Having had my S for 6 months now, I'd like to replace the HU with something a bit more appropriate for the internet age (frankly I'm impressed it accepts CDs and doesn't have a tape slot), ie an MP3 capable one.

Every one I can find is approaching it from the "read MP3s off CD" angle though. Which is fine and better than being stuck with "normal" CDs, but I've got gazillions of MP3s and would prefer to be able to slap a hard drive in somewhere. Maybe relatively easy to remove and stick into a caddy for USB updating, but it's not totally necessary. I could use CD MP3 for new stuff, then every 6 months pull the HD out and update it or something.

Anyway, anyone got any suggestions? Budget's reasonably flexible - up to

 

60G iPod maybe? Can be had for $350 (US) on eBay from time to time. Get an adapter (depends on stereo). For stock Honda HU, you might want to consider the Neo Ion adapter, or Blitzsafe. Aftermarket HU's also should have specific iPod adapters as well (KCA-420i for Alpine, for example). This seems to be the way that most people are going (including myself in a little while). Others have been buying the new JVC HU's that are "Giga MP3" capable. With these HU's, you can burn mp3's onto a DVD (MUCH greater capacity than CD's) and use those instead of CD's.

John

 

I'm reluctant to have another piece of kit needing another interface and another power source yadda yadda yadda. Nothing to do with not liking iPods but I'd rather as seamless a solution as possible.

DVD option's interesting though, thanks

 

I have the JVC dvd player and it switches between albums and songs rather quickly. I have an Eclipse in my truck w/ mp3 CD and it's considerably slower.

 

It sounds like you want a "all in the HU" solution, but the only one I can think of would be a Kenwood HU w/ their Music Keg. It is basically a CD changer like device that had a hard drive instead. That solution could keep you under $500.

 

That's fine too - sounds like the Pioneer thing I was thinking of. As successful as iPod installs have been I'm sure, I just prefer something that's specifically for the car. If that makes sense. A bit anal I know, but there you go

 

The music Keg is basically the same thing as the iPod.....you will need to put it under the seat, or something like that, then run a cable to the HU. And the Neo Ion is specific to each car.....Best Buy sells them for like $200ish. They just plug right into the AUX port of the stock HU.

As far as the Neo Ion is concerned, I think you just plug it into the AUX port in the back of the HU (like the stock CD changer control). Then just plug the other end of the cable into an adapter box (similar to XM commander), then plug cable from that to iPod. I dont think you have to run a dedicated power wire or any other wires, for that matter, I think its pretty much plug-n-play. It alse serves as a charger for the iPod as well, so you dont need to worry about batteries dying. I would check it out, there was a review posted on here not too long ago. Try a search.

There is another solution......some HU's now have SD (secure digital) slots behind the faces for SD memory cards. The storage on these cards is kind of the limiting factor, though, I think they do up to 512MB. But still, if you are looking to save space, I would rather have 5 SD cards (size of 1/2 your thumb) than 5 CD's. The only problem is that they are like $70 each.

John

 

Here you go, this is what you want:

Eclipse CD8455

They run about $650 or so. But that should pretty much cover it for you. Just insert a memory stick and your good to go. And you can use a big memory stick, and if you use a Sony digital camera you can use it for that also.

 

Typical isn't it...I'm an amateur photographer...I have CF cards coming out of my ears..so far no suggestion with solid state has involved CF, but just about every other type All suggestions are appreciated though, so thanks

Any of you guys familiar with the Blaupunkt DAB units? Someoen mentioned in the UK section that they can deal with IBM (and therefore Hitachi presumably) hard drives.

(edit - that's not to say I'm dismissing the Eclipse and and SD-card based units out of hand, mind, just that it's one of many factors)

 

Your really picky...