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Aiwa car CD-MP3 player 107

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-we're-getting-somewhere dept.
conraduno writes "Looks like Aiwa is releasing a car stereo MP3 player which loads tracks from a CD. Called the CDC-MP3, it plays CD's, CD-R's, and CD-RW's. Now all I need is a burner. " Here's a few more details from mp3.com.
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Aiwa car CD-MP3 player More

Aiwa car CD-MP3 player

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  • Aiwa (Score:1)

    by aliens ( 90441 )
    I would be wary of buying anythign Aiwa. I know 6 people whose Aiwa products have broken within 2 years... unlucky? Maybe, But I'd rather risk it all on a MamboX.
  • Considering how many drivers get into accidents just fooling with a radio or cell phone, another car gadget is just what we need...
  • who makes it.. Did anyone review it yet?
  • Practical - YES Price - OK Gary
  • Cool, from the link (c'n'p karma)



    Is MP3 legal? MP3s can be legal or illegal. The
    MP3 format itself is legal, and it's legal when the
    song's copyright holder has granted permission
    to download and play the song. It is legal (in
    most countries) to encode MP3s for personal
    use. However, it is illegal to distribute or trade
    MP3s without permission of the copyright
    holder. Good things are always good to share,
    aren't they?

    yup.

    --
  • Why haven't I seen this anywhere else???: easybuy2000 [easybuy2000.com] has portable ones for $109 - they play ISO9660 CDR's with MP3's in any directory structure, as well as regular CD's... The construction's a bit cheap (it looks like your average discman from a few years back, but the buttons are chromed-over plastic things that push all the way through the cover to the main unit), but there are separate headphone and line outputs that pump out sound easily comparable with regular portable CD players. It includes random or single-directory play - the latter will keep you in the same subdirectory, but doesn't seem to work quite like the manual (which reads like a bad web translation) implies - i.e., trying to jump from the first track of one subdirectory to the next dir confuses it, requiring you to switch out of that mode and back. For some reason, it also has an absurd amount of memo space if you want to hook up a microphone to it - might have something to do with that 50 seconds of anti-skip...? The extra EQ settings aren't terribly impressive over the car stereo, but they help make cheap headphones sound a bit better. It even comes with an AC adapter that will charge Ni-Cads in the battery compartment. It decodes my 160K-encoded MP3's just fine - I don't think the manual says anything about what rates are supported (I've already misplaced it). ...and it's OEM to boot, so no corporate logos. An insanely good deal despite its quirks, from my perspective. I'm baffled that I haven't been able to find anything about it anywhere else (and saddened that my story about it was rejected because it was too similar to this one \). fri-'net-ik
  • I haven't looked at these sites too closely, but how many of them will play any music from any CD that happens to have mp3

    Dude, the guy linked them. It's a frickin' click away. He wasn't paid for that post (although he should get kickbacks.:)
    --
  • Whaddya know, somebody beat me to the punch while I was proofreading, anyway, heh.
  • AIWA's site is short on specs---anyone fathom a guess as to what format the CDs need to be in? Guessing it'll do ISO9660, but UDF would be cool. HFS+ very unlikely so, please everyone, damn me for burning 40+ CDRs of MP3s in HFS+ format. Damn me.

    ----
  • Just for a little info, a co-employee called Crutchfield on Friday and they said they had sold 26 already, and yes, they won't have them for another month or so. I think the price was $279 there. Anyway, I am going to order one (they won't charge your card till it ships) and maybe cancel the order later. I would cancel it if the deck doesn't support ID3 tags. Another thing to think about is all the laswuits going on now... Who knows what manufacturers will put in MP3 player hardware in the next year or so... perhaps some copyright protection scheme to protect themselves even though today there are no real standards there of. I would rather get my unit today before the sh*t hits the fan. We will always find a way to make the software work, but when they start changing the hardware to protect themselves, the consumer gets hurt.
  • If you got one, please tell us the limits for reading mixed media , multidirectory, etc.

