I'm seriously thinking about buying the new Sony MEX-HD1 with the 10gb internal disk.. Anyone know anything about this? What's hot, what's not?

 

21 views and no opinions? Hmm..

 

Twinny, I don't think anyone's got one

For what it's worth, I'd go a different route and use an in-dash unit with CD, then add an external MP3 "changer" or jukebox like the Phatbox, or 12Lee's stuff - see http://www.in-carmp3.com for info on that.

 

Yeah, i've read about that one. The only thing I think is extremely smart with this MEX-HD1 unit is that it rips the CD's directly at the player.. No carrying around with harddisk's, laptops etc.. It's quite expensive though.. Maybe the best thing would be to wait a couple of months and see if the price is lower then.

 

Twinny, I'd sit on my hands. After all, how many times do you want to rip in-car? Plus transferring your data from your home PC to the car is via memory stick, which is not ideal...

...finally, there's no way to get your mp3s off the car player if you want to put them elsewhere.

So, IMHO, I'd use something else. In fact, I have done

 

Actually all I want is rip in my car.. The problem is that I have piles of CD's laying around in my car! And they are on heavy rotate ;-)

If you buy a new CD, then you need to do what? Rip out the computer, carry it to your other computer in the house and transfer the songs after you've ripped them?

So much easier when this goes automatically!

 

Twinny,

all you need is a verrrry long RJ45 network cable. That's what I do

Nick.

 

Twinny,

Have you seen the Sony in the flesh? I'd be a bit concerned with heat and especially noise cramming (even a 2.5" drive) into a Headunit.

The Dension Mp3 player comes with a caddy for both your PC and car. There's no ripping out of any hardware. All you need to do is eject the disk and take it into your house. Insert the disk in your PC and just copy any MP3's over too it. About as simple as ejecting a CD

You can even fit your own size of disk, so you'll never be limited to just 10Gb. What bit rate does the Sony rip MP3's at??

The Dension supports up to 384kbps with VBR. Personally, you can hear the difference with recordings at this rate over say 96kbps.

just my humble opinion of course , but the Sony seems a tad expensive for what you get.

Stefan

 

Another problem ofcourse is that I only have a laptop. So I can't install any harddisk bays. Ofcourse a 50 meter long RJ45 would do the trick if the car has a network interface, but again; It seems like to much hassle.. Anyway; I'll wait a couple of months (my Alpine 6939R works just fine for the moment) and see if it gets any cheaper.

To answer your question: The bitrate can be selected before ripping the CD. The only think I know the MEX-HD1 must be missing is a connection to www.cddb.com or whatever it's called now to get the song-titles etc when ripping the CD ;-) Even though i'm sure it supports CDTEXT not many CD's has that.

 

Twinny, with a laptop you don't need a long cable

 

That's actually a good point ;-) It's only excuses anyway! I just want a MEX-HD1 .. That's it ;-)

 

[blatantish plug]
DMP3 has an optional USB 2.0 adaptor (backwards compatible with USB 1.1) or FireWire if you *really* want to use that.
[/blatantish plug]

Cheers

Lee

(must change my UID now I've sold my cherished plate!)