I'm trying to get a Hard drive in my car.. I don't like the MP3 players controls and functionality.. I haven't exactly been keping up with times lately so I'm not sure if I'm missing the obvious..

Thoughts so far..

1) Maybe a Palm Pilot that has a USB port for external hard drive..

2) Modified XBox which would store the music games etc..

Throw some ideas out there for me.. I'm going to be attempting something after a bit of researching..

I have 60+ GBs of MP3 music that is all organized and all full albums.. It would be so nice to take it all in the my car with me.

I have a 01 CL with Navi so it wouldn't be bad to have the Navi integrated..

Throw any and all options out there..

 

http://www.omnifimedia.com/home/


I have one sitting here new in a box I have not had a chance to install it yet but looks good. you can upgrade the harddrive it comes with a 20 gig and I have seen people put up to a 50gig drive in. It has a nice interface and easy to use.. I dont think they were worth the money when they came out at 650.00 but now you can pick them up for under 150.00 well worth it ..

 

That looks decent.. How's the sound quality? Is the hard drive a direct swap to upgrade? How easy is it to navigate to the album you want?

 

I was gonna suggest the new xbox. 60gig....thats lots of tunes

 

I already have the XBox360 on order so I'd have my older XBox that I could mess with and upgrade the hard drive..

 

It's not hard at all to mod the Xbox. Especially if you happen to have one of the first generation versions. The Xbox is a good solution, but the only thing that you may not like is the interface. You're gonna have to use the Xbox controller to select your songs, etc. You might be able to use the DVD remote, but I dont' know for sure.

There are a lot of options out there. What kind of HU do you run right now?

1)The first option is the Sirius Music Keg. You can get the Kenwood Sirus/Music Keg control module and get a music keg. This tuner can also be used for Sirius, if you decide you want that later.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-grZJ8YW...550&I=113R71FM

2) DVD/Mp3 Changer - Sony and Alpine make them. Would show up on the Navi screen if you have a navi conversion. Probably interfaced through a remote, with a wired IR remote eye.

3) Neo Jukebox 20-80 gig. I heard these use regular IDE harddrives, so you can just upgrade to a larger size yourself.
http://www.ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/

4) New product I just saw, that you can control with a PDA
http://cgi.ebay.com/40GB-CAR-MP3-PLA...QQcmdZViewItem

5) Ipod interface - Tons of Ipod interfaces are out.

 

Why not just get a 60gb ipod + any 2004 or newer Alpine. You can control the ipod through the Alpine. Plus the ipod is just plug and play, you don't have to really install anything.


Or do you have/want to keep stock stereo?

 

I have a factory headunit now.. System is run off a step down.. Just 1 12"..

So far I like the http://www.omnifimedia.com/home/ so far for cost etc..

But the option of modding the XBox is still there.. I've seen some cool interfaces that would be cool to run through the navi but then it comes to, like you said, controller or remote..

I still think it would be very cool to run it through a PDA but that option is pretty expensive..

 

I do want to keep the stock headunit.. Although I probably won't need the 6 disc in dash anymore or the steering wheel controls it would still be nice to keep all of that.. I've had 2 aftermarket stereos in there but always go back to the stock radio...

 

You guys have all given some great suggestions.. I really appreciate it..!! If you know anymore let me know..

 

No problem Jonesi What's your price range?

 

Jonesi, I've had the NEO Car jukebox installed in my CL with the stock deck/blitzsafe adapter and it worked pretty well. There is a pretty decent following who have beta firmware for customizing the display, better audio options, etc, and I believe, as of recently, they have reversed engineered the wired remote allowing you to customize the control and even display of the unit. I have since switched to a mini-itx computer and I will never look back. Having the PC in the car has its advantages and disadvantages opposed to these stand alone MP3 hard drive based players.
Anyway, I guess my advice: if you just want audio playing capabilities with alittle room to upgrade, a quick and effective product would be a stand alone hard drive based player so go for it!