    Thanks

  • Not everybody has a car! I want a portable one! I mean, I could burn one big friggin CD w/ like 100-150 songs on the mofo and play it with some clear plastic (stealth), 1.5", sattelite headphones. Damn, can you even devise the uses for that? Couple that with a nice watch-style remote controller and college is a breeze!

    Eventually it will get to the point where the remote control is a ring and the headphone is just a little hearing-aid type thing. The mp3 player will be the size of a thick credit card and the disc will be a 2" diameter mini-dvd. Damn I love technology.
  • This product is total vapor AFAICT. They announced it in October of last year. It has been shipping "next week" since January. Personally, I'm pissed because they proudly display about 5 sites that are more than happy to take your money on preorder, yet they seem to feel no obligation to actually ship a fscking product. I'm also pissed because I get to go out now and buy an overpriced solid state MP3 player with a tenth the capacity, a greater price, and a slower means to transfer music... grr.

    --
  • I'd really like to hear more about this. I've been waiting for that goddamn MamboX since last year. $117 seems cheap. Is it poorly made? Durable? Can you post a lot more info on this? I think a lot of people are interested...

    --
  • "I never pay more than $200. or so for a car stereo" ... Is this the same guy who then goes on to talk about analyzing music... Can't get there from here buddy. I bet you get all your home stereo equipment from Wal-Mart too.
  • Yea -- This will work when i am mowing the lawn....err...No -- I guess I am stuck with the "puny" 64 megs in my Rave....(Which can hold close to 35 songs encoded at 56K)

  • I read about this awhile ago, well actually I had a vision, then read this http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/04/19/02402 20&threshold=-1&commentsort=3&mode=threa d&pid=87#189

  • *Siren woo woooo*

    Kid: We're getting pulled over

    Cop: Get out of the car or I'll shoot

    Kid: We didn't do anything

    Cop: Oh no? My Microsoft dork beam picked up
    illegal Dr. Dre signals coming from your stereo
    put your face in the ground! NOW!

  • The entire Aiwa line of head units has an auxiliary input on the front.
  • What? It loads MP3s off the CD, and DECODES them. Thats your point, nothing else decodes the files. What in the hell is your logic of the death and resurrection of mp3?!?! Its not a stock! Technologies dont die and return. They DIE.
    • And unless you only have one arm, I'm pretty confident the average person can keep a discman in their car and press a button or two while driving.
      • What do you do, drive one-handed holding it in midair and shifting with your knee, or drape cables over your passenger and have the whole mess hit the floor whenever you stop?
    Either you've never owned a car, or you're an idiot. there are many many places in a car that you could mount a device that size. Besides the obvious center console mounted portable CD player holders, many Japanese cars have a second DIN-size compartment in the dash right below the stereo. Many cars have center armrest bins. Some have enough space in the dish below the handbrake handle. Then there's also visor or door pockets, or you could get one of those cupholder trashbag combo dealies that drapes over your center hump or console, and put the discman in the trash bag. If you actually thought about it, you'd find a perfect place in your car to put it where it would be within arm's reach while you're driving. And if you can't, you can just wait until they release the remote control for the unit. Then you can screw it into your big thick skull so you never lose it.
    • _____

    • ToiletDuk (58% Slashdot Pure)
  • Here's the latest on the Z919 from an email from Kenwood USA:

    We are planning on releasing the Excelon Z919 MP3 player in the US this summer, but do not have an exact date. The unit will have the following features and will have a suggested retail price of $650.00:

    DRIVE distortion reduction circuitry
    Maximum output power: 45 watts x 4
    Motorized faceplate
    Front/Rear and Non Fading gold plated preouts
    System E's+ Advanced Crossover System
    Full function remote
    Champagne finish

    We will update our website with additional information as soon as it is available.
  • www.dirtcheapdrives.com has a creatve DVD RAM that claims to do 5.2 GB for $279. (Sorry, you'll have to click through their site... they do their links via Javascript, and I'm not in the mood to reverse-engineer their site.)

    I've never used one... I'm going by the specs on paper.

    I agree they're not nearly as ubiquitous. But, I believe most of not all DVD players will read all the CD formats.

