2-channel single CD, should work with data mp3 cds with maybe filename/id3 titles, but nothing too flashy as it's for my bro's old beater truck (80-something Mazda B2000 if I recall correctly)

he may eventually need line-level outputs for a sub amp

what would you people recommend

12/8/2008 8:25:38 AM

alpine cde-9874

all you need plus ipod compatible, and ipod controllable with the optional $30 cable

and its like $120 scratch and dent at crutchfield

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 9:03 AM. Reason : ok]

12/8/2008 9:01:42 AM

cheapest kenwood w/ usb port so you can plug in thumb drives and shit with mp3 files on them.

12/8/2008 9:21:18 AM

i've never beem impressed with kenwoods, i would get a Pioneer. great bang for the buck.

12/8/2008 10:34:40 AM

I like my Pioneer DEH-P6900UB, it's in a '97 Tacoma. Got it last May.
Plays USB/CD/MP3/WMA/WAV/AAC/WTF/BBQ

12/8/2008 10:47:02 AM

^iswydt

12/8/2008 10:56:09 AM

message_topic.aspx?topic=543957

12/8/2008 1:48:51 PM

Quote :

"usb port so you can plug in thumb drives and shit with mp3 files on them"

BY FAR my favorite feature on the sony head unit i have...i actually purchased a blaupunkt SD player (in that, it had no optical drive, you just load up SD cards), but it sucked so bad that i swapped it out for the sony (gotta love crutchfield)

i am, actually, pretty surprised that we still use optical media for mp3 decks when something that accepts flash-based media would be so much better

12/8/2008 3:39:56 PM

I've had an external notebook drive hooked up to a 12v power converter going into the usb port since they first started appearing on the market. Back when big memory cards were really expensive this was the easiest way to get 15+ gigs in the car. Less than 100 bucks (plus the head unit). The newer head units are much quicker at accessing files and folders, and one very important thing to find out is if the head unit has a limit of 4gb total drive space access. Crutchfield told me some did have that limit when I asked about it a few months back, and that Kenwoods and a few other brands (not the cheaper Pioneers, btw) could access much larger file partitions.

Everything is tucked up behind the dash/console/glove box so there's no cables showing or anything to make people want to break into the car for an ipod or something. Can pull the hdd out of the glove box to take it in and add music whenever I want and somewhat surprisingly I haven't had any problems in the middle of the summer or in sub-freezing temps.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 4:48 PM. Reason : ]

12/8/2008 4:46:06 PM

my coworker was telling me about his friend's HU that takes usb. apparently it takes a loong time for the usb drive to load up all the songs and be able to start playing. he says they had to sit a good 5 minutes waiting for everything to get read on a <2gb thumb drive. Are they generally this way or do they just have a crappy/old HU? He recommended for me to stay below 1gb

12/8/2008 6:30:58 PM

my old kenwood (one of the first out) took about 45 seconds to start playing when I had more than a couple gigs on the hdd, never more than 70 seconds with ~3000 files scattered through hundreds of folders. My new one starts in less than 5 seconds with ~10gb, each album is in it's own folder, then sorted by genre.

Singles
-files.mp3
Albums
-country/folk
--album
---file.mp3
-another genre
--album
---file.mp3
etc.

This lets me quickly scan through albums, genres, etc. I can make playlists (obviously) and sorth things however I want.

The biggest thing almost all mp3 setups I've seen that is surprising and annoying is that they will play the files/folders in the order they are written to the disc/drive. This usually means you have to rename files to start with the track number if you want things to play automatically in the track listing order, which is annoying if you don't like that as the file name on the files on your computer. With cd/dvd this also means you need to usually rename the folders to be in an order you want them to be in. With a hdd/memory card you can just drag and drop the folders and files in any order you want them to be in.

[Edited on December 8, 2008 at 8:11 PM. Reason : ]

12/8/2008 8:01:25 PM