Which MP3 player for a car?

[Housen Maratouk]

I'm looking at MP3 CD players for my car, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone (just don't tell the ASPCA http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/tongue.gif) and add a topic to this forum. Aiwa has a couple of models, as do Sony and Kenwood. Some can pick up where they left off in the middle of a song, while some can't. Some can display long title names, some can't. Some can grab music from subdirectories... well you get the idea.

Which do you all like, and why? And please don't recommend the empeg MP3 player, as I'm specifically looking to buy something that plays CDRs and that doesn't cost over $1k... so the empeg doesn't fit the bill on either count.

Housen

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Housen Maratouk
Managing Editor,
Sharky Extreme and Online Communities
internet.com
housen@sharkyextreme.com

[This message has been edited by Housen Maratouk (edited August 30, 2001).]

[G19]

Aiwa has a couple of models, as do Sony and Kenwood.
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Niether, but I wouldn't cry if this was in my car.
http://www.carplayer.com/ssi/cpm25/hddunit.shtml


Model 25 (CPM25): $482.99

Has integration options with PC USB rack, stereo and car. Contains HD scan, LCD display, and use as a removable hard drive.
Can hold up to 15,000 songs or around 1200 CD’s with play at 1.45Mb per second transfers.

No doubt you've seen this before, but it's my pick of the litter rather than going nuts trying to find the ace.

Have to plead ignorance beyond that point. My MP3's are all desktop. I fear change.

Good luck in finding the best one for yourself. http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif

EDIT: According to a credible source, the Carplayer Jukebox is not a CD player. Just the same, a nice hybrid machine for playing MP3's.

[This message has been edited by GARRIN19 (edited August 30, 2001).]

[Superbob]

Housen... Aren't you the guy who shut down the Off Topic forum? Lucky for you, I don't hold a grudge.. or at least not a big one http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/wink.gif

Anyway, I would buy the Sony CDX-MP450X, which you can comparison shop with other MP3 CD players here:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-gH0EbRG89c6/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=62700&I=158CDXMP45&o=&a=0

If you don't like the unit, at least you'll be able to find one that you will like.

[Adisharr]

I did this review a long time ago on EPINIONS.. It's on the Aiwa CDC-MP3 player.. So far it's still working good.. Check it out. At the time it was purchased there was only the $ 600 Kenwood as a similar option..
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-78AE-1CBF5D02-3A06FD1F-prod5



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- You can milk anything with nipples -

[Jeff20Sk]

Im really into the car audio scene, so I can say I have a good opinion as to the Best Mp3 player on the market.

At the current time, your best bet is the Kenwood Z828, its LOADED with tons of features, as is the Clarion DXZ. Both will do the job for high end car audio installs. Both have three sets of high voltage pre-outs, and all the necessary adjustments you could ever want.

BUT if you just want a simple deck, without any fluff and BASIC mp3 support with little room for upgrade, Aiwa has two models that should fit the bill, as well as panasonic, they offer a lower cost deck.


if you are curious about other options, check out Crutchfield in the car section, they have info about all the current MP3 decks worth knowing about(at a high cost mind you, but good info nonetheless)

Id stay away from hard drive mp3 players in cars, they are expensive and I dont trust those small companies, they could fall off the planet and you'll be left with expensive junk if it ever dies on ya!


Hope I helped a lil, cheers

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NEWBIE!

[BremenCulhaven]

Personally, I compared them all and for the money/features I would get the Kenwood. It can be had for <$300.

BC

[Shotgun Si]

Kenwood KDC-MP8017 from www.sbhcorp.com (http://www.sbhcorp.com)

$260 plus shipping.

Flip or detach face.
Play's mp3's burned in ISO2 format.
Reads up to 31 characters in file name.
Reads ID3v1 tags.
Way better power than my stock headunit.
22watts RMS x 4 vs. 5 watts RMS x 4 in the stock crappy headunit.
No skipping so far...

Those are a few reasons I like the unit http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[This message has been edited by Shotgun Si (edited September 06, 2001).]

[Prince]

you just might not be looking for this answer. But personally I will not install an mp3 player, rather I will get Creative Nomad Jukebox (especially the newer with 13GB HD??). It will be more portable, easier and multi-purpose than a car mp3 player.

Ofcourse, car mp3 player will look nicer.