  • Bah. Just get a car MP3 player for less money. Linux-based ones cost less than $400 in hardware, counting an old monitor. Just slap a 486 or low-end Pentium together.

    MP3Car.com [mp3car.com] has some great examples and resources. One of my friends has built a mp3 car [mp3car.com] for $0 in expenses. It runs DOS 6.22 and I've seen it - it's damn leet ;)
  • I'd be impressed if you can get both a cd drive and a hard disk into a DIN-sized package. But it would be sweet...


    --
  • Finally, this is what i was hoping before? Anyone konw if it is coming out before July it would be really great to have this when I follow phish for a few weeks this summer. Hopefully this will drop prices/increase RAM on the digital mp3 players with RAM the size of floppies.

  • I certainly see a point to this product -- a lot of people want it! What's wrong with CD media? A lot of people have been holding out for it as solid-state media is too expensive.

    This will probably sell really well. I'm planning on getting this, or an equivalent, as soon as they are available.

    Why the skepticism about the future of MP3? I don't understand.

    Then again, it's not too late for M$ to cram another standard down our throats... they'ds trying already, the Rios, etc. are compatible with the M$ compressed audio format... Which may sound great, but I have a problem with it in principle.


  • This is the big question, IMHO. I will jump through a hoop or 2 if needed to set up my MP3 CDRs properly for the deck... but I draw the line at extensive prep time. It better be forgiving WRT file names, directory structure, etc. I want to dump my best music onto a few CDs, and leave them in the car. At $1 apiece for CDRs, I could duplicate my entire library and if it got stolen... I wouldn't care!

    I would hope the dir structure works something like this:

    DIRECTORIES at the root level are named by the user for the category of songs within them. There should be a hardware button to skip categories ahead & back. This way I could name a dir "industrial dance classics" or "classic polka" and refer to that group of songs on the display.

    When you are "in" a category, you could set it to random play or sequential play, repeat, etc. You could also tell it to do global randomization.

    SUBDIRECTORIES should perhaps be ignored. It might be nice to have a sub-category, but think about the front-panel interface you'd need to navigate it. Too much, I think.

    ID3 TAGS should be used, when present, to display the song name. If there are no ID3 tags, the dispaly can show the category name, "track number," and filename.

    Support for some kind of disc playlist would be nice too. I don't use playlists on the desktop so I am not sure how it should work mobile...

    Enough rambling. Time to go look for change under the couch so I can get one of these, or equivalent...
  • Yeah, in January the pre-order sites were saying it would ship in February. In February they said it'd ship in March. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

    It's encouraging that there are people trusting enough to give their cash now in exchange for a vague promise of future delivery of a product that no one's ever actually used or even seen yet.

  • I was going to write to kenwood and see if I could get the specs for the control... that would definately be sweet...

    ---
  • I just meant that not many have a cd burner or want to shell out the minimum-seem of $300...maybe it will change, i don't know...

    "spare the lachrymosity when the fulminations have inveighed"
  • On eastbuy2000's site they say it can only do between 32-192 kbit/second. This really sucks because most of the CDs i've encoded are 224kbps, and there's no way i'd downconvert them for this, besides I got my minidisc from mobshop [mobshop.com] for $127, though it did take 4 weeks to ship, this does look cool, considering that you could fit 10h of music on it though.

  • Portable MP3 Player.. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I've seen a few posts of people looking for portable MP3 Discmans instead of in-dash players. Thought I'd go ahead and throw out this link where you can buy one for $109 + s/h. And as of right now they are in stock. Enjoy.. Dustin http://www.easybuy2000.com/store/products/mp3/mp3_ discman.html
  • Well, think of it this way: If the AIWA one costs too much, competitors will jump in and then we'll have a race for the best cd-mp3 player (Like nvidia vs. 3dfx, intel vs. amd), eventually leading to 200 dollar multi-cd mp3 players, possible within the year! Fantabulous.
  • haha, i wish i had that for school, tiny little wireless in ear headphones with some kind of unobtrusive controls and a tiny media. Unfortuantley by the time these come out, we'll be forced to pay-per-listen for every song we so much as hear a blip of while walking down the street, so no way you'd have 100 songs in your possesion :( The hearing aid thing reminds me of Montag's in ear Seashell-radio-but-really-a-radio-transmitter thing from Fahrenheit 451, scary

