have never looked into these things. But, I hear you can store 400-600 minutes of music on a single cd w/ mp3's :eek:
I know mp3's are the audio files you rip from others on the net. My questions are:

1) Do you use regular cd-r discs?
2) Will an mp3 player play regular cd's? YES! **found the answer to this**
3) Is it just like a cd player --> has a tuner and all the other gadgets most radios have :confused:

What are the pros / cons?

I hear you can get decent ones fro under $200 too! I have a Pioneer deck (8000) that I know can get $300+ for.

I hate only having 80 minutes of music on a single disc

Thanks for any help!

 

Question number 1: Yes, standard 74 or 80 minute CD-R's are used to record your MP3's on.

Question 2....you answered.

Question 3: Yes. An MP3 head unit is identical to regular CD players in every respect with the addition that it can read the MP3 format.

I have yet to see a decent one for under $200.00 though.
I recommend the Pioneer DEHP7400 or Premier DEHP740 as an excellent overall radio that can read MP3's.

 

yeah depending on sound quality and length of song.. you can fit typically 150 or so (this is approximate) songs on a single disc..

you use regular CD-R's..you can also use CD-RW.. but that seems like a waste to me.. just use CD-R's...

yes the mp3 player will function like a regular cd player and play regular cd audio/wav cd's just like a normal cd player... and has pretty much the same functions but also an Mp3 decoder/mp3 capability...

I don't know about the $200 ones.. thats pretty low budget for any head unit... I would look into the Pioneer 7400mp, 8400mp, 9400mp (did i get the model numbers right?) or the Alpine CDA-7995... personally I already have a full ///Alpine system.. so Im going to get a new cd changer (CHAS624) which plays mp3s and can be controlled by my head unit.. thats a 6 disc changer.. approx 900 songs hehe

 

Thanks for all the info! I am going to start reviewing the mp3 players out there and go from there.

Hears waht someonone said about the Pioneer mp3s:

3-4 second pause between each mp3.
Only 8 characters allowed on the screen and a button must be pressed for 2 seconds to get the title to scroll. I don't know if any of that is true or not. Just what I heard from someone who said they have a Pioneer.

 

yes its true.. let me find the link to another thread where their discuusing the DEH-7400MP and other pioneers.. some people mind the delay others dont.. i guess if your listening to Mp3s from a Mix cd/continious tracks or some other type of mix then it gets more annoying..but it seems alright on my friends car.. i guess it bothers some ppl.. dunnoz

EDIT: here you go

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=203985


[Modified by GSRaCeRbOI, 2:14 PM 6/11/2002]

 

The con is sound quality, and this really depends on how picky you are about your music...personally, I would never run an MP3 head for any kind of serious SQ duty.

Remember that MP3's are compressed files, so some sonic clarity/definition is lost during the process....are they close, yes, are they perfect no.

MOST people would be fine with MP3 heads, but that is really one of the only cons I can think of.

 

yeah i got the pioneer in my car...i have no real complaints...really worth the money...

 

Well, here's what I found:

Rockford Fosgate RFX9110 350.00 >>> The guy at the shop said this is the ONLY player on the market that lets you go directly to a track by inputting the track #. I find that hard to believe
RFX9200 200.00 (closeout) >> Must be last years model??

Pioneer DEH7400 350.00
DEH8400 500.00

Those prices are from a mom and pops shop here in Sav.
I also went by Circuit City and Best Buy.

The main thing I want to see though is the display of the mp3s. I have the Pioneer 8000 now and whatever fits on the screen is all you see

I'm most likely going to throw a data disc together in the morning and head back to the shops since they said I am welcome to bring in my own disc to check out the displays.

I may end up going with one of the Pioneers I have NO complaints about my 8000 >>> except you can't eject the cd when the power is turned off & no way to stop the face plate from folding down each time it's turned off.

I need:

1) Wireless remote
2) Subwoofer output
3) Also would like to be able to jump to a track using the remote by inputting the track #. >>Like what the guy said the model does above

 

Just a heads up for you future mp3 headunit owners so you don't have to go through this **** as I had to:

Learn how to burn mp3 cd's properly. For example, when using drag-and-drop with Nero, the mp3 songs will NOT be in order as they are shown in the window. So you'll have to go through renaming every single file name starting with 001, 002, 003...etc.

Possible solution: MP3 BR (www.microft.com.br)

This program lets you create/edit ID3 tags very easily and lets you decide the orders in which the tracks are played.

Basically, this program burns your MP3 compiliation into ISO then, using either Nero or whatever, you can burn the ISO image as a whole data track.

I'm still in the process of testing it out...but this seems to be the most easiest software to use. HTH

 

Btw, the 8400MP supports ID3 tags up to 128 characters. Besides having to pressing a button to manually scroll the info, it's pretty neat.

8400MP owners say that it has a 2~4 sec delay between tracks, and 3~5 sec delay when jumping to a specific track.

An alternative to that would be either the Alpine 7984 or 7995. They have auto scroll and almost no delay between tracks. Also has a neat instant-bass adjusting feature which I thought was pretty cool. These bad boys will run you about 4 bills.

If you're on a budget, look for the JVC mp3 series. They're the popular choice since they're the most bang for the buck.

 

That seems like it will be a pain in the a$$!

I am looking at that site above and see "scrennshot of the product". Is this something I have to purchase or get from kazaa?

Sounds cool as hell! Let us know how it goes, thanks!