If you're a geek, you could build it yourself...

 

ok... right chiark, getting out of my depth here... i know computers, but this sounds hcore....i know linux, but would be seriously dubious about buying this kit to only f**k up the install....
erm.....
looks like maybe i should keep lookin' for readymade units?
Thx for all your info though, have bookmarked the site.
cheers
tom

 

I've been toying with the idea of putting a good system into my Scooby. Here's the problem.... I'm fed up with buying CD's for more than ten quid and minidisc's are cool, so I have recently got into MP3. My collection is growing and for me the best way forward would be to be able to play MP3's in my car. I know there are several options - simple player which plugs into the USB port of the computer, and another one which transmits radio from your boot into your existing headunit and several other methods. Has anyone gone down this root or know any other options?
Thanks
Tom

 

I assume you've already looked at

 

MP3's are awesome!!! So many songs on one cd. As you probable know you can write mp3's onto a cdr and play them in your pc, either with the cd finalized or unfinalized!! Well take a look at this web site

 

Yeh, this is a wicked player, but if you look at technology, how do they get this price?
I mean a decent head unit for 300 smackers with a mp3 player running off some memory cards plugged in would be just as good, no?
Surely there is a cheaper option than 800quid?
Thanks
Tom

 

Motherboard was 25 quid (including case, processor and memory). Soundcard was 30 quid. Hard drive was spare...

For ready made, the Nomad unit from Creative looks very, very temping as something to plug into the Aux input of your system - have a quick shufti at the creative site.

Nick.

 

Great concept, but as it's compressed data, shame about the sound........

<flamesuit on>

and yes, I do download MP3s

Dan

 

...as is minidisc?

Put the rate up high enough, and it ain't bad. I encode mine using variable bit rate between 128 and 196kb/s (I think that's the metric, innit?)

 

ScoobyDoo555.... We're not talking about watching the latest blockbusters in massive widescreen with 5.1 digital here... if you wanna do that, go home. This is about portability of sound, and you tell me how you can get thousands of tunes in your car?

 

Chiark - yep,. Minidisc is compressed. However, the SOUND of Minidisc can be better than CD. (Subjective, of course, but it's well known in the audio industry that MD sounds more like analogue than CD - not a bad thing... IMHO)

Mutley - why would I want to watch 'blockbusters' in the 5.1 in the car
Have you heard 5.1 in a car?

Nah in all seriousness, I'm not really having a go at the format, but moreso the muppets who put the audio onto the web. Badly. How many times have you downloaded stuff that's poorly recorded, faded out badly, recorded at 22.05Khz(!!!!!).......
The amount of stuff I've downloaded that just has no bass at all (when A-B'd with the CD/MD)

In fact, I was seriously looking at an MP3 player in the Scoob.

I suppose putting it all into perspective, MP3 is perfect for the car. ANYTHING to drown out the wife's/partner's "Slow down!!!"

Dan

 

Kenwood 6090 mp3 player is the bizz!! , picked one up for £260, allows wariable bitrates (needs 192kbps for good bass etc if you use amp/subs etc) folders to save different styles in (chicks choonz , dance, down at the beach late at night etc!!) Also very cool point that it displayes the track name from the mp3 signature or the filename!! - looks just like winamp!! well worth checkin out but note needs separate amp/speakers, not 47watts / channel as stated!! - recommended
As for the nomad by creative, bulky, nowhere to fit it in the car, difficult to change tracks in dark etc, dont get one for the car - trust me - i sell them!!!

 

Surely sound quality in a car is a waste of time once you go beyond a certain point? How can you distinguish the finer points of sound quality when you've got a SS back box blasting away and a turbo engine racing to the redline, not to mention tyre noise and traffic? I agree in the home, with a good hifi, MP3 might not be best, but in a car it sounds perfect!

 

Matt, there is only so far you can go. It is pointless in some ways, as you've got a really nasty environment to try and reproduce sounds in...

Still, it's a laugh, innit? I can hear things on MD that make me unhappy at any speed, provided it's loud enough

I've got to the level that I'm happy with by upgrading over the years. It would take quite a bit to persuade me to move onto another system...

...although the displays on the new Kenwood units this year are supposed to be excellent... hmm...

 

don't forget people you can allways make your own high quality MP3's but i have to agree that the quality is not upto CD standards but then again a mp3 will not skip and jump... and you could have loads of songs ready and waiting.

 

Personally, I'd say check out the Empeg, as someone has already suggested.

I've had one since last August, when the Mk.2 version came out, and it's an amazing piece of kit. I originally bought the 12Gb version, and have now added an additional 20Gb for the paltry sum of 115 quid.

So, in my case, 32Gb equates to about 7000 songs, which is my whole CD collection.

That's where the real benefit lies for me, not having to mess about with CDs any more. I can appreciate that the single disk in-dash MP3 units are pretty attractive, especially when you consider the price. For me, they are still a waste of time, as you still have to carry CDs around, albeit with approx. 10 albums on a disk instead of 1.

Also, how do you catalogue and find the exact track that you want, when you want it, especially as you might have 10 albums on a disk? This is where the Empeg comes into it's own, due to it's amazingly flexible playlist and search interface. I can easily find and play the songs I want in a matter of seconds.

On the subject of quality, I have encoded all of my own CDs using Audiograbber and Lame, and find the quality to be excellent. I tell Lame to never use less than 128Kbits/sec, and up to 320Kbits/sec, VBR, Stereo. With these settings, I really can't tell the difference between MP3 and the original CD, in most cases. For those times where MP3 just doesn't cut it (i.e. the encoder just can't work out how to compress a song without artifacts), then I use WAV files. The next release of the Empeg software will allow MP3, WAV and WMA formats, so I'm sorted.

If you do download a lot of music from the net, then be prepared for a lot of it to sound pretty poor. There are a lot of people out there who still believe that 128Kbits/sec CBR equates to CD quality. It doesn't.

When it comes down to it, choose the product that best fits your needs and budget at the time. Also, avoid the Aiwa in-car MP3 player, as it is apparently very unreliable.

Andy.

 

For me the ideal format would be a CD changer that played MP3's (then 10 discs would be 100 albums, I own roughy 250 so having nearly half my collection in the car would be great) I would also rather have a slightly better head unit than the 6090 like the 8090 (that motorised mask looks great!!). The Empeg/RIOcar player look good, but unfeasibly expense to me (currently $1199).