  • IDE harddrives are cheaper per gigabyte and hold -much- more at once than DVD-RAM media.
  • Agreed, want 100+ hours of music and no ugly in
    dash units.
  • Your copyright notice is bizzare and immature. Slashdot reproduces your work; so do proxies. It's also OK for me to take parts of it, or in some cases all of it. If I'm using it for non-commercial purposes, then I'm almost certainly in the clear - especially given that your work is a slashdot post, rather than a novel. And especially considering that you wouldn't be making any money on it anyway. Please check www.loc.gov for more info.


    -Dave Turner.
  • Yea, this AIWA player is kinda old news. But once again, MP3Car.Com [mp3car.com] has got the downlow on everything under the sun MP3 + CAR. Cheers
  • Crutchfield carries the Sanyo EXCD-1000 [crutchfield.com], which packs a CD player and cassette deck into a single-DIN unit. If they can do that, they can probably squeeze a 2.5" HD and an MP3 decoder in there instead of the tape deck...
  • What we need is a small device with a decent amount of computing power that can be extended with downloadable software plugins-- basically a hardware version of Winamp (which plays all the major mod formats, IIRC).

    Nullsoft, are you listening? This could be huge! :)

  • Say I get one of these units and install it in my Knight Industries 2000 (I call it K.I.T.T. [aol.com] for short). And this is one of thos new fangled "inteligent" cars of the future. It talks to me, orders pizza [papajohns.com] for me, and even berat's up bad guys. But I digress, if I install one of these players into K.I.T.T. and he finds a way to get on the internet and download "And Justice For All [paylars.com]", is Metallica going to sue me or my car?

    Signed,

    -Concerned Citizen

  • After I did this to a few of my MODs to load onto my empeg, I was on the unofficial BBS requesting that MOD support be added. The programmers said it can be done, and will probably come down the road. (Aka after the Mark II and Release 1.0 of the software).

    That seems to be the most portable device for now that may be able to do MODs.
  • "so you americans can get one for like 75 bucks"

    You sure about that? =1000101

    Well, it's run from Queerbec, which is in Canada. I'm sure they will take Canadian money. So all you have to do is convert your 75 USD into 125 CDN.....

  • Think yourself lucky... (Score:4)

    by NeoMage ( 29426 ) on Saturday May 06, 2000 @09:57AM (#1088028)
    "Now all I need is a burner. "

    All I need is a car!! *G*

  • This is exactly what I've been waiting for. And at $299 it's pretty affordable too :-)
  • I hope this actually works... I have heard runors about CD mp3 players for years. I would find this very useful, as I have more mp3 cds than actual cds...

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday May 06, 2000 @09:59AM (#1088031)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Finally they're starting to get it! Like what would I need a player with a tiny bit of RAM and nothing more for? Combine it with a disk or with CDs and it actually starts getting really interesting.
  • I don't have a car, so an in-car one wouldn't be real useful. Now, if they could make one the size of a discman that you could carry in your pocket, now that would be cool (I remember an Ask Slashdot about minidiscs w/ mp3s, but not cd-rws). Any reports?

  • ...that I almost wish I had a car.

  • Not quite as cool as the actual car system that play actual MP3 files, but playing MP3 encoded disks is definitely a step in the right direction. Huzzah!


    -Mad Dreamer
  • according to the latest crutchfield catalog, kenwood has released one as well.

    Kenwood Z919

    although, it's about $350 more then the aiwa(299.95) and 649.95 for the kenwood (probably cheaper at places other then crutchfield)

  • i never pay more than $200 or so for a car stereo, so as soon as a mp3 player hits that sweet spot i'm off to frys.

    the CAJUN thing is cool, but it's too big for my vehicle.

    mp3's are great, on some classical music i can really hear the difference (soft strings) otherwise i have reduced my entire collection of about 150 cd's onto about 12 cd's (not done yet).

    i have put a hold on all new cd purchases until i see how the whole 'tallica/riaa/mp3 shit turns out.

    mostly, i borrow all the cd's i can from my friends and reduce them to mp3 format, then give them a huge cd of mp3's.
  • What was that loud explosion?

