incar music??

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24th July 2007, 07:10 AM
DiscoStew

Quote:

Originally Posted by HangOver

Please don't get offended this is an open forum for debate and expressing opinion, so here goes.

Ipod !! :D:D:D:D

Ipod is a fashion accessory why spend $$$$ on "oooohhh that looks nice "
... don't be a sheep ;):D

I am not offended, iPod are IMHO overpriced but also don't automatically join the iPod bashing crowd either no matter how fashionable that might be. A black sheep is still a sheep. Depending on your requirements it can be the only option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rovercare

I'm thinking an FM transmitter so I can go from car to car??

If you are happy to have the MP3 player complety seperate from your headunit then the FM transmittor option on a better priced MP3 player is good option. We did somthing like this for a 3 week trip round Tassie. What I found annoying is that everytime we stopped I would have to manually stop the MP3 player, and then manually restart it again when we took off. Also there was a cable running from the glove box to cigarette lighter socket which kept getting in the way of the drinks holder.

So as I am getting ready for the 3 week trip to Darwin I have put in a Pioneer DEH-P59501B ($370). This comes with an iPod connector at the rear and a cable that you run to the glove box. You then control the iPod via the head unit. When you turn off the car it turns off the iPod and then it starts again from where it left off. You can also select any playlists, albums etc via the head unit. The iPod stays in the glove box out of site of would be thieves with no tell tale cable.

The reason iPod is sometimes the only option is because there is a world of 3rd Party products for them that do not exist for others although I am happy to be corrected on this. For example, when I was looking the only head units with could fully integrate with an MP3 player were for iPods. There are many speaker units that are for iPods.

I also bought a Logitech MM50 ($180?) which runs off a built in 12v battery and can be reharged from 12v source. You just slot in the iPod and control it with a remote control so you can keep it under cover while you sit out in the warm sun. The sound quality of these devices vary greatly but the MM50 is quite good and was the only one I found which was based on 12v. It also has an input for any other device that has an earphone jack so I can plug in the AM radio when the cricket is on.

Both the Pioneer and the MM50 keep the iPod charged as well.

I also bought an iPod camera adapter so I can save the photos from the digital camera at the end of each day. Same price as an SD card but with much more memory. If I travelled with a laptop I would not need this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quiggers

...avoid any portable device with a hard drive, been there...

any solid state mp3 or 4 type device will suffice, provided you have the necessary loading software.

GQ

I have picked up some foam for packing around items and intend to cut some to fit the iPod to protect on corrugated roads etc but it makes sense that hard drive based units are more at risk. I just don't know how big a risk that is.

If you do go with a a hard disk based device (iPod or most other MP3 devices) then you can do backups from your computer to it (not just music). Given the automated backup at the office never works I find this very useful.

Expensive setup but I use the iPod every day for a variety of reasons so I can justify it.

Headunit: $370
iPod: $500
No more whining from the missus whenever I ask her to pop open the glove box and press stop or play: Priceless
24th July 2007, 07:23 AM
Rayngie

I think iPods are the way to go, they are overpriced, but have a load of features, heaps of accessories, and are very easy to use.
I put a $120 Sony headset in with front auxilory input and plug the iPod ( 80gb, currently 14,000 songs! ) to that, the only prob is having to turn the iPod off and on with the car, but that's hardly taxing as it's only one button ( not even a button really is it? ), at the moment I'm driving a mates Patrol with a Alpine iPod stereo built in, meaning it has the head unit and a cable into the glovebox with the head unit becoming the iPod controller, and find it a pain as it's no way near as intuitive to use as the iPod itself, although makes things much neater.

Headsets are cheap enough now as well..
24th July 2007, 07:27 AM
waynep

Since you lost all yr CDs you need to replace your music collection so it may be better to go totallly MP3 and maybe even ( horror) pay for a few tracks. The music stores now have machines where you can go in and pay a buck fifty or so for a track and download it. Or you can get them onlne from Virgin etc.

