By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
It makes sense. CDs are looking like VCR tapes when you compare them to digital downloads and MP3 players. Why carry around a scratched up disc with a few songs on it, when you can transport 20GBs of music and have everything you own at your fingertips? Cars are quickly trying to integrate iPods and digital players but one company called Visteon is tossing out the CD player and going all USB. We say: Sign us up!
By linking a USB port to a car’s entertainment system the car maker can offer customers audio and video options unavailable in most other models. That means a customer can play music loaded onto a memory stick in the car. The stereo system recognises the USB port as if it was the car’s CD changer so the car’s regular stereo controls can be used to scroll through the songs on the memory stick. Visteon says the benefits of the technology are cost and convenience.
“A CD changer is two or three times the cost of the USB interface,” said Visteon mobile electronics project leader Ian Randall. “Those CDs would have only 70 to 80 tracks. With a 1-gigabyte stick you can get 400 or 500 songs.”
With all that entertainment on a pocket-sized stick, a car owner no longer has to risk leaving stacks of CDs in the car, where they can get damaged by the elements or stolen. Visteon’s connector has a USB port for the memory stick as well as an input for an Apple iPod MP3 player. Source: Just Auto.com via Digg
How about a headphone jack that feeds into the car’s speakers?
They have those on some cheap tape-decks you can buy from walmart. My friend got one for thirty dollars and put it into his car, and uses it with his iPod. Stereo line-in jacks aren’t a new thing, but the iPod car accessory business doesn’t want you to know that.
This is definitely a step in the right direction. Home theatre has gone all digital (HDMI, which BTW, looks remarkably similar to USB), so why shouldn’t car audio?
While USB in the car is nice, the article is biased.
Comparing a hi-def CD to a low-def MP3 is not apples to apples.
A CD that is MP3 can fit hundreds of songs. Not just a few. I can fit around 700MB of songs onto a CD. Not as much as a 1024MB memory stick, but much closer.
Or look at it the other way.
I 1GB memory stick can only hold 1 full CD at full .WAV hidef audio.
I don’t know about you, but I have thousands in my car’s audio system. I didn’t spend that much cash to listen to low-def MP3’s.
I’d much rather spend my mony on a super audio car cd player. Or a DVD player for my car. Go dual layer and I can fit 8+GB of audio on a single DVD.
Head-phones are illegal in some states (including California), due to interference with hearing emergency sirens. !
Just wondering where you got the car image from. Is that a concept design?
I’d be interested in knowing more. Thanks.
I enjoy my in dash mp3 cd player. Although I’d like a USB input, I’d hate to see that be the only method of input. Even though the cost of flash based memory is going down, it’s hard to beat 13 cents for a 700 MB CDR. I keep one CD mp3s for each genre of music I like. When the CD is scratched, throw it away and burn another one. Much cheaper and easier. This USB only system seems like a solution in search of a problem.
I agree, don’t loose the cd/cdMP3 capabilities, just add to the stereo the usb ipod inputs and call it that. Heck for those vehicles that have navigational systems/DVD players, they should allow uses to connect digital cameras, and video cameras for passangers to view so you don;t have to squint at those tiny little windows they all have to see pics. I think it would be great to see at least the USB inputs soon.
why not just go balls to the wall and do what the guys over at http://www.mp3car.com are doing? The website name is a bit misleading. Think dashboard PC. You could get a 250GB HDD for $100 and rip your enitre music collection in OGG. Not to mention GPS, DVD, wi-fi hotspot web surfing from your car, etc.
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buy a ford fusion and get all three—usb, radio, cd-mp3 player