is great! Sound quality is awesome, and even without a player plugged in there is no interference.

Now the only problem is that I have to charge up the units batteries. Using a DC/AC inverter to power it pumps TONS of noise into it so it is batteries only for me.

Harry

[CurtP]

Quote:

Originally posted by dco43054
USB can be used for some players, I guess, but when you are transferring gigabytes worth of information, USB is much too slow. Firewire is much, much faster

That was true of the old USB 1.1, but USB 2.0 addresses that issue, and looks to be slightly faster than 1394 -- that is until 1394b starts hitting the mainstream.

[dco43054]

Just picked up a 20gb iPod this afternoon. In the U.S., the price varies from about $493 to $499. Nobody I have seen is discounting. Managed to find a PCI Firewire card for my Compaq desktop for $13.00. Found both at Microcenter . We have a store in town, so I just popped over at lunch.

It all set up very easily on my PC. And the iPod is happily charging right now. I'll let it charge all the way and play with moving MP3's to it tomorrow.

I did check out the iTrip information at Griffin Technology . They are only taking pre-orders, but not yet shipping. Pity, that looks to be about the best FM modulator out there. It will let you use any frequency on the FM band.

Got to have tunes to cruise back with my MCS from the dealer in NYC in March. Have to get all my CD's loaded up so I can put together a motoring playlist.

Regards,

Dave

[alinnes]

Chris,

I'm picking up my MCS on 1st March. Rather than go the iPod route I'm going to install a replacement head unit that will play MP3's burned to a CD. That way a single CD can hold the eqivalent of about 10 albums.

My choice is largely down to a combination of aesthetics and performance. I want the new HU to look as though it was meant for the Mini, and that means it has to have amber illumination buttons.

I've narrowed it down to 2 choices: Pioneer DEH5530MP (launched only last week) see:

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_...nomy_id=25-121

This is available at £199 from

http://www.cel-direct.com/shop1.asp?s_page=radio-cd.asp

or a Becker (the best choice in terms of quality and looks). My local ICE dealer tells me that they are launching a new model called the Monza in Feb '03. Take a look at:

http://www.becker.de

to get an idea of what this will look like, as I'm told the styling will be like the Mexico model.

[mikeythemini]

Just had a play with the Kenwood mp3 boot mount hard disc.
2500 tracks , mmmmm tempting

[dco43054]

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
You coud always get these...

Thanks OB, Pretty cool, but a little pricey and I thnk illegal to drive with in Ohio. A friend of mine has an iRock, and he's coming along for the drive home. We'll take that if we have to.

I did pre-order an iTrip on their site last night. We'll see when it arrives. I suspect they are in production now and building inventory to be able to ship to their wholesalers. I have another vehicle and want something I can use in that, too. Plus next time I have a rentacar, it will be nice to have easy tunes.

I was motoring the Autobahn in the fall in a MB A Klasse and they used the CD slot for the nav system. Bavarian folk tunes get on your nerves after a while. This would have saved the day. Don't want to be looking at the radio at 110 mph while doing your best to miss that Renault Twingo.

Now if I could just use the headphones to drown out the blather from the person in the office next to me, I would buy them in a heartbeat.

Dave

[Kinster]

Only messing

Quote:

Originally posted by obehave
Ah ha! My area of having a clue.
With USB X you have to have a computer since that it where the I/O traffic direction comes from.
Firewire you don't. Devices can talk to one another without a CPU involved. Admittedly there are not a lot of devices that implement this yet.
Second FireWire is isochronous. So you have guaranteed bandwidth. Attach 2 USB devices to a system and move data to both and they each suffer throughput. This is not true of Firewire. Since it is basically 2 intelligent devices talking directly nothing can interrupt the data stream. Nothing within reason of course
In actual data transfer tests FW 400 still beats USB 2 in many instances particularly video data stream.

[stryder]

The iTrip looks intriguing, but really, I can't imagine FM modulation working well, or living up to the quality of the not amazingly good but adequate stock sound system. However, a blitzsafe + cable will cost you like 3 times an iTrip, so maybe its worth investigating. Be sure to let us know whoever gets itripped'd first.

Apple always 'arranges' to have their products sell for basically the same price anywhere. Unless you're in education, which gets you a small discount.

Btw, the Bose headphones are positively not worth $300, they were developed after Bose failed to make noise cancelling headsets for the air force, they needed an outlet for the technology (so i hear) in any case, they're not worth $300 for noise cancelling, nor are they worth $300 for quality headphones. read up here if you care.