I have an iriver mp3 player. When I want to use it in the car it plugs in to a "fake" cassette module that I got with an old external car CD player. This cassette module looks like a standard cassette tape and plugs into the cassette tape drive ( which my old car has ). A lead from the casstte module plugs into the MP3 players headphone socket. The sound gets passed through the tape drive's heads somehow. The sound quality is quite good I think maybe better than the FM radio transducer things. A lot of aftermarket car sound systems these days have a direct socket for an MP3 player or even have inbuilt MP3 players.
24th July 2007, 07:36 AM
DiscoStew

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rayngie

at the moment I'm driving a mates Patrol with a Alpine iPod stereo built in, meaning it has the head unit and a cable into the glovebox with the head unit becoming the iPod controller, and find it a pain as it's no way near as intuitive to use as the iPod itself, although makes things much neater.

Headsets are cheap enough now as well..

I agree that controlling through the headunit is not as simple as directly to the iPod especially if you have heaps of music and playlists but we generally select one playlist that I have setup for the music we both like and leave it on that. So the only controls we use are the volume, skip and pause which are very simple to use.

And while it is only one button, it is having to go the glove box each time that was a pain. If you do long stretches then not so bad but we stop a lot. It also depends on how co-operative your better half is:mad:. Mine hates fiddling about with stuff.

BTW My parents are grey nomads and they download radio podcasts from the ABC for the shows they like but never get to listen to. My Mum is technically challenged but finds it pretty straight-forward with a bit of help from the grandkids. They then catch up on their programs while on the road. I believe all MP3 players can do this but they can chew up a bit of disk space.
24th July 2007, 08:18 AM
solmanic

iPod for sure. I think the smallest you can get now is 40GB which is more than enough for the largest of music libraries.

I also agree that it is worth going to the extra trouble of getting a head unit which the iPod can plug straight into. This enables you to keep the iPod safe in the console or glovebox out of harms way and you can navigate through your song library on the unit itself. Plus, the device charges while you drive so you never run out of battery. It is always fully charged for when you take it out to go walking or skiing or whatever.

I don't have any worries with switching it off when I stop since I NEVER leave it in the car anyway.

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/8...tall006ct0.jpg
http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/3...tall003ah7.jpg
24th July 2007, 10:59 AM
EchiDna

the next most popular is the Creative Zen range which has about 5% market share... but as mentioned above, you will struggle to find a manufacturer of accessories apart from Creative themselves.

If you have a bluetooth capable phone with media player software (a "Smartphone") you can get bluetooth headunits for the car which will work as a handsfree kit as well and allow you to answer phone calls when it rings and play music from media cards... GPS can also be run on most smartphones as well, so you get even more functionality.
I have this sony unit and it is fantastic:
http://www.xplodsony.com/article/Son...ed+CD+Receiver

GPS is a simple addition, depending on the phone you have... I've got 4gb memory cards (x3) and this is more than enough for my entire cd collection and GPS maps and contacts and calendar and....
24th July 2007, 11:47 AM
solmanic

Seriously - nothing comes close to the iPod. Apple have got it worked out just right and if anybody in your family is a student or teacher, then you can buy on-line at Apple's education store and get a SUBSTANTIAL discount.
24th July 2007, 11:55 AM
loanrangie

Time to join the modern world hey farmboy, an mp3 cd player with front aux in will give you lots of options by adding a cheapo mp3 player.
24th July 2007, 12:06 PM
markyc

Incar Music??

Weren't the Incars massacred by the Spanish centuries ago? Who knows what they listened to back then:p:p
24th July 2007, 12:24 PM
EchiDna

Quote:

Originally Posted by solmanic

Seriously - nothing comes close to the iPod. Apple have got it worked out just right and if anybody in your family is a student or teacher, then you can buy on-line at Apple's education store and get a SUBSTANTIAL discount.

ahh but you forget that a PDA phone is 100% tax deductable as a business expense (like a laptop) every couple of years for most/many people...

Lets see you run oziexplorer or similar software or answer phone calls through your iPod :)

the downside? you typically have to start/stop the media player each time you get in/out of the car or it runs down the battery while in your pocket playing music over a few hours... personally most stops are less than an hour or two, so this is irrelevant, you just let it run during the day and stop it overnight.

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