DVD-Software.info

[Cram]

In 2000 a friend of mine got an EMPEG car stereo player. I loved all
the functionality (both hardware and software) that came with it. I've
just changed vehicles and would like to put a system in it where I
never have to touch a CD again.

I am simply looking for today's products in the market which do exactly
what the Empeg player did.

1) Has its own storage and a lot of it.
2) Has its own software to manage playlists/random/genre playback.
3) Detatchable to bring to another computer to manage the library of
music on it.
4) It should be able to be viewed as a storage device by a computer
solely on the software drivers to recognize it as a storage device for
the OS. Just like any camera, and standard digital music player.

I guess this is the rub here: I don't want an IPod®.. I recognize that
it satisfies my goal of having digital music formats and a method to
edit/add the music remotely and have access to playlists and play
methods, but it's limiting in the software you must use to interact
with it and doesn't seem like a true storage device because of it.

Has anyone used kenwood's music keg and what did they like/dislike
about it?

Other questions of practical experience come to mind:
Are you stuck with proprietary inputs with certain products?
Durability of storage units?

Things like that.

Any resource or comments are welcome.

marc

[Matt Ion]

Cram wrote:

[Cram]

For clarification - I think something similar to the Kenwood music keg
would be best. It could be stowed under seats or in a concealed spot.
I'm going to a couple of car audio shops this weekend to find out more
about options in that type of storage.

That is a huge point I neglected to mention - I don't want this to be
visible or obtrusive in any way.

I would like this to be a storage for the car only (do one thing and do
it well). I don't want a cute media player to plug into a jack that is
custom fit to the console/dash/glovebox somewhere. It reminds me too
much of the velcro/cd walkman/cassette jack setups I had as a
teenager...

Likely, I'll have a ¼ audio jack on the front of whatever deck I
choose as well as any others I can get that would increase my options
of connectivity as well (usb, satellite input..).

Your point about interaction with software is a great one too. To have
playlists I have created for listenning on my workstation that I would
LOVE to port over for the drive.

Thanks for your futureshop link I had not known of that site and was
able to find more info from it.

marc

[stroebele]

Not to beat a dead horse with the ipod here but...

I have an Ipod in my car, I use the alpine interface to hook into it,
so the ipod is controlled completely from my head unit, the display
from the ipod is sent to the head unit so I see Track Name, Artist
etc...

The ipod spends the majority of it's life tucked in a cubby hole, the
only time I see it/touch it is when I'm pulling it out of the car to
load new music on to it. It integrates completely with my head unit and
is much smaller than a music keg. The Ipod isn't limited to itunes for
software either, I use a product called anapod, and like it much
better, also you can use the ipod as an external harddrive if you're
looking for that capability too. If you're interested email me and I
can send you pics of my setup so you can get a better idea of what I'm
talking about.