    Oh, it must have been empeg's business plan crashing into flames. Hope you guys have broke even already (FWIW, I still and always have liked their product. Just not $1000 worth.)

  • With a 2.5" drive, NO problem. Some cooling may be required, but a low-RPM fan as large as the space available would be both good enough and inaudible.
  • Honestly, I do not see much of a point to this from Aiwa's standpoint, except so they can try to play the wave of the future, as if they are with it. It still loads tracks right off of a CD, so I see this as kind of pointless.
    I'm sorry-correction:whether or not mp3's are the wave of the future, it is extremely hard to tell at this point (and you know why), although I believe after all of this is settled, mp3's will die down for a while to shortly make a fast recovering return, at which point the future we are so longing for may have arrived.

    "spare the lachrymosity when the fulminations have inveighed"
  • The headings shows it as $299, yet the blurb states $350.
  • You can get them directly from Aiwa for $299. They are backordered by about 3 weeks right now. My wife is ordering her one as I type this. :)
  • An Empeg would be great, but priced one? Tried to get one? I know someone that works there and they are VERY delayed on shipping. Not just because of demand but because it takes them a long time to produce a run of product. Carrying CDs is no big deal, especially when you can get 10 hours out of one CD.
  • You can order this unit directly from Aiwa. Or get it at a store in a few weeks. This is a product that is shipping now or SOON and not just hype.
  • Right.. 2.6GB on one side of the disc, 2.6GB on the other side. I've also heard that Best Buy may sell those for $299.
  • Thanks for the link, the other MP3 discman was 199 USD and ~300 CDN, this site is run from Canada so you americans can get one for like 75 bucks.... how sweet is that??
  • It's surprising how much this small notice bothers people. If you're not new here this month you probably know what event in particular prompted it. If not, start with a search on articles by and about JonKatz.

    Either way, the suggested action stands. Same goes for the moderator who decided that agreeing with you was worth than ignoring the fact that your post is off-topic. If you don't have a printer I'll be happy to send you a copy.

  • I have about a billion MOD files. Someone needs to make a portable device to play them!!!

    Why? Cuz RAM's expensive! :) I once converted a 250K MOD into a WAV. It expanded to SEVENTY THREE FREAKIN MEGABYTES!

    When I converted THAT into an MP3 to stick in my Rio and it was 3MBs. With a 32MB Rio, one could store over 10x as much music if it's in MOD format... and most of the music is cooler. ;)

  • Look at the pictures .. the two topmost cd receivers have no slot for loading the CDs - and this includes the mp3 playing one.

    Does that mean you need the 6 or 10 cd changer too to be able to use it?

    (And where do you order this via the web? Shipping to Sweden also of course :)

  • http://www.genica.com/MP3-CD.htm

    I _think_ this is company that makes the unit this guy mentioned. They make a huge variety of different products. Can't beat the price either. I just purchased one.
  • The advantage of this is increased display size. The displays on aftermarket stereos are much larger now that they hide the slot behind the face. Very cool idea, whomever came up with it.


  • The Empeg car stereo system is a really interesting 'hack', but not a very realistic consumer product. Besides the price point and availability issues, the system doesn't have any security features. That gigantic LCD display is going to be a criminal-magnet, and even if they were to implement some sort of password scheme, how's that going to help me replace my broken window and missing $900 linux mp3 player? I am betting the AIWA player contains the same removeable face feature that has become standard on most systems these days.



    Seth
  • Hmm. Some reason, I just don't think so. Here is why:

    The empeg is an in car computer. It just happens to play MP3's very well. It runs Linux. It's only competetor runs WinCE. (And can't play MP3's yet since it's so underpowered). Soon, my empeg Mark II equipped car will be pumping out over 200 hours of music, tell me what exit to get off on, checking the traffic ahead, allow me to control it via voice, and be the server for an in car ethernet network. (GPS+CDPD modem support is under way right now).