[Housen Maratouk]

Beyond looking nicer, it will also play through my car's sound system and enable me to more easily control what I listen to, while driving, without killing pedestrians http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif.

Housen

Originally posted by Prince:
you just might not be looking for this answer. But personally I will not install an mp3 player, rather I will get Creative Nomad Jukebox (especially the newer with 13GB HD??). It will be more portable, easier and multi-purpose than a car mp3 player.

Ofcourse, car mp3 player will look nicer.

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Housen Maratouk
Managing Editor,
Sharky Extreme and Online Communities
internet.com
housen@sharkyextreme.com

[This message has been edited by Housen Maratouk (edited September 07, 2001).]

[Samjham]

I have the Kenwood KDC-MP8017 installed in my car and I like it pretty well. It shows pretty long text on the screen and has good power output. You can also scroll through folders. I made a bunch of CD-R's from my PC that were actually backups of all my MP3's and they all play perfectly fine in my MP3 player. The only thing that I really don't like about it is that it wont play random songs across folders. It will randomly play songs within one folder, but not across many different ones. The solution to this is to make a CD with all the songs you want on it and put them all in one folder (obviously) and this works fine. I can actually get about 170 or so songs on one CD!

Personally I wouldn't spend a whole lot on an MP3 player (like not much more than $600...I paid about $300 for mine) My reasoning is that if you spend over $600 then it might almost be worth it to buy a laptop, or build a PC on a micro ATX mobo and put it in your car. I actually though of this after buying my MP3 player. I almost wish that I would have bought a laptop with a docking station, permenantly mounted the docking station in my car and then used the laptop as a "detatchable" head unit for my car. It would be much better to be able to click through folders to find songs to play and then create playlists and play them in your car this way. Also it would be a much cheaper and better solution to having a DVD player in your car (Kenwood's DVD player costs $2500!!!) The only thing is, is that you would have to also buy a seperate amp and run the line out from the docking station to the amp and then to the speakers. Well....I can dream can't I http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif

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[IT_Slave]

Here's a good review of the Sony Xplod one I'm planning on getting.
http://www2.corral.net/tech/electronics/sonymp3player

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[salehrules]

Originally posted by Housen Maratouk:
Beyond looking nicer, it will also play through my car's sound system and enable me to more easily control what I listen to, while driving, without killing pedestrians http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif.

Housen



well, you could get the tape adapter so you can use your car stereo... and carry it around...
but if you have the money, i don't see why you shouldn't get the car mp3 player.

[Shotgun Si]

Originally posted by IT_Slave:
Here's a good review of the Sony Xplod one I'm planning on getting.
http://www2.corral.net/tech/electronics/sonymp3player



The sony was my second choice but what turned me off was the inablity to play ID3tags. The sony unit will only play the first 8 characters of the mp3 file name. The kenwood will play V1 Id3tags and also play up to 31 characters of the file name, if there is no id3tag.

Check out this site for TONS more info, including a message board too.
http://www.highwaymp3.com/hwmp3.htm

[s1203372]

I have the Kenwood Z919, the predecessor to the Z828. I have nothing but good things to say about it. I take that back - it will skip if I hit a hard bump, and it takes a while to initialize a large cdr disk. Other than that, it's great. You can set separate audio filters and x-overs for each speaker.

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[Scuttle]

Originally posted by Housen Maratouk:
Beyond looking nicer, it will also play through my car's sound system and enable me to more easily control what I listen to, while driving, without killing pedestrians http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif.

Housen



Yeah, pedestrians are such a pain. They make it so you have to look at ease of use as well. No consideration for drivers. http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/wink.gif

As for me i'm looking at the cheap and cheerful range for hold in your hand ones. I've only got a few 100mb's of HDD space left, and have to wait at least a week until i can buy a new HDD. Guess i'll have to compress to .wpa files. *shudder*

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[quartz]

Originally posted by Housen Maratouk:
Beyond looking nicer, it will also play through my car's sound system and enable me to more easily control what I listen to, while driving, without killing pedestrians http://www.sharkyforums.com/ubb/smile.gif.

Housen




The Jukebox works fine in a car. One problem is the power supply - you'll need a cigarette power adaptor unless you want to change batteries every 20 minutes. you may also need a supressor for the lighter since (in my citroen saxo) the engine noise through the cigarette 12v supply gives a small but very noticeable (5%?) amount of noise through the speakers. you may also need a line-in on the radio to hook it all up.

cheers