[Request] Recommend an MP3 car stereo?

Doodlebug

I need to get a car stereo that has radio/CD/MP3 functions - ideally one that has a USB slot so I can use my (1 GB) MP3 player.

I'm thinking of 200 yoyos or less.

Anyone know of one thats reasonably priced where you don't have to fiddle with the tiny USB stick controls to change tracks, i.e. you can control all functions from dashboard/facia?

fuse

I bin looking for something similar.
Think I might go with a CD/Mp3 cd player that has a aux line in at the front.
Head phone jack size. Think it would be easier than having a usb connection.

This site seems to have best prices,
you can get the Sony GT200/GT300
delivered for around 200eur

Pixmania.co.uk have a few options aswell

I saw the argos catalog has the sony one aswell and price includes installation of the unit.

event

http://www.caraudio.ie/car_mp3_players.php

is a great place to check

Doodlebug

Thanks lads - I hadn't considered the AUX-in option - that would make it a lot easier!

I like the look of the Sony CDXGT300 (just over 150 delivered). I'll have a gander at what Argos have - don't remember seeing any AUX-in options though.

$Leon$

i got a great one with usb and sd card input from Lidl around janurary time €80.
Absolutely perfect so far and 3yr guarantee

fuse

Doodlebug wrote:

I like the look of the Sony CDXGT300 (just over 150 delivered). I'll have a gander at what Argos have - don't remember seeing any AUX-in options though.

Yep Argos have the Sony CDXGT300 for 230eur which includes free fitting.

If you have a remote stick in your car, you'll need a few extra cables & adaptors to use it.

Doodlebug

Hmmm - 150 from www.caraudio.ie and 230 from Argos... is fitting worth 80 I wonder?

dannyd20

fitting a head unit should not cost 80 euro! Its pretty straightforward and easy enough to do.

You need the head unit removal tools - these will come with your new stereo and there should be ones available from your local car accessories shop for your current head unit. The difficulty will depend on the type of car you're fitting to. Older cars may need an ISO adaptor or even some rewiring. Newish cars will have a standard ISO connection and will only be a matter of unplugging the old stereo and plugging in the new one. Depending on the year of the car, and stereo being fitted... you may require an aerial adaptor, again easy to fit and available off the shelf.

One watchout is if you have an ISO plug as standard.... but the switched and constant power postions are the wrong way round. You will know this if, when you plug in your new stereo it works but when you switch the car off it wont hold the radio stations, presets etc. To stop this happening, you need to swap the two power wires over.... on most aftermarket CD players, they will have their own power loom and the red and yellow power wires will have bullet connections halfway up. Simply swap the red to yellow, yellow to red... this will retain the radios memory function. Where you may have probs is if the stereo you are fitting does not have its own loom... ie, the cars plug goes directly into the new stereo (JVC for example) In this case you cant swap the wires, unless you cut the loom - not advised. If this is the case, go into a car audio shop and buy an adaptor .... this swaps the power sources and plugs in between the cars loom and the stereo.

Dr. Dre

Does anyone have one of these? Is it possible to perhaps connect up an external HD through these USB ports?

copacetic

fuse wrote:

I bin looking for something similar.
Think I might go with a CD/Mp3 cd player that has a aux line in at the front.
Head phone jack size. Think it would be easier than having a usb connection.

This site seems to have best prices,
you can get the Sony GT200/GT300
delivered for around 200eur

Pixmania.co.uk have a few options aswell

I saw the argos catalog has the sony one aswell and price includes installation of the unit.

but with the aux in option, you can't use the head unit for going through the tracks etc etc. I've been looking at the various usb ones, for this very reason. You have more options as all you need is a usb stick, not a player to plug into the aux in, as memory card prices come down, you can keep upgrading it. eg in 6 months or so you will get a 4GB SD card and usb card reader for less that €50..

annoying thing is that some of the big brand names are not doing usb or card reader type units yet as it cripples their ability to add expensive accesories for interfacing to each type of player..

copacetic

Dr. Dre wrote:

Does anyone have one of these? Is it possible to perhaps connect up an external HD through these USB ports?

should be, a guy here uses the lidl/aldi one (not sure which it was) and usb key and ipod via the usb port. hasn't used an external HD drive but same principle. how would you power it? not sure what folder depth works either..

