Considering car stereo

[Ummon]

I'm thinking of putting something in my car. I don't have nor want an ipod or mp3 player, so one of the main features I want is an SD card slot. I am looking at the following prospects:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12518871

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11070026

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12321956

http://www.walmart.com/Xo-Vision-3-Dvd-Bluetooth/ip/8585672

[crashwg]

I spent a few hours installing the second one you posted (VR3) in my last vehicle only for the damn thing to not play even a single MP3 off of a couple SD cards and a USB Flash.

So yea, I recommend you steer clear of that one...

Those last two look kinda sweet though.  Makes me wish that car manufacturers these days didn't have to get all fancy with there stock stereos and ditch the whole DIN/Double DIN standards.  The amount of driving I do, I can't justify having my dash look stupid for the ability to play MP3s.

Someday I'm gonna go all MP3car.com on a vehicle I own though.  Just for the cool factor.  Plus it would be nice to not have a GPS suctioned to the windshield.

[Ummon]

I spent a few hours installing the second one you posted (VR3) in my last vehicle only for the damn thing to not play even a single MP3 off of a couple SD cards and a USB Flash.

So yea, I recommend you steer clear of that one...

Those last two look kinda sweet though.  Makes me wish that car manufacturers these days didn't have to get all fancy with there stock stereos and ditch the whole DIN/Double DIN standards.  The amount of driving I do, I can't justify having my dash look stupid for the ability to play MP3s.

I'm not sure what DIN means in this case. Anyways, the first one's out cos it's not detachable face. I've since read a ton of reviews online about the VR3 and there are far more pro than con, and one dude did the Walmart warranty for fifteen bucks, and didn't need it, but it cheap - but yeah why bother?

That's the lame thing about these is you have to connect it to a DC source, which most people don't just have laying round, to see it work. I'm seriously thinking of one of those latter two, though.

Someday I'm gonna go all MP3car.com on a vehicle I own though.  Just for the cool factor.  Plus it would be nice to not have a GPS suctioned to the windshield.

Yeah, that is lame. Plus advertising 'come steal my garmin or whatever'.

[NiN^_^NiN]

Din is basically the size of hole

Most cd Players are single din which is what your looking at and will fit your car no problems.
Double Din is where you might run into problems.

As far as i know Most manufactures have single din behind their fancy stock radio's but it doesn't sit anywhere neer flush with the dash if you install it.

Atleast thats the way it is with most aussie cars and a few imports i've seen

[smalltownguy]

I'm not sure what DIN means in this case.

DIN is a standard measurement for all aftermarket head units. It's the German abbv. for Deutsche Industrie Norm.. It measures 2 1/8" tall and 7 1/8" wide, the depth varies. Other common sizes are "din in an half"( 3 3/16)" and "double din"(4 1/4") the only thing that changes is the height, the width is still 7 1/8".

They make "mount kit's" that are used to install after market Head Units in vehicles without the standard DIN measurements. It just fills in the space that the old factory radio used to and has an opening made for the aftermarket unit to fit in to.

[wp34]

I've been using a Kenwood that plays MP3 data CD's for about 7 years.  I realize it is not for everyone but I like it.

I can get an audio book on one CD and usually around 10 music albums depending on the bit rate.    You might take an SD card and try it out first.  My friend has an Honda OEM that reads an SD card and the performance is horrible. 

[ChadTower]

I've been using a Kenwood that plays MP3 data CD's for about 7 years.  I realize it is not for everyone but I like it.

I have the same setup but Blaupunkt.  Been using it the same amount of time.  Still works great.  It has always been cool to just rip a CD full of mp3s before heading out to the car.  Never had to keep that many in the car and if they get wrecked who cares?  It's just a CDR.

The CD player in my new truck doesn't play mp3 at all.  That makes me sad and I have to fix it soon.

[J_K_M_A_N]

The wife and I have had MP3 cd players in the car for years but she just got a new car and it has a USB connection in between the seats. I ordered an 8 gig tiny USB thumb drive and it reads the songs including ID3 tags right off of it. It starts playing almost instantly. That is very cool. Highly recommended.


J_K_M_A_N

[ChadTower]

Yeah, when I had a 90+ minute commute each way, the audio books were cool.  My commute is much shorter now.  They aren't nearly as fun in 17 minute chunks.

[Ummon]

I can't see toting around a single CD, let alone a few or book of them like I did fifteen years ago, when you can use a thumb drive, or even better SD card that holds at least 2 gigs. (Some units apparently will only handle 2gb cards.)

In any case, I went for the last in the list, it was shipped today. Not many reviews, but all were mainly positive, and considering it was originally $250 (on rollback right now, maybe originally too much for the Wallie crowd for car stereo), it might be a really good deal. (Also has bluetooth, which might be cool.) I'll holler when I get everything in and running.

[Malenko]

in my new tC the stock radio has both Ipod and stereo jack aux connectors (built inside the middle console glove box) and the CD player plays MP3 and WMA files. In my eclipse I had a kenwood that played MP3 CDs and had aux stereo jack in the front. I used to have an indash kenwood DVD player with a PC in the trunk. it was neat to have but never got used. I still have everything sitting in boxes

[Ummon]

I actually thought of keeping my stock unit, and somehow incorporating an MP3 player, but just decided to go the in-dash route. I got it in, and it's a pretty cool unit. The touch screen is a little involved, and you need to read the manual to be sure on some things...at least I did.

CDs worked fine, the SD port worked fine except that it did this fading in of the beginning of each track. That was on my 1gb card. I think it doesn't do this on my 4gb card - and obviously it can handle at least that large a card - but will have to test more. I hope it doesn't cos that is SO lame. Maybe it's just that first card, it's formatting or something.

[crashwg]

I've never heard of an issue relating to flash memory that would cause "fading in" of mp3s.  Perhaps there is an option in the stereo to "fade tracks" or something like that?

[Ummon]

I've never heard of an issue relating to flash memory that would cause "fading in" of mp3s.  Perhaps there is an option in the stereo to "fade tracks" or something like that?

I'm pretty sure it's the deck, and I haven't found anything in the manual about it. Kinda suck, but oh well.

[Ummon]

Well, I couldn't stand the 'fade-in' deal on that deck. First off, some tracks start hot an heavy. I was missin that. So, I tried a cheaper model of the same brand, that other deck I linked, and it didn't have this issue. BUT, it doesn't remember dick, at least for the SD, every time you turn it back on. And the navigation is a pain. Elchhh. Something different, I'm just not sure what yet.