VW Goes USB 217
MadCow42 writes "According to this story on CNN, Volkswagen is going to offer in-dash USB connections on several models as of this December and others next year. This function is to let you connect your MP3 Player or USB drive to play your tunes on the car stereo! The bad news? I just got my Touran... sans USB."
How 2003 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How 2003 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
This way you can even share your music at a tailgate party or in a traffic jam.
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
Re:How 2003 (Score:3)
I actually do use an iTrip for my iPod and frankly - I hate this solution. The sound quality is mediocre at best - AT BEST!. In order to achieve this mediocre quality, you have to find manually a free frequency spot. Unless you are not lost somewhere in the middle of Sahara desert, it's usually quite hard to find. S
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
I had to bump the frequency around a couple times, but it was a daily event, and I was driving 8 to 12 hours each day.
Plus, I think that they are referring to aftermarket solutions that *provide* a jack line-in or USB port. I knew people wit
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
http://www.pfyc.com/store/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD& Store_Code=PFYC&Product_Code=GN8004&Product_Count= 12&Category_Code=04OTHER [pfyc.com]
It is designed to hook up to your stereo as an external cd player. Works with most car stereos ironically mine 2002 Cavalier doesn't (2001 yes, 2003 yes but 2002 no:( )
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
In fact I have one in my spare car. 99 pounds for a bundle - 1 Stereo, 1 USB extension cable and 1 64M USB stick (pretty good one actually, USB2, write protect and slim thickness so it fits anywhere.)
I had to recode my several G of ogg to use it, but with the help of ogg2mp3 and some shell scripting it ended up being considerably less painfull then expected.
It is not bad
USB? (Score:2)
Re:How 2003 (Score:2)
If you like this style of car but want something with less 'rainbow factor', check Nissan's concept at http://www.freshalloy.com/site/cars/nissan/2005/ns c-hatch/home.shtml [freshalloy.com]
Security? (Score:5, Interesting)
Be realistic (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Be realistic (Score:2)
Re:Be realistic (Score:2)
Re:Be realistic (Score:2)
Re:Be realistic (Score:3, Funny)
-- n
Re:Volume Controll (Score:2)
Re:Be realistic (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't be so sure. A lot of modern OEM radios are tied into the car's central CAN bus, so they can do things like talk to the CD changer, get input from the steering wheel buttons, or put info onto the LCD in the instrument cluster. If the radio device has enough programability to put fake packets onto the bus (not completely unbelievable, given the complex navigation radios t
Re:Be realistic (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Be realistic (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Security? (Score:5, Insightful)
You can take your tin foil hat off now.
Re:Security? (Score:2)
Re:Security? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Security? (Score:2, Informative)
This. [slashdot.org]
Good (Score:5, Insightful)
There are other products out there than Apple's, and although the iPod may be the best (personally, i think yes), it does not mean it should be the only one to get car adaptors.
it says it supports ipods and "other" (Score:2)
Re:Good (Score:5, Interesting)
The only thing that is different is that there is a module you can buy that allows you control the iPod through the stock headunit and steering wheel controls.
Really this can be done with any MP3 player that has a remote if you are willing to put in the time to figure out the signaling for your personal player. BMW's iBus (yes it's really called iBus, no it has nothing todo with Apple's iNaming scheme) is well documented and its easy to write software to read/write to it. I didn't have an MP3 player and I wanted more features than just MP3 ability, for example Wifi scanning controlled through the stock stereo buttons... so I built my own.
Re:Good (Score:2)
This really isn't much better than what BMW did.
The problem is that cars tend to last 10++ years (or so I'd hope), while 10++ years is several lifetimes for computer equipment. In a few years, there will probably be something much better/faster than USB2, which will probably go the way of serial ports.
I'm not saying that no one will use USB2 -- it's that there will probably be somet
Re:Good (Score:2, Interesting)
i don't even think you will see any y2015 future gadget that will give an advantage over an aux connection compared to what you can get now over usb, and then you could get even better stuff in the late days of usb2.
ps: you can still buy
Re:Good (Score:2)
Why USB? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why USB? (Score:3, Interesting)
It looks like there's an iPod dock as well, though, so it might have a way to read a Mac-formatted iPod.
Something tells me it's a VERY simple system reading from a USB mass storage controller, and feeding MP3s (and AACs - it'd have to, seeing as there's an iPod dock) into a codec chip.