 

More info on mini-itx please...!


Doesn't really matter.. Just looking for a sweet integration. I'd love to integrate it into the Navi display ultimately.. That's why I was thinking of the XBox at first..

 

Sound quality on the omnifi is great on every car I have installed them in. Of course this assums you use a blitzsafe and not Fm. For me the 20 gig is enough but to upgrade here is a link http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/140/94/ everyone I know that has done it said it took about an hour. also here is a link to a user group for the Omnifi http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/omnifi/ the coolest feature of the omnifi for me is the wireless connection you set it to sync up to your home computer once a night it scans the folders you have selected and xfers them to your car through your wiresless network.. So every time I ....ummm "BUY" a new cd I dont have to do anything to transfer it .

 

http://www.mini-box.com/site/index.html

 

How do you have it set up in your car? Pics? Any other details ?

 

I must say for the price and everything this is one hell of a deal..

 

Jonesi about the mini-itx setup....

Go here to get the details from a post I made awhile back...
https://acurazine.com/forums/audio-video-electronics-navigation-22/03-cls-pc-300590/

Briefly, the computer has a DC-DC power supply and I have it hooked up to a switch in the cabin which supplies the 12v to the PC. The video is hooked up to Vsokolov's PNP video converter and audio is input to the stock deck via a blitzsafe adapater. Since I haven't figured out or even know if it is possible to hack into the touchscreen of the OEM nav, I'm using an RF remote to control the PC. I have to say, it really is a cool system and there are so many possibilities. I currently run a slim DVD rom to play DVD's and have an XM Direct Unit hooked up into the computer to pick up Satellite radio also. I'm looking to also implement bluetooth conectivity for a handsfree system and wireless internet and ODBII stuff. Anywho, it does require alittle more work with the OS and software but it turns out to be pretty cool and does more than just the stand alone MP3 player. If you have any questions PM me.

 

Amazing...!! How did I ever miss that post..

 

I have never heard of this product and it looks really cool.
When I search on Ebay for it, it mentions Rockford Fosquate.
Is it brand new, or has it been around for awhile?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-OmniFi-DMP1-...QQcmdZViewItem

Also, how is the interface? Can you make playlists? Is it easy to navigate through your entire collection using the interface?

 

There's a ton of them here around the $120-160 range http://search.ebay.com/OmniFi-DMP1_W0QQfromZR40

For the interface go here http://www.omnifimedia.com/tutorials/ and select Car Audio then choose User Interface.. It's pretty slick, it must have it's own music manager..

 

Not sure on this specific unit but on the NEO car jukebox, I believe you could queue up to x amount of songs but I'm not positive. I know for sure that you can definitely browse through your music collection, alla windows explorer like iface. Seems like a deal for the 20GB. I remember when I bought mine, 5 years ago, it was like 380 with no HD!!! Ahhh...technology.

 

Wow...that does look slick. I already have a Pioneer N2 with an Ipod, or else I would go with this. I hope the speed of the interface is good on that Omni. The display and how you select your music looks great

 

I havnt yet since im at a comp most of the day, but when I graduate I plan on istalling it which is when ill need it. The comp has so many possibilities, but if all you want is music storage/playback then id say go the other route.

 

Yeah the user interface is very easy to use and quick it takes about 5seconds to boot up when you start the car after that works great.. for the money its the best bang for your buck ... Yeah it was marketed by Rockford but they parted ways and omnifi now markets it alone later this year the next version comes out which will have a 60 gig hard drive and do video as well as Audio should be around 700.00 that is why these have dropped in price so much because they are clearing out stock for the release of the new one.. When this one camse out retail was 649.99 about 3 years ago

 

What about the Alpine HDA-5460. I have one of these in my car. It is a 16gig HD that can be hooked up to your stock radio using rca's.

 

saw this on techbargains.com

hope this helps.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...082623-0514239

 

Same price I bought it for from www.woot.com