What has happened to head units?

[SpaceYam]

I'd like to make a portable (albeit bulky) MP3 player running some sort of open source OS with an open source MP3 playing software, running a laptop hard drive.

It might take a few seconds to fire up, but I bet it'd be a lot cheaper than an iPod...

 

[StoneX]

In the way of storage space maybe but the majority of my devices i use in my home, at work and in my car all are USB capable. Not a single one has an iPod interface. Plus i can play divx movies in my car or on my xBox straight off of the USB drive.... thats versatile.

FOR YOU it is versatile. Most people don't have home theaters, home stereos or work entertainment equipment with USB capabilities. So if you go to someone else's house with your music, you can't play it on their stereo or in their car... MOST, if not all, people have a radio that can pick up an FM signal... So an iPod or other portable music player (with FM transmitter) is much more versatile as a portable music device.

 

[klaw81]

FM transmitters are definitely versatile, but also tend to give pretty low quality music. Going from FM transmitter to direct Aux-In makes a huge difference to the quality of music reproduction Having said that, if all you're after is scratchy radio-quality music, it may not bother you.

50LTRv8, I've had a quick look around on the net and apparently you're correct - some head units don't supply enough power through the USB post to power a portable hard drive. That's a little disappointing, but take heart - flash memory just keeps getting bigger and cheaper. Or you could just buy a JVC head unit that does support a portable hard drive.

Just a quick question to those who chirp about the capacity of their iPod or whatever - do you really have 160Gb of music you want to listen to? I have one MP3 DVD-RW of music (4.5Gb) that contains every song I want to hear, and there's still plenty of space left over....I am a little fussy about the music I listen to, but even if I wasn't I'm not sure I could fill a 8Gb USB stick, let alone 160Gb.

 

[klaw81]

<edit - double post>

 

[kopper69]

FM transmitters are definitely versatile, but also tend to give pretty low quality music. Going from FM transmitter to direct Aux-In makes a huge difference to the quality of music reproduction Having said that, if all you're after is scratchy radio-quality music, it may not bother you.

I have personally heard and been very impressed by some FM transmitters. Any normal person would have a hard time picking any difference - Definitely not the 'scratchy radio-quality' that you have described (although the ebay imports would Im sure).

Powering a portable HDD would not be very hard to do at all if that is the only problem. If youre handy with a soldering iron you would need a couple of parts from dicky smith and thats about it.

 

[arrow224]

some head units don't supply enough power through the USB post to power a portable hard drive.

The best bet is to grab one that has a drive speed of 4200rpm, although that limits most HDDs to ~160GB. You could even try ones that are 5400rpm, limiting at ~250GB.

 

[StoneX]

FM transmitters are definitely versatile, but also tend to give pretty low quality music. Going from FM transmitter to direct Aux-In makes a huge difference to the quality of music reproduction Having said that, if all you're after is scratchy radio-quality music, it may not bother you.

To most people they can't hear the difference. My friends who listen via FM only listen on stock or cheaper car stereos and home stereos. They think it sounds fine. You're already listening to compressed music so you've sacrificed quality already. It definitely doesn't sound scratchy unless you're FM transmitter is like 50m from the radio. Personally, I wouldn't use an FM transmitter, i'd wanted direct connection but I don't plan to get iPod anyway.

Just a quick question to those who chirp about the capacity of their iPod or whatever - do you really have 160Gb of music you want to listen to? I have one MP3 DVD-RW of music (4.5Gb) that contains every song I want to hear, and there's still plenty of space left over....I am a little fussy about the music I listen to, but even if I wasn't I'm not sure I could fill a 8Gb USB stick, let alone 160Gb.

I ripped all my CD's to my computer, so I have around 85GB at the moment. If I had an iPod, i'd want it all on there just in case I wanted to listen to anything

The 160GB iPod also stores and plays video, so the storage isn't just for music.

 

[SpaceYam]

3.5" computer hard drives require 5v and 12v power. You would need to have a power input coming from the cigarette lighter socket to power the drive as well as having the USB connection.

 

[klaw81]

3.5" computer hard drives require 5v and 12v power. You would need to have a power input coming from the cigarette lighter socket to power the drive as well as having the USB connection.

The previous discussions were about portable HDD (2.5") that get their power direct from the USB port, with no need for an external power supply. Unfortunately, it appears that some head units don't provide enough power to run these units - they are designed to be used with flash memory which has no moving parts and therefore requires much less power to run.

What you are talking about is also an option though - you could use a standard 3.5" HDD in an enclosure, powered off a small inverter. That makes your theoretical maximum storage about 1TB, for a cost of about $550 for both the drive and inverter. Pretty cheap for the storage size, but not really very portable in comparision to the other options.

Interesting that others have had more satisfactory results with FM transmitters - I was using what I thought was one of the more expensive and higher quality models (Belkin Tunecast II) and was deeply unimpressed with the results, both in my own car and in other people's -direct input was obviously better in terms of clarity and bass response.

 

[SpaceYam]

I have had one FM transmitter, and heard another one, and it's just not as good as aux-in or a direct input.

But thanks for clarification .