tomz17

I was playing around with the idea of installing a car mp3 (cd) player.... need some advice...


First my requirements :
#1... works with cdr's, cdrw's and regular audio cd's
#2... Has some method by which i could control it while driving (ie... either in-dash, or via remote)
#3... Able to connect to my stock non-bose system (i have 2000 SE w/ oem in-dash cd player)

Ok, so now having that in mind, I see 3 possibilities

#1... In dash player.. (ie.. Aiwa, etc.)...
Pros : Most discrete... Easy to operate...
Cons : attracts thieves? (i live in Newark, NJ)... requires installation... not portable... doesn't support cdrw's ?? most expensive of the 3?

#2... Portable Mp3 Player.. (was looking at the Rio Volt because of its wired remote control)...
Pros : Portable... Compatible with everything... No significant installation.. Cheapest of the 3?
Cons : Not as discrete.. Requires inverter/transformer?

#3... Old laptop with CD drive...
Pros : Ability to expand to gps navigation, etc... Semi-portable...
Cons : Installation headache (power, mounting, etc.)... Tremendous time investment in programing... (ie. shut down, start up, etc.) No simple way to control while driving??? (any wired / RF remotes for laptops?)


Admittedly, option #2 looks the most attractive... But I would like to hear what you guys think...

-Tom Z.

Also, how would I go about wiring this into my system... I was originally thinking about using a simple RF modulator to play it through my car radio... How much of a performance hit do I take for taking this route (in terms of audio quality)...

What about power??? Dc-Dc, or Dc->Ac??

Any thoughts about the rio volt??

OR Is the RioCar worth waiting for??

OgreDave

iTrader: (1)

Been in the same boat as you for sometime now... giving you a warning up top that im super biased on these things. Been doing this mp3 thing too long .. seen them all come and go. (check for my name in winamp ) .. im not flaming you, just giving you my stance on those ideas (i had them too) .. so here goes

First of all, your requirements dont seem to make sense with your options.. how do you plan on using a deck (stock) with a notebook or rio? I hope not thru a tape input thing. In each option, youd have to have a new head unit..

Why do you want it to work with your other in dash unit? If you get a standalone unit, you will still be able to play all cds, etc .. specially if you get a mp3 capable deck. (Aiwa you mentioned, but im lookin at Clarion or Kenwood.. to be specific, the KDC-MP8017 looks good right now, decent reviews, but 1.8v preouts, and only 2 .. but that can be sorta worked around)

Option #2 sucks ***** (not the idea, but the way it will turn out). I have a rio, and heard a few others. they all have no bass output .. i thought it was my headfones, it wasnt. i used my roommates sennhauser[however its spelled] ($300 for his "cheaper unit") .. its so weak. Barely any bass, my guess is to save batteries. To hook that up to yer car system would be a waste. (At least what i have in mind)

#3 notebook? might as well have just gotten a deck with an aux, then use a notebook with soundcard out.. same deal there.

RioCAR = puke. its a 10gb hd that costs a grip. It might have a few more features, but really, its just a fancy board/box around a hd that costs like 60 bucks. You willing to pay 4 digits for that? Rather have something like the clarion deck for 700 (tho its still not out)

Sorry to be so opinionated, but im going for option 1. Most likely the KDC-MP8017, or if im feelin really insane, the Clarion/Kenwood Z818 [919 discontinued] .. but i probably wont do the latter 2. MP3 Head units (or any pheasible mp3 option for cars) are still being developed. Everything is gonna get cheaper and cheaper, the current options will be either way cheaper, or realatively obsolete.

Good luck

tomz17

Actually, i've been around this mp3 thing very long as well.. (i'm a computer programmer with a lil' but of physics backround..., and sadly enough, i UNDERSTAND how the algorithims behind mp3 work... try impressing the ladies with that :-(

I never said i was looking for an after market head unit to supplement my stock unit.. If i got the aiwa, clarion, or kenwood head unit, it would of course replace my cheap stock unit..

The reason I was leaning towards option 2 was because I only have the cheap stock(NON BOSE), speakers... (NOTHING MORE)... Therefore, I prolly would not be able to hear much difference in audio quality, especially at highway speeds... (i was also thinking of using an RF modulator to transmit on an FM band [which hits quality even more], as opposed to that messy casette adapter)

(besides, i'm not worried all that much about exellent bass... cuz by the very nature in which they work, MP3's strip out a lot of bass.... Why?? well, under normal circumstances you DO NOT hear those very low frequencies, and therefore they are just considered wasted space... Notice your subwoofer's frequency response range starts WAY below the threshold of normal human hearing... You supposedy "feel" those low bands, not hear them... Since a lot of those bands are absent or distorted in MP3, you simply won't get the same quality from a ripped and burned cd, as you would from an original or direct copy.. )


I was considering getting something cheap... (i've seen portable standalone mp3 cd players for as low as $70... but want to get one with a wired remote, so that I could tuck it under a seat somewhere...) So far, the Rio Volt is the only one that has a neat wired remote... but it's a but pricier than the competition.... Any ideas for alternatives??



I actually agree with you about the RioCar... just wanted to check others opinions.... (you do realize that prices on it will plummit **FAST**, and within a few months, I predict it will easily be around $200-300) 4 digits $$$ right now, is just cuz its fresh on the market, and people go goo-goo-ga-ga over new ways to steal music...



-Tom Z.