Re:Why USB? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why USB? (Score:2)
The ipod doesn't have a digital audio out [pinouts.ru]. I don't see why you think the icelink has this [dension.com]. I'm not saying it couldn't -- it could mount the ipod as a drive and do its own mp3 playback of the data files -- but that's not the intuitiv
Re:Why USB? (Score:2)
Re:Why USB? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd definitely find digital transfer more compelling than analog...but that's just me.
Re:Why USB? (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Why USB? (Score:2)
It's because of the USB drive, yes (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally, I don't own an iPod. I have a cheap Panasonic cd player that'll do MP3s, and has an am/fm radio for those times I'm not at home, work, or in my car. I'd almost never need a portable player. I bring music with me on my USB drive and play it at work. For $60 I can bring 1 GB of music, and play it on any computer, keep it in my pocket, and not worry about breaking it or someone stealing it.
I like this idea a lot. And USB will be ubiquitous and popular for at least as long as the car would be expected to last.
Re:It's because of the USB drive, yes (Score:2)
I think the remote control would be my favourite part, but honestly I'd *LOVE* to have aftermarket steering wheel controls, if they exist.
Re:Why USB? (Score:2)
Re:Why USB? (Score:2)
Cool - hacks soon? (Score:2)
Uh oh (Score:5, Funny)
Nothing new... (Score:3, Informative)
I think JVC might even make a model with USB and SD. I know they at least make one with SD.
Regardless, VW isn't really being innovative, they're just picking up on some cheap stereo technology and (hopefully) improving it (my guess is these $90 stereos with SD and USB aren't too great sound-wise).
Re:Nothing new... (Score:3, Insightful)
Jeroen
Re:Nothing new... (Score:2)
More Bad News: No Vorbis (Score:3, Interesting)
That, and I bet it doesn't support Ogg Vorbis. I understand this is because of lack of consumer demand and visibility, but it still hurts me that support for an open, royaltee-free and superior format is so utterly lacking.
Re:More Bad News: No Vorbis (Score:2)
>USB.''
>
>That, and I bet it doesn't support Ogg Vorbis. I
>understand this is because of lack of consumer
>demand and visibility, but it still hurts me that
>support for an open, royaltee-free and superior
>format is so utterly lacking.
Not to be a wise guy, but supporting a format that quite literally *no one* outside a small group of hard-core OSS programmers have ever heard of would be completely absurd.
I
Re:More Bad News: No Vorbis (Score:3, Interesting)
Ogg is 12% of all P2Ped music. That's quite a lot.
Re:More Bad News: No Vorbis (Score:4, Insightful)
really? My whole music collection is in ogg and my car is a BMW. It's not an all or nothing deal. If VW or BMW want to sell me a car that would only srive on the roads of their choosing then I wouldn't buy it either. As it happens, they drive on the 'open standards' roads. he didn't ask for a player with schematics. he asked for a player that would play the music format of his choosing.
Finally! (Score:5, Funny)
USB car stereo (Score:5, Informative)
The following are examples of what you can get in the UK, (USB in-car stereo wise):
Goodmans GCE7205USB2 CD/Radio [argos.co.uk] - £89.99
Acoustic Solution CD/MP3 with USB Tuner [argos.co.uk] - £99.99
They're both from Argos, you could probably get them cheaper from an internet only store. There were some more expensive though better brand name stereos at halfords, but I can't find any details on their website.
Re:USB car stereo (Score:2)
For the sole purpose of listening at music, it seems to do the job. I don't have this gizmo, I rather than use a special cassette with a stereo jack to my Zaurus 6000-SL and it's working fine.
What would be better than a USB jack IMHO, a CF slot or SD slot to insert 2GB of music on a post stamp directly in a Ogg/MP3 player.
Re:USB car stereo (Score:2)
My local garage is selling them, or similar ones and it has to state on the packaging that it is illigal to use, but of course they still sell them.
good news? (Score:3, Funny)
USB upgrades ... (Score:2)
And the step after that ? Installing your own applications on your VW using that same USB-connection:
Pimp My VW
But ofcourse you knew that already
DRM too? (Score:3, Funny)
"I'm sorry Hal, I can't let you play that, it is pirated"
Re:DRM too? (Score:2)
And you call yourself a geek! Two acceptable alternatives would have been...
