any techies know how to get the factory CD player to play MP3s?
09-26-2000, 07:59 PM
#11
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every Kenwood CD-players manufatured after July will be able to play CD-RW
and it will say that on the box. now... we just have to wait till all the kenwood warehouses finish shipping the old decks.
09-26-2000, 08:24 PM
#12
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Not sure, i'm on that priority waiting list. The coolest thing is...
that in cars with RDS (like the symphony headunit) you'll get a scrolling display of the track and artist name while its playing. That indeed IS phat!
09-26-2000, 08:56 PM
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I'd like to keep that functionality myself, what are your ideas for achieving this? How would the...
headunit know the difference, and what happens when you're on track 100-something and jump to the changer? How do you switch on the fly? I'm not saying you need to have answers to all these questions, but they were just things that occured to me when I was pondering the same thing.
09-26-2000, 08:57 PM
#16
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Everyone!! - get on the priority list - it has some advantages...
they ask questions about the kind of car you drive. It won't commit you to anything but if they see a lot of Audi owners they will be sure to develop the interface for our Panasonic changers.
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
09-26-2000, 09:03 PM
#17
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This is from the system specs, under "headunit interface"
Native CD changer protocol up to 99 playlists, 999 tracks/playlist
Co-exists with all other audio sources: CD, Tape, MD, FM, and AM
Uses all <i><B>display modes</B></I>, input modes, controls, and power modes provided by head unit.
Its the last one that leads me to believe it will utilize RDS, or at least the BUS for that function. I also heard as much from a freind who's a hardware geek. BTW, according to that first figure it can handle over <B>98,000</B> tracks at a time!!! I don't know the specs on storage yet, but the cartridge does have a hard drive in it.
Co-exists with all other audio sources: CD, Tape, MD, FM, and AM
Uses all <i><B>display modes</B></I>, input modes, controls, and power modes provided by head unit.
Its the last one that leads me to believe it will utilize RDS, or at least the BUS for that function. I also heard as much from a freind who's a hardware geek. BTW, according to that first figure it can handle over <B>98,000</B> tracks at a time!!! I don't know the specs on storage yet, but the cartridge does have a hard drive in it.
09-26-2000, 09:16 PM
#18
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My thoughts...
I'm hoping that Phat will go the extra distance and build that functionality in themsleves. I've left them an e-mail asking for that feature.
If they don't do it I'm thinking of some old basic wiring tricks...
If Phat has done their job, the head unit should not know the difference between the two devices. The head unit should just be getting some strange display numbers from the Phat.
Hopefully you could just split all of the wires and wire up both units. Then select which unit should be responding to the head unit requests by controlling the power for each of the units via a remote switch. Only the unit that is powered on would be able to respond.
Another option might be one of those autoswitches that you use for a printer or an s-video device. Simply send all of the wires through the switch and off to each of the devices. Only one device should sense any activity from the head unti at any one time.
It's real basic meat and potatoes stuff but should work as cleanly as any other high-tech solution. (You would definately have the splitter or switch in the trunk and have one remote switch mounted in the dash to control things (maybe one of those button blanks that I have on my 98.5)...
TTFN,
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
If they don't do it I'm thinking of some old basic wiring tricks...
If Phat has done their job, the head unit should not know the difference between the two devices. The head unit should just be getting some strange display numbers from the Phat.
Hopefully you could just split all of the wires and wire up both units. Then select which unit should be responding to the head unit requests by controlling the power for each of the units via a remote switch. Only the unit that is powered on would be able to respond.
Another option might be one of those autoswitches that you use for a printer or an s-video device. Simply send all of the wires through the switch and off to each of the devices. Only one device should sense any activity from the head unti at any one time.
It's real basic meat and potatoes stuff but should work as cleanly as any other high-tech solution. (You would definately have the splitter or switch in the trunk and have one remote switch mounted in the dash to control things (maybe one of those button blanks that I have on my 98.5)...
TTFN,
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
09-26-2000, 09:23 PM
#19
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I doubt the RDS will work...
Since our current CD changers don't know about song titles and only transmit track numbers I would be very surprised if the head unit has been programmed to expect any RDS textual data to come from what it thinks is the changer. I'm pretty sure will will be out of luck (it would be awfully neat if it would work tho).
I was also thinking that with all of that storage it would be nice if you could squirrel non-MP3 type files off in some subdirectories on it. It could act like an off-site backup for my PC data files (I won't be able to fill that harddisk otherwise
One more thing... For all of those people with a NAV system it would be nice if you could stuff the map CDs into it as well (since you would be losing the CD changer) and have the head unit be able to access them...
When I hear about new uses for technolgy, my mind starts to race....
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
I was also thinking that with all of that storage it would be nice if you could squirrel non-MP3 type files off in some subdirectories on it. It could act like an off-site backup for my PC data files (I won't be able to fill that harddisk otherwise
One more thing... For all of those people with a NAV system it would be nice if you could stuff the map CDs into it as well (since you would be losing the CD changer) and have the head unit be able to access them...
When I hear about new uses for technolgy, my mind starts to race....
Gordon Martin
98.5 2.8QMS (Santorin Blue)
09-26-2000, 09:35 PM
#20
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The nav unit is seperate from the CD changer, won't lose nav by replacing the changer...
It sits below the changer in the trunk and just has a single disk slot feed.
You probably could use it to back up files, but that would require an extra cradle, not sure how much extra that would be. I dig that it supports MP3, Windows Media, and uncompressed WAV files. I have soundedit16 at work and could mix some demo tracks, and then listen to them on the way home to see how I like them without having to burn a disk each time.
You probably could use it to back up files, but that would require an extra cradle, not sure how much extra that would be. I dig that it supports MP3, Windows Media, and uncompressed WAV files. I have soundedit16 at work and could mix some demo tracks, and then listen to them on the way home to see how I like them without having to burn a disk each time.