CanuckAMP

FYI there are alot of MP3 capable decks coming out this year from Alpine, Kenwood, JVC, Panasonic and Sony. And I know some of them will be able to read CD-RW (JVC and Panasonic)

OgreDave

iTrader: (1)

Yes, it cuts out what the human ear cant hear, blah blah blah you know the deal. But, it can do bass. Depending on how you encode, of course. Many many many of us have done the MHZ mapping tests to see how close it is, and its pretty damn close. Todays mp3 standards are 192k Stereo .. tho many groups still do joint-stereo, those bastards.

And when i say that the rios have weak bass, what i really mean is, like NO bass. It does worse than FM modulation in terms of outputting bass. It does WAY worse.

I asked why.. i see why, you wanna skimp I know you didnt say u were lookin to replace the headunit, but i dont see value in not replacing it. Would you be willing to spend 100-300 for a mp3 player? why not 250 for a deck that can hold infinite amounts of mp3s? Rio media (memory) is grips more expensive than CDR or CDRWs.

Regarding rios and standalone units, what i didnt understand was how you'd plug it into your standard deck? Assuming you go other routes, whats going to be your AUX input? Thats why i laced my whole previous response with aftermarket headunits.

And i agree with you that prices will drop. But rio anything, no thanks. Hard drives in my car? i can build an auto pc cheaper, even 400.. my friend did it a long time ago, explorer shell = winamp .. auto load some plugin that lets you change tracks using a keypad, custom wood casing.. cdrom with playlist.. done. Computer doesnt have to be fast, barely needs any ram, just need a power converter, a cheap pentium, small hd, and sound card. Of course, he did have a deck that had an AUX in.. which is where that issue of the aftermarket deck comes in again.

If you truly dont care about quality, use one of those cheapie standalone mp3 decks, with a tape input thing.. the remote, im sure you can manage somehow. Or you can fork out for Rio

OgreDave

iTrader: (1)

Most if not all of the mp3 decks can read CDR/RW ..

Kenwood's are out, they even had the ***** to discontinue one already.. wtf

Sonys is also out.. but its silver & red.. my interior is black

Same deal with mp3s for the most part, wait and see..

MaineI30

In a nutshell, I used to have option two, then went to a pumped-up version of #3 and like it better. As you said, more choices, such as Nav, etc.

Dc-to-dc power is great but you have to do it RIGHT.

/aac

Jesse93GXE

I just uninstalled the Aiwa CDC-MP3 from my car.
It worked pretty well. Did CDRs and CDRWs just fine. Sounded pretty good, though i'm no audiophile. Install was easy. Why did I uninstall (and return) it? Three main reasons:

1) no night dimming -- I could see the reflection in my windshield at night
2) minor imperfections in design, nothing big. no anti-skip protection (though you have to hit a pretty massive pothole to skip it), numeric album/track navigation, a cd changer metaphor, a few seconds delay between tracks..
3) MAIN reason -- I can do better.

My computer goes in next week probably, I've been coding up the interface and such. I'll have an in-dash LCD with a remote control to use it, with the comp in the trunk. I'm not using a head unit, just an amp.

Anyway, for those who don't want to go to the trouble of a whole comp, the CDC-MP3 is very good. If I didn't enjoy projects, I would have kept it.

Now just to figure out how I get a usable GPS/navigation setup in there. Hard to get a big enough screen installed so it looks like it belongs.. I'll probably stick to my laptop for now. =)

slick

instead of getting a portable mp3 player, get a portable cd-mp3 player, a cd player that plays mp3 filled cd's. you're gonna have to use one of those cassette adapter thingy's, but it looks like a good deal. this one is pretty cheap, and comes with a wireless remote:
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/...659518-8445462
here's a cheaper one by d-link:
http://www.electic.com/Reviews/D-Lin...00/index.shtml
this is just an idea, hope it helps your decision.

tomz17

Ya um... the rio volt is a CD mp3 player... (which is what i was talking about the entire time).. I was also looking at the Napa players, which look like they have comparable features, just an IR remote (no good if i want to hide the mp3 player somewhere!!)

I wouldn't touch a solid-state mp3 player with a 10ft pole...


Big question in my mind is still exactly how much of a performance hit i take from using an FM modulator (as opposed to the casette adapter??) Will i be able to tell on my stock speakers..??



-Tom


PS... about the 192K mp3 encoding, on a decent system you can still hear a difference between the original and the ripped mp3... Since i have a ****ty setup in the car anyway (all stock non-bose), and am just looking to spend the least amount possible, I suspect i could get away with 128k without noticing...

slick

i really didn't read the other post to well, and the second i here "rio" i think small, expenisive, 32mb-64mb player, i didn't know that they made a mp3-cd player.
as for the fm modulator, its not that great, my friend has a minidisc player, and he wanted to use it in his car (99 grand am gt) but his stock stereo is just a cd player, so obviously he couldn't use the cassette adapter, so he tried the fm modulator and it really sounded like crap!! i dont know if it had anything to do with his stereo (which is pretty good for a stock system) or maybe his minidisc, but the sound wasn't clear and there was some static at times (kinda like a bad radio station). i say you should give it a try, but make sure you get it from a place that has a good return policy

OgreDave

iTrader: (1)

I agree, but for free, that lil bit missing is fine by me. Most of the bass is there, the missing bit, you wouldnt notice unless you actually compared to a CD. How many of those mp3s you have do you actually own the cd and are able to compare with? And even better, ive encoded some of my own cds in 256/320 true stereo, where you cant even tell.. (unless you THINK you can tell, know what i mean? )