    Somehow I don't think a $300 10 hour MP3 player is going to compete directly with empeg that well.

    Also, for those worried about supply of the empeg, the Mark II (http://www2.empeg.com/mark2) will ship June 9, and exhaust the waiting queue by the end of summer. Also keep an eye out on eBay for Mark I units up for sale.


  • Anyone serious about their MP3 collection has a cdrom recorder. The price point for
    these devices [dealmac.com] has dropped into the $200 range, which makes it a pretty ubiquitous consumer product. Consider that a ten-disk cd changer (total cost including head unit is in excess of $350) will give the user immediate access to 10 disks each containing maybe 14 tracks. This amounts to 140 total tracks. Depending on the compression used, a standard CDR will store about 170 tracks.



    Seth
  • i know this, but i still think it would be much better with the chips (although i personally prefer cd music-but since mp3 players currently use chips, it would just be better)

    "spare the lachrymosity when the fulminations have inveighed"
  • I think the $350 was the suggested retail price. Often stores will usually sell the product below this price, so I'm guessing that the final common price will be more like $299.
  • The problem I have with all the MP3 players for cars is that they all need to be installed in the cab, rather than the trunk. Anyone with a new model car knows that rasafrasin' car manufacturers are making cars so that it is neigh impossible to install any aftermarket gear in the dash. I have a trunk-mounted CD changer with a control head in the car, and I had to buy the Standard amateur radio since it has all the controls in the mike rather than a control head in the car (I drive a Mercury Grand Marque).


    What I want is for Ford|Chrystler|GM|etc to make a OEM trunk mounted MP3 player. If Ford offered an OEM MP3 player for the Crown Vic|Grand Mark|Continental, I'd be on the phone to my dealer within seconds....



  • SmartMedia cards are a descent solution for portable mp3 players because they support a small size player, which is important for portability. Also, they enable the portable players to contain no moving parts, thereby using less battery power and increasing the longevity of the device. The key drawback to them is their limited storage capacity and expense.


    In the car stereo environment, however, portability is not a factor, so larger media (cdr and hard drives) are very feasible. CDR media is wildly cheap, and their storage capacity is quite sufficient for mp3 collections. Products like the AIWA player are nice because combine the rogue technology of mp3 with mainstream technology like AM/FM and redbook audio cd format.



    Seth
  • I hit all the links for MP3 CD players and some did not specificaly mention CD-RW. Since cheap CD players can have troubles with this medium, I was trying to confirm from somebody using one vs an ad since I have yet to find a decent review.

    My apologies for incoherency.

  • Similar products (Score:4)

    by jesser ( 77961 ) on Saturday May 06, 2000 @10:14AM (#1088060) Homepage Journal
    Commercial products

    http://www.empeg.com/ [empeg.com]

    http://www.carplayer.com/ [carplayer.com]

    http://www.mp3-player.org/hardware.htm [mp3-player.org]

    http://www.mp3carplayer.com/ [mp3carplayer.com]

    Descriptions of personal projects

    http://utter.chaos.org.uk/~altman/mp3m obile/ [chaos.org.uk]

    http://www.jarcom.com/inmotion/ [jarcom.com]

    http://www.ryanspc.com/carmp3/mp3playe r.html [ryanspc.com]

    http://www.capybara.org/~dfraser/car- mp3.html [capybara.org]

    --

  • I came across the CDC-mp3 a few days ago, but could not find a retailer selling it (and believe me, I looked long and hard)?

    Does anyone know a retailer that has it, or when it might be distributed widely?

  • Saw a write up iin Popular Mechanics a few months back about these items..cool stuff..1 was this AIWA and the other was a portable CD player that also will play CDs that you burned MP3s onto..now Metallica can cry even more


  • That looks nice. It'd be even nicer if they were actually shipping.
  • It does play MP3s that you've written onto CD-Rs....the whole disk doesn't need to be crunched into one big MP3


  • That thing is pretty cool, but I think that aftermarket CD players are ugly, and that one definitely won't match the interior of my car. I want a large-capacity MP3 player that sits in my trunk and is controlled by the CD changer controls built into my factory stereo. That's what I'd pay money for.

