In-car MP3 players
Author
Discussion

tuscansix

Original Poster:

535 posts

303 months

Tuesday 21st January 2003
quotequote all
How many Pistoners' have MP3 players in their cars and are they recommended?

If so, which are the best value ones?

Prince_Charming

2,646 posts

296 months

Tuesday 21st January 2003
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Tuscan6, this looks pretty enticing to me!

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shopping/pages/neoindex.html

jimbro1000

1,619 posts

311 months

Tuesday 21st January 2003
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I reckon best value has to go to the base Kenwood mp3 head unit. Nothing particularly flash but it does the job admirably, rarely skips and is readily available.
www.kenwoodeurope.com/products/caraudio-list.asp?sif2=4&sif3=23&pid=383

I was going to get one of these but went for the Blaupunkt version ("Los Angeles") instead. It is about £100 more but is rock solid and supposedly has better audio reproduction than the Kenwood. Also contains a MMC card slot (not sure of the maximum capacity) that should allow for a good 2 hours of play from something not much bigger than a postage stamp (if you have a card reader attached to your computer - or you have a palm m-series). Also comes with a guaranteed replacement for the head unit itself if it is stolen AND you have the facia plus the security key (another media card, but only used for starting the player if power is disconnected).
www.blaupunkt.co.uk/7641804310_main.asp
The ONLY problem I have with this unit is the clock - it synchronises from the radio which is fine if you are listening to the radio. If you have your mp3s playing all the time the clock goes out of sync losing the occasional hour or so (seems to depend on where you leave your car - at work we have an underground car park and that does seem to screw it up)

Miraz

210 posts

293 months

Tuesday 21st January 2003
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I imported a Kenwood unit from the states - it's badged as a "music keg" - it's basically a removable 40gb hard disk unit which pretends to be a really big CD changer unit, so it will work with most existing head units that provide cd changer support.

CB-Dave

1,002 posts

287 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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I've got the Alpine CDA-7893R, my only dissapointment with it is the time it takes to read/decode the MP3 file. Kenwoods are a hell of a lot quicker to decode but the sound quality isn't there.

Alpine's are damn good units and MCS direct are selling mine for around £240-ish - at work it's up for £349.99...

Podie

46,649 posts

302 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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Prince_Charming said: Tuscan6, this looks pretty enticing to me!

www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/shopping/pages/neoindex.html


Looks a bit like the Dension thing I've seen advertised on this site...

AlexHancock

466 posts

295 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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I've got a Neo Car Juke Box with a 40Gb disk - enough for about 800 CDs at CD quality. It works very well - no jumping, etc. Also, you can plug it into any HIFI for use at home.

Deester

1,607 posts

287 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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My girlfriend bought one the other day for her BMW. It cost 100€ from the supermarket. Nothing fancy but it works a treat!

bigtone

1,211 posts

311 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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Deester said: My girlfriend bought one the other day for her BMW. It cost 100€ from the supermarket. Nothing fancy but it works a treat!


Deester, could you give any more details on this - i'm over there fairly often for business, so £60 for a half decent piece of kit seems like a bargain!

Cheers, Tony

manek

2,978 posts

311 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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I bought a Pioneer head unit (DEH-P7400MP) which connected to the TVR-fitted CD changer in the boot. The slot in the head unit accepts audio CDs or CD/CD-R/RWs with MP3s on.

Worked very well for me till I sold the car...

swilly

9,699 posts

301 months

Wednesday 22nd January 2003
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Fitted a Clarion DXZ818RMP head unit, with MP3 read capability.