Alternative hard drive device for in-car listening?

[liberty]

Right I know most people use their iPod's hooked up to their HU's but basically I wanted to know if there are any devices which hook straight up to headunits and were basically designed for ICE. I know Kenwood do something called a Keg. Are there any other alternatives?

Basically something which will sit in my glove box like a CD changer. iPods are so done!!! lol.

[Goldy]

Car pc? Mr2lover has one installed... plays mp3's does gps bluetooth and all the rest.... just an idea?

Else there are hard drive head units avaliable I believe.

[liberty]

lol didn't wanna go the whole hog!

I'm just thinking that surely there must be something like this. iPods are all good and well but they need charging, they're primarily designed as "walk about" music, everyone pretty much has one (no uniqueness!) and I just want something more specifically designed.

The Kenwood Keg is a good idea...

http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/stock01/khdc710.asp

But a) it's designed for Kenwood HU's only and b) it's only USB 1.0 so slowish transfer rates. Other than that it seems ideal, something to leave in the glove box like a CD changer. Looks like a nice piece of kit.

[derryt]

sorry to resurrect this old thread(well, a week old!) but see if you can find a sony mex1-hd, its got a built in 16 gig h/drive and can store about 3000 songs, only problem is you have to record from cd rather than importing from another memory unit

just a suggestion....

[galvanics]

ive got a sony mex1-hd , great sound from cd and hard drive . does not skip on cd (even with rock hard suspension) . only gripe ive got is the display some times goes a bit fuzzy , apart from that its a nice bit of kit and can be picked up for around £400 new

[derryt]

ive had my mex 1h since they first came out-its never gone wrong in 3 and a half years, ive had it in 4 different cars and ive only used just over half the memory!!!!

bargain these days

[chrisE]

I'm planning on using the hard drive kit below as it plays both music and video:

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... turer_id=0

plus 80GB hard drive:

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... turer_id=0

Total: £120

Store & play DivX/MPEG-4 movies (supports 480p, 720p, 1080i progressive scan),
Store & play MP3,WMA, OGG Vorbis,
Store and view JPEG pictures,
Can be used as external hard drive,
Built your own 2.5" hard drive in,
Easy installation,
Noise free operation (fanless),
Including remote control,
Firmware upgradeable,
All connection cables included,
S-Video & Composite outputs,
2 years warranty.

Note the power input is DC 5V/2A so not sure yet whether I'll use an invertor or get a custom made power supply made to convert from 12V... I'll keep you posted anyhow.

[Hurstie1981]

Sounds interesting,

Dont run straight from the car battery though with an inverter, you will need a regulator as well.
It looks quite good, although i imagine a little fiddly. Does your head unit have an AUX input?

Graham

[justin_time]

i may be a bit late in this topic, was just fishing around for an amp install guide when i found this. i have had a kenwood keg for the past year, have over 40 albums with minimum 20 songs in each, and still its only 3/4 full. total space on the HD is 10gb. if that gets full, you can always buy another HD, which, do not quote me on this, should be around £80, if memory serves.

never had a problem with it, and the music manager it comes with makes for a good alternative everyday player for your pc than mediaplayer. downloading to the actual disk is a bit tiresome, but since you only have to do one download, and not deal with shed loads of cd's in the car, imho, it rocks

when i bought it, it was £230 on a special deal, no idea of realistic price today

[sadako]

Creative Zen in a cradle?

The portable mp3 player in a cradle does work well as the car will charge it for you,and if you finish your drive before the song ends you can just pull the player from the dock, plug in your headphones and carry on where you left off. It also makes it a load easier to upload new songs.

I use a 3rd gen Ipod my other half broke and I fixed up. I have a dock for it that just plugs into the cigarette lighter via a flexible gooseneck. I have a hardwire lead for the stereo that then plugs into the dock. Cheap and works out fine for me,and easy to put in another car if i'm out and about. I am sure you can do this with pretty much any MP3 player though, I just use the ipod because it was free and just needed a new hard disk

[Valentino MR2]

How about a Neo in-car Jukebox, looks like a disc changer but has a removable 40gb (or 120gb) that slots into a cradle that is in your computer, has a control panel up front and connects through your ariel lead if you haven't got an aux in

check it out
http://www.hotmp3gear.com/NeocarJukebox.htm

[Si_Crewe]

I don't have any details but the last time I looked in Micro Mart they were selling in-car adaptors for a 3.5" HDD.

Basically, it was a frame which fits into your PC and a DIN sized frame which fits in your car. Finally, There was a case which you fitted a 3.5" HDD inside.

You bung the HDD into the frame installed in the PC, download songs to it, and then yank it out and slot it into the DIN frame in your car, kinda like an old 8-track cartridge.

Obviously, this also requires a normal head unit with inputs to use as an amplifier.
Perfect set-up for an MR2 though.

I seem to recall thinking it was expensive for what it was though. It was summat like £400.

The ad's in MM never change though. Buy one and I'm sure the ad will still be in there somewhere.