    Take care,

    Steve


    ========
    Stephen C. VanDahm
  • How does this thing organize MP3's? In other words, do you have to dump all the MP3's in the root directory or can you organize them in folders? Is there a playlist editor (can I choose one directory to play)? Or do I just stick the CD in and it starts randomly playing an MP3 without my control? All that would seem hard to do on a tiny little display. --Nicholas
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • It says:

    Detachable In-Dash CD (MP-3) Receiver with Changer Controls

    And since you don't see any CD slot, the slot is almost certainly behind the face. I've seen these -- the face will flip down to reveal a regular CD slot. I dunno if there is any particular (dis)advantage to this design, but it is not uncommon for aftermarket in-dash CD players.

  • DVD? (Score:2)

    by ryanr ( 30917 )
    Why not straight to DVD? This application doesn't need a fast DVD player. I'm guessing the DVD mechanism wouldn't be much more than CD.

    Or at least make it an option, I suppose. There are lots more CD burners than DVD writers out there.. but for this, I could be pursuaded.

  • yeah - it's called the apex 600a dvd player, and supposedly circuit city has now pulled them from their shelves. they claim it's being discontinued.

  • I haven't looked at these sites too closely, but how many of them will play any music from any CD that happens to have mp3 files scattered around it (instead of requiring a special file or distribution of music files)? How many play normal audio CDs in addition to mp3 CDs?

    --

  • "so you americans can get one for like 75 bucks"
    You sure about that?
  • The only bad thing about this player is that AIWA is giving RIAA more bullets to put into the gun. They mention in their advertisment or press release that the usual way people get mp3s is to download them off the internet. The miss all the users who are making legal copies of mp3s off their own CDs.

    The bright side is that if that this is a major car audio vendor selling this thing. If they think there is money to be had from the market then they have the deep corprate pockets to fight RIAA if they try and sue them. The more market penetration mp3 players get beyond the nerds the more the old making a copy of a cd you own to listen to on your tape player becomes a valid argument.
  • I mean, I realize that what you're concerned about is whether or not the company has actually built them yet, but I know that it can be done because I know (as I'm sure many of you do - besides the fact that I'm sure many of you have built one yourself) a friend of mine is building himself an MP3 player that he'll put in his car (when he gets one ;-). I think it's really neat; right now he's held back by not having the case he wants, and he's got to get a power supply the right size for it. But it's nice that they're on the market now, as long as they're not so over priced, because they'll be targeting people who will have cds of mp3s... which will likely include a lot of people who could and would build their own mp3 player if the Aiwa one is too expensive. So, Aiwa had better watch themselves so they don't lose their market.
  • Look for it at Circuit City - of course, this in-car MP3 player will not have the loopholes menu to disable Macrovision and region coding (heh heh heh)


    I haven't seen a price. Apex is also known as L.A. Sound, so I expect the player to be released under that brand. Perhaps it will be sub-US$200 mark.

    I've spent the last couple of weeks getting an MP3 player working for our AutoPC project, but the whole thing has been put on hold :( doesn't look like I'll be getting one for my car after all!! It was pretty decent, grabbing MP3s from Flash, CD-ROM or memory, displaying ID3 tag info and encoding info, as well as shuffle play. Works great - but now nobody will probably ever see it. Oh well.
  • All I need is $299!
  • /. is really lagging behind on their news. I saw this at http://www.hardware.mp3.com about two months ago. This is not news. What /. should be concerned about is how it is possible for the JPL to lose the Mars Orbiter if supposedly they test all their equipment millions of times to find bugs.??