Stephen

2.5" external laptop drives should work, cos they're powered off the USB bus. You need to keep an eye on power though, as they use the maximum amount of power the USB standard specifies already, so you'd want to make sure the head unit is capable of supplying it.

Dr. Dre

Yeah, one of my external caddys for a 3.5"HD outputs 12v from the transformer, so I figure I'll just bypass the transformer and take a 12V supply off the car and give it a go - should work in principle.

fuse

Yeh being able to change USB/SD card is handy enough.

But I'd find it alot easier browsing my albums on my iRiver which I'm used to, rather than using the 2/3 line display on the head unit. Screen sizes on head units are pretty limited at the moment.

4gig SD card doesnt compare to a 40gig mp3 player.

Then you've got the option of 700mb mp3 CD aswell.

An mp3/CD unit that reads DVDr's would be sweet.

Simon201

"An mp3/CD unit that reads DVDr's would be sweet"

Often wondered why this wasn't an option years ago for in car systems, and not specially for watching dvd's - isn't it kind of illegal to have a screen that the driver can see anyhow?

Plenty here anyway, anyone got one? -

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.co.uk%2Fws%2F&fkr=1&from=R8&satitle=in+car+mp3+dvd&category0=

Phibsboro

I've been interested in these for about a year now but the ideal one still hasn't come out. What I'm really after is a head unit that will read in the songs on the external unit and create a library, ala itunes or wmp. Ideally this library would be stored on the external unit itself and the radio would look for the library whenever a new unit is inserted, so it doesn't have to redo the library each time. All the current usb/sd models that I know of only allow direct browsing of the file system - you couldn't search by artist for example, or album title. It will display this ID3 tag data ok but only once the song is choosen and playing. If you have an external HD connected with maybe 20gb on it, this is going to be a pain. Also, because of the filesystems in use, most of these players have file and folder limitations, some of the older ones cripplingly so. Even the latest ones have limits like 200 folders with 256 songs in each...

So what else to do? Its hard to know at the moment. In a couple of years this market will be transformed, but for now the options are :-

1. CD or DVD MP3 player - loads of these around, good value, but bit of a bitch to add new music to (even with a CD/DVD-R, its not as handy as sticking a usb stick in). I think there are models that will play MP3 from a DVD, but can't reference one at the mo...


2. One of the cheap no brand USB/SD head units, ala the LIDL one. Problem here is that I believe the restrictions on the file/folder size can be a killer on these early models.

3. Head unit with ipod control - In a way this is the best of both worlds - u get the library control of the ipod but the convinience of navigating thru the head unit controls. If I wan't a die hard creative man I'd probably do this. One thing to watch is that not all ipod adapters are created equally - make sure it can charge the ipod for example. Kenwood were early adopters here and their gear is quite good by all accounts. Halfords out in blanch have a fair few units with the ipod connector sticking out of the display so you can play around.

4. Brand/modern USB/SD - Most of the big players have usb units out now - check out the car audio site metioned early. Some are simliar to the early no name models and have front panel usb ports - these will probably fade away as that format is made illegal (cos of the danger of random stuff sticking out of the front of the radio in a crash). Other have a back usb port that extends out the side (e.g. into the glove compartment).

My fav solution up until I gathered that it just folder navigates like the others is this bluapunkt - not actually out yet, due this month i think...

http://www.bosch-presse.de/TBWebDB/en-US/PressText.cfm?&Search=1&id=2611

Have a look at that screen!

I was going to couple it with one of these...

http://www.shop4memory.com/products/portable-hard-disk.asp

20/40/60 gb external drives, 1.8" form factor, pretty much guaranteed to be powered from the blaupunkt as far as i know.

But, i really don't fancy folder browsing thru my 13 gig music collection so instead I think I'll compromise with a front panel usb head unit and a 50 quid 1gig usb stick and wait another year or so for a "we provide the ipod like head unit, you provide the storage unit" type solution...