Large Capacity MP3 player wanted

[CrnCnn]

Are you mostly interested in something for the VX? I am suprised you dont build a little computer for it.

[nfpgasmask]

Are you mostly interested in something for the VX? I am suprised you dont build a little computer for it.

Well, I am totally open to an in-dash, hard drive based MP3 player, but it has to be good and easy to use. And for that matter, if it is in dash and hard drive based, it needs to be 300+ GB for me to bite into. But yeah, I am open to that for sure.

The problem with using a PC in the car to serve all my MP3s is that it would be something that has to boot up and and all that, and unless I got voice-recog software for it, it would be a pain to navigate with in the VX. Not to mention, there isn't really any room for it. That said, I would like some sort of fold down laptop integrated into the glove box and attached to a cellular internet connection of somekind, that would be sweet. But that is also dreaming...

Bart

[nfpgasmask]

Hmm, well this is actually pretty sweet:

http://store.mp3car.com/Mp3Car_Custo..._p/ccc-121.htm

Just need a nice touch screen and there you go....

Bart

[nfpgasmask]

The other option I would strongly consider is a head unit that has a USB port which would allow me to connect a portable hard drive of ANY SIZE that is loaded with MP3s. I have seen a few head units that do this, but they have like a 2 GB limitation to what can be read (they are mainly used for thumb drives). What can any self respecting music addict expect to do with anything less than 30GB? I mean come on!

Bart

[kodiak]

Every laptop I’ve used in a car gets engine noise thru the car power adapter it’s really annoying. a car PC with roadrunner installed and a good 7in touch screen is awesome, but it’s a big mod and there’s a lot of setup involved. You can buy a car pc power supply that puts the pc into hibernation when the cars shuts off and it brings it back up fast when it’s turned on. I’ve maid a custom roadrunner interface for my laptop I’ve been toying with the idea of installing a car PC.

[nfpgasmask]

I just don't understand where the hell the technology is. I mean, 4 years ago, I looked into the hard drive based car stereos, and there was very little out there that was solid. So I said, no problem, I will wait until things catch up a little. Now, 4 years later and nothing. Nothing even close. Why can't someone make a head unit that has a 300GB laptop hard drive in it, an OS and a face plate for controlling MP3s? Its freakin simple! Stick a USB port on the front so you can hook up a laptop to it and transfer files, configure settings, etc. I mean, that is 100% not out of the question from a technology point of view.

Furthermore, why is iPod the only decent portable player that has busted the 100GB capacity range? WTF? I have nearly 300 GBs of MP3s and would really like at least half of my collection in the VX. So Creative has a 60 gig player now. Ohhh wow, that's not much different than 30GB! Give me a 200GB player and then we have something to talk about.

And then there are the head units with USB ports. I figure, that's sweet! Just plug in a 120GB laptop drive in an external enclosure, get it powered via my inverter, and then plug it into the USB port on the head unit. But no, they have to implement limits like 999 files or something. There is just something terribly lacking with the thinking behind the development of car media systems. Sure, 75% of the population rotates the same dozen crappy pop CDs through their players, but what about the rest of us folks who regularly enjoy a much, much bigger collection of music?



Bart

[kodiak]

The big problem for a long time was the size of the HD it’s self. For years the largest laptop HD you could get was 160gig. When the 200gigs came out they required more power, too much for a portable device. There were also limitations with the fat table its self, Fat32 isn’t very stable past 200gigs, and it’s very easy to corrupt. NTFS will work great but it requires more CPU power and there are compatibility issues.