  • Portable MP3 Disc Player Exists (Score:3)

    by Breakdown ( 5084 ) on Saturday May 06, 2000 @01:57PM (#1088078)
    I'm surprised that this hasn't been posted to /. yet but an actual CD/Mp3 player already exists: http://www.easybuy2000.com/store/products/mp3/mp3_ discman.html . In stock and everything. I've had mine for about a week now. The total cost was $117 US. Sure, there are some shortcomings to it (e.g. Directory skipping, ID3 tag reading) but the thing is just over 100 bucks. It's definitely worth the dollars I paid for it.
  • hacking culture dies down and returns larger...if you know what i mean...i meant it would die down a bit after the suit was over because there would still be controversy, and then nevermind...

    "spare the lachrymosity when the fulminations have inveighed"
  • And have it melt-down in the summer? Nah. The CD-mp3 player is the best and cheapest way to go by far. If you're talking on-board navigation and all that, then your 486 'slap together' idea is more-or-less valid but still more of a pain than it's worth. A wave of these players is just over the horizon. Very soon you'll be able to buy a cheapo discman-mp3 at KMart for $49.

    The on-board computer idea is truly 'leet' beyond all comprehension, 'specially with speech-activation and/or a nice 'gameboy' type hand-held interface. Actually, I think a ppilot makes an excellent interface. It's already got IR built in.

  • But why would you want to carry around a few dozen CDs? If you want it stuck to your car, get an empeg [empeg.com]. If you want a portable, the Nomad Jukebox [nomadworld.com] is probably the best thing out there. Too bad it doesn't support Linux.

    With the general lack of Linux USB support, it's still looking like I'll have to build my own player if I want something decent.

  • Does anyone here have *in their possesion* (not on order, or their friend etc etc) an MP3 capable portable CD player?

    I've read more press releases than I care to talk about concerning a product like this, but I have as of yet not seen one for sale. This MamboX thing looks nice, but alas is not shipping.

    If you actually have one, where did you get it? How much did it cost?

  • Here's what will rocket MP3 to ubiquity (Score:3)

    by Bilestoad ( 60385 ) on Saturday May 06, 2000 @10:41AM (#1088088)
    Here's what I want. Here's what the world wants.

    Built-in CD player, slot loading, not a changer.
    (plays audio CDs & MP-3 encoded CDs:
    Added bonus if the CD can act as a CD-ROM reader and provide data for a map display if I have one. But it's strictly a bonus.)

    Built-in hard disk storage. Plain old cheap and huge 3.5" would be nice, but 2.5" is more realistic. It should be easily swappable by the end user.

    FM tuner. This is one feature I would give up without complaining too much, but it's so cheap to add, why not? One day there might be a decent radio station without too much advertising in the bay area.

    Line outputs for connection to an existing head unit.

    4-speaker + sub outputs for simple replacement of an existing unit without a separate amp.

    slot-in secure design, grab it by the handle and take it with you when you leave the car. The cradle (permanently installed) must be DIN standard size. Plastic shell to protect the unit when carried.

    Headphone socket on the front - so when I have it on my desk at work I can listen to my tunes without the music being interrupted when Windows crashes again.

    Spare desktop cradle providing PC connnectivity. Better still, 100baseT connection on the unit itself!

    Expanding the above idea, include a web-based interface to the unit for management of on-hard-disk MP3s. Throw in a telnet client for good measure, and FTP too. Napster client? Maybe. I bet they would contribute to development too.

    Tasteful faceplate. I don't want the inside of my car to look like a disco for pimps. Discrete Tux logo OK.

    Make steering wheel control possible through a rear connector interface.

    PIN protection. User has the option to set a requirement for re-entry of the PIN every 30 days or so. Screw those thieves.

    Remote Control What the hell for? Not much use to me, but I suppose if you drive a behemoth it would be good. Do you really want to give the back-seat passengers control over the tunes?

    Price point? $200.
    OK, this last point is a joke. I would expect to pay around $1000 for this unit. But I would.

    As usual, I want everything. Empeg Car is almost perfect, but a couple of features are missing.

    I don't like wondering where one of my CDs is when I take it out of the case and put it in the car. I lost Swordfishtrombones for a few months once and it really pissed me off. Point me to a device like I've described above, and I'll buy it right now.

    Better still, give me venture capital and I'll build you a prototype inside of three months.

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