Note: I'm looking for the best way to play mp3s in my car, not a car computer (seems like overkill for one feature and I don't want to spend alot).
So my 10-year old Neo35 hard drive mp3 player just died. I had it hooked up to my head unit via aux input. Looking for a new head unit/mp3 player.
I basically just want to have at least what I had before 80GB, easily controlled from the dash, and able to choose music by sorted directories (not id3 tags).
My first thought is getting a head unit with USB input, but apparently no one has a good UI for these. They seem to be limited to 250 songs per directory, and I haven't gotten a clear answer on browsing by directories (much easier than id3 based in my opinion).
I then started looking at these personal media devices (small screen, could probably mount it somehow in my car). Archos 605 or Cowon A3, turns out the Archos has horrible audio quality, and the Cowon has problems with more than 50GB of music.
Then, I know many head units have ipod controls. However ipod doesn't allow directory based browsing unless I run the rockbox firmware in it, which breaks the remote control functionality.
I seem to be down to using and ipod with rockbox firmware and trying to find a nice mount so it looks nice. I haven't really seen any nice ipod installations in cars, just those windshield/vent/cup holder adapters.... I want nice and clean like my old single-din mp3 player.
So it boils down to, is there a nice way to mount an ipod in the car, or alternatively is there any device out there that will play 80gb of music and let me browse by directories that I'm missing? Or any good car audio forums that might have an mp3 section that would be better to check out?
I have an Archos 5 IMT, it will indeed let you browse by directory structure, though I only have about 50GB on my 120GB unit so I don't know if it has problems with larger libraries. I am happy with the sound quality, but I know there are others that complain. You could install a headphone amp as well I suppose.
Originally Posted by miketunes
This is the path that i started down before i finally surrendered to the carputer install. i looked for 6 months for a hdd in dash solution that was reasonably cheap. turns out it was actually cheaper to go the carputer route. The only difference was that i was wanting gps as well as hdd compatiablity, so that initially raised the price of the head units i was looking at. From your situation however, an ipod seems to be the most sensible solution.
Check out the new version of NAS, a cross platform music frontend here
Have you looked at the Omnifi DMP1? They were discontinued some years ago, then blown out cheap on Woot... some still show up on eBay regularly. There's a neat little wired remote display/controller, and a pod with a removable USB hard drive. It also supported updating content over WiFi. Stock, you had to run a bloated app called SimpleCenter to transfer and organize music on it. But since the thing runs Linux, clever people came up with replacement firmware: OpenFi. The stock 20 gig drive can be upgraded to something much bigger.
While the version of OpenFi at Sourceforge hasn't been updated since 2005, development is continuing, and there may be a new beta real soon. (If you're impatient, check the Yahoo postings and you'll find a link to some alpha releases.) New features may include FLAC support.
http://www.geekmatica.com/omnifi/index.html
Another possibility is to step back to the early days of car computers, and run a modest Pentium-class industrial board with a parallel-port alphanumeric LCD display. Embedded motherboards in the PC/104 form factor are roughly 4" square, or there's some that are "1/2 ISA" size, and others that are about the area of a 5.25" drive. Advantech is one of the bigger brands: search ebay and you'll turn up a variety of boards. Or, you might get away with cramming an old laptop under the seat and running a serial, parallel or USB remote display and controls. That has the major advantage of having a full screen and keyboard available if you need to do something.
MPXPlay is a player that runs under DOS or windoze with very modest requirements, and supports an extraordinary range of audio formats. I don't know how it is for navigation, though.
Depending on your car you can use something like that:
http://gromaudio.com/usb.html
It will play filrs directly from USB stick/drive and integrate into your car stereo.
But if you have pretty old car, you will need something else as they do not integrate well.
Car pc integration with ease
Car mediacenter
Thanks for the suggestions, I do recall researching the omnifi years ago but didn't know you could upgrade the hard drive. I ended up buy a 120GB Archos 5 PMP. Has a nice 4.8" touchscreen and does pretty much everything I need it to do. I just need to figure out how to mount it nicely.
I've been down this road. i had a carputer before but ended up selling it due to the startup time, and not having my music for short trips around town. In the end I ended up getting a headunit with a ipod. It had it's good and bad points, but for having my whole music colection in the car, easily accessible, this was the way to go.
Only downsides were the ipod freezing below -18 (Canada) and itunes, can't stand it, but you only have to use it on the rare occasion to add more music.
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