HAL: "I'm sorry *Dave*, I can't let you play that"
HAL: "I'm sorry *Cowboyneal*, I can't let you play that"
Re:DRM too? (Score:2)
Here's a picture: (Score:3, Informative)
What it appears to be... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What it appears to be... (Score:2)
OK, So far so good...
This allows the system to navigate and play your MP3/AAC/etc files using the in-dash display, rather than requiring you to fumble with the portable's UI. That also implies that it will play it using the in-dash device's decoder.
But... if all the files on the iPod are Fairplay DRM'ed doesn't the OS in the iPod have to get involved in or
questions (Score:2)
Why not use bluetooth?
Mobile Computing (Score:3, Interesting)
But things get really interesting when the desktop and dashboard of these devices start to converge. That "VWBook" will surely have some applets installed for a UI of the car. A later model VW will probably have dashboard displays of "computer" info, like MP3 consoles, messaging status, maps and other "travel documents". And "car hacks" to reprogram the engine computer for performance, economy, or just a throatier roar will probably worm their way through the community's hard drives.
That USB connection will start to converge the two devices. Our desktops already need to work more like dashboards, helping us keep moving rather than representing an anchor we carry with us. And various navigation/entertainment features for the passenger riding shotgun (or the backseat driver, or the insane multitasking driver) will require the flexibility and complexity of a desktop environment.
In the future, Americans will never leave our cars. We'll drive them up into our offices, whether mobile, temporary or just at the mall. We'll keep the same immersive "computing" environment whether at the wheel or at the word processor. The USB connection is the spark jumping the gap. Let the good times roll.
Re:Mobile Computing (Score:2)
The laptop for the Hummer(tm) lifestyle [hummerlaptops.com]
No, it's not a joke.
Re:Mobile Computing (Score:2)
Re:Mobile Computing (Score:2, Funny)
Apologies...
Re:Mobile Computing (Score:3, Funny)
FarfeGNUgen 2.0
Re:Mobile Computing (Score:3, Funny)
Look, I don't want to sound too critical of your premonition, but I think I speak for all of us europeans when I say that we don't really want americans in our cars, particularly so if they refuse to leave when asked nicely.
Fast Lane (Score:2)
Open Source Vehicles (Score:3, Interesting)
When will people realize that cars, like computers, work better when open. Expose these meaningless details of how the computer controls the car, and you'll see a revitilization in small business auto repair, no longer requiring car owners to flee to crooked dealerships to get their car fixed.
-dave
Re:Open Source Vehicles (Score:2)
For off-road only use of course ;)
Re:Open Source Vehicles (Score:2)
The difference between then and now is that these "open" systems required tweaking and tuning every few weeks or months to maintain proper operation, as opposed to newer "closed" cars, which for all practical purposes could be run for years (oil changes possibly excepted) without needing to look under the hood.
They may have been easier to repair, but it's a far stretch to say they
Re:Open Source Vehicles (Score:2)
They have been happy with the cushy income of the licensing scheme for brand name shops and using closed interfaces and advanced computer systems has the glorious side effect of locking in customers.
While I agree with you that it would be much better for the consumer if they opened up, they wil
Re:Open Source Vehicles (Score:3, Interesting)
For example, the electronics in your car are set to make sure your car maintains a certain amount of fuel efficency or emissions.
If you were allowed to tweak the values in those electronics, you might choose better performance over fuel efficency and low emissions.
So long as things like fuel efficency, emissions, etc. are regulated by the government, there is no way a car company is ever going to willingly let you mess with your engine settings. They could get into a lot
About time (Score:2)
Just get an mp3-dvd player and dvd burner. (Score:2, Funny)
I've had usb in my car since 2001 (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.dashpc.com [dashpc.com]
It's been seen on here before, but since it's relevant, I'll post it again.
Possible Downsides (Score:4, Interesting)
1) The mention that this deck looks for six folders indicates that it will be more complicated than the Alpine system (which supports any and all folder on an iPod). This will complicate synching for users who aren't used to devices with manual file copying.
2) The KCA-420i system works like the iPod dock. All audio decoding is handled in the iPod, which means the Alpine system will play anything your iPod can play. The VW system uses specially named folders and interfaces through USB, which indicates that decoding is handled in the deck. WMA/AAC/LAC/WAV/etc. files probably won't be playable. That's a bad situation. Additionally, iTunes Music Store/Napster/Rhapsody files will probably not be playable. Yes, DRM sucks, but people do use these services and that's going to be a major irritating factor for them.
3) Can USB deliver enough voltage to charge these players while they're playing? I know the iPod can't be charged over USB while playing, and I suspect that's the same situation for most of these devices. One of the nicest parts of Alpine's system is that, because the iPod was designed around firewire originally, it can effectively keep the iPod playing indefinitely.
4) Cost. The VW device costs $250. It interfaces to (I assume) either the factory stereo or the "premium" audio system. I paid $190 for my Alpine deck and $100 for the iPod adapter. That deck is a lot nicer than any base-model VW stereo is going to be, and the system works a lot better. Assuming we start talking about paying extra for the upgrade system, the Alpine's advantage only increases.
I understand that the iPod isn't the only player out there, but it is far and away the best-selling music player, period. The Alpine system could definitely use some improvement, but it's still the best setup available. This is a step in the right direction for VW, but it's definitely flawed compared to what already exists on the market.
Am I understanding this? (Score:2)
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
In fact, humans aside, what animal would be best for fat production? What would have the best fat per square meter of floor space ratio? What would have the best food to fat conversion efficiency?
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
Re:The REAL Bad News is... you're buying a VW (Score:2)
1. Their diesels are very fuel efficient;
2. You can make fuel for diesels in your shed out of renewable vegetable or animal oils.
plus...
3. It's fun replacing O2 sensors.
4. You enjoy mysterious check engine messages.
5. Paying a premium for a plethora of replacement parts is sweet!
This all a bit OT, but, seriously, I haven't been so disapointed with anything in a long time as much as I am with my VW
Re:The REAL Bad News is... you're buying a VW (Score:2)
I want a TDI but the Beetle and the Jettas aren't that great of a car. No one else seems to be making affordable diesel car, some report 50MPG with a TDI Beetle. You can get more efficient cars in Europe and Asia but they are a lot smaller and entail a lot more sacrifices for IMO marginal increases.
I don't think we can get away from petrol autos for a good while, but we can get more efficient ones, diesel is most often petroleum based but it has a more efficient combustion cycle
Re:The REAL Bad News is... you're buying a VW (Score:2)
Re:Bacon grease. (Score:2)
Only trouble is that by using animal fats you end up with noteworthy quantities of sulfur in the fuel. Better to use vegetable oils.
Re:Bacon grease. (Score:2)
No, I wasn't making a point about the odour, I'm not sure that it would smell bad at all - does pork crackling stink? Sulfur's undesirable from air pollution and engine deposits points of view.
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
As opposed to unrefined coal products, as most electricity in the US is produced from?
The difference is in the efficiency (Score:2)
Compared to around 35% for an old conventional coal power station or 55% for a more modern coal gasifier power station or even 85% for a coal gasifier which sells it's "waste" heat as well.
Almost 1/5 the pollution per mile traveled doing it one way rather than the others.
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2, Insightful)
No. They're powered by whatever fuel you put in them. If you *choose* to use refined petroleum products, you can, but you don't have to.
I drive my VW on 100% biodiesel -- refined from vegetable oil -- and it runs great. Cleaner and smoother and generally better for the engine than that petroleum crap most people use.
Sure, I *could* run it on refined fossil fuels, if I wanted to, but why would I?
It's especiall
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
We can run IC engines just as well on ethanol or biodiesel. If you want to run it on a petroleum product, use one that's not suitable for plastics, say natural gas or LPG.
Re:The REAL Bad News is... (Score:2)
Re:a car that brakes when... (Score:2, Interesting)
I want a car where all primary functions are on their own completely independant systems.
For example, why on earth do power steering and brakes fail if the engine does? Within the last decade, they've made amazing advances in the field of hydrolics, and now they can build a pump that operates solely on electricity. That's right, folks, no more will you have to buy gasoline for your water pump at your well!
No, seriously. Cars have almost no failsafes. One or two in the brake system, but tha
Re:How about information about your car's health? (Score:2)
(www.obdscan.net has a few good products for the purpose)
But even that won't tell you things like the condition of your brakes or oil levels...
Brakes, in particular, I find very frustrating. On my last vehicle, a '99 Ford Ranger truck - I took it in several times to have the brakes