Portable Hard Drive In My Car?

[2LouDFoRThiS 10+ year member]

How would i put a hard drive in my car to store all my music and connect it to my deck? .. Would i need a computer or a laptop to do this? My idea is basically a hard drive which i can transfer all my music from my computer onto and then put it in the car.

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[headless 10+ year member]

There are several in car mp3 players that use hardrives to store their info...i have one called the Riocar Empeg. It's been discontinued from production for a while but you can find them used around the net. It can hold 2 laptop sized hardrives...with laptop drives @ 100gb each, that could be a metric ****ton of music

I have a couple pix of it in this post:

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1643949&postcount=4

 

[project f-150 10+ year member]

Or you can use something like the phat box. Produced by phatnoise. You may know it better as the music keg marketed by kenwood a few years back.

Go to http://www.phatnoise.com

 

[2LouDFoRThiS 10+ year member]

Or you can use something like the phat box. Produced by phatnoise. You may know it better as the music keg marketed by kenwood a few years back.
Go to http://www.phatnoise.com

that looks like it might do the trick ..

 

[audionewb 10+ year member]

Why not just get an ipod? It is a hardrive that you connect to your computer just like you said, except it is actually designed for the explicit purpose that you want it for, has an abundance of aftermarket accessories to make your life easy, and is relatively cheap. Do you always like to make things more difficult for yourself?

 

[headless 10+ year member]

Actually, the Riocar or phatbox are designed exactly for what he wants whereas the ipod is designed to be a personal audio device a-la a walkman. Car mp3 players have different needs

 

[MadAudio 10+ year member]

screw ipod

get a creative zen not only does it have a bigger hd than ipod and better eq the hard drive can be split( partitioned) into 2 sections allowing you to use one side for data storage plus the price is nice 2 i have one and love it . and in case your wondering how to control it they sell a seperate wired controller for it .

 

[MrBlack 10+ year member]

+1 for the Phatbox, which has high quality 24 bit burr brown dac's that will walk all over an Ipod's outputs as far as SQ goes plus you can modify the cartridge yourself to add a larger HD, which with today's laptop HD's, you could go up to 160 gb! Plus, it can be modified to work in multiple applications so if you decide to change it up down the road, the Phatbox may still be able to work with your new ride.

I know I'm loving mine, the sound is phenominal, I have over 350 albums ripped to mp3 at a bitrate of 256+ and the cart is only 1/4 full. It's great.

 

[Anonymous User 10+ year member]

theres a pioneer deck that has a i think a 10gb harddrive with it. its like 1k or so, but i seen one for sale near me for only $300.

 

[audionewb 10+ year member]

Actually, the Riocar or phatbox are designed exactly for what he wants whereas the ipod is designed to be a personal audio device a-la a walkman. Car mp3 players have different needs

Like what? I am not pro ipod although i do own two. I prefer the creative ones myself and have had 2 of those as well. I switched to the ipod for the aftermarket products. I looked at the website that you listed and I don't see what is so great. True audiophiles are not going to use a compressed format such as mp3s anyway. The ipod is not perfect, but if you use the dock connection output vs the headphone output, the audio quality increases. You are talking about a price/per sound quality issue. Yes that device is cool, but it is not nearly as supported as something like the ipod and will not be around as long. I held out as long as possible when I got the ipod (although they were gifts) but unless your car is extensively done properly for sq, this is a mute point anyway. As for the rio car, hasn't it been discontinued?

 

[Randy Savage 5,000+ posts]

Clarion makes a USB adaptor.

Could just pick up a 1GB thumb drive and be good to go.

 

[2LouDFoRThiS 10+ year member]

everyone had good advice .. i guess the ipod makes sense .. i can get a brand new one from these guys who steal them from UPS for like 200 canadian .. lol .. but thats the only reason why..

 

[MrBlack 10+ year member]

Originally posted by audionewbTrue audiophiles are not going to use a compressed format such as mp3s anyway.

I find this statement flawed and only meant to single out those few of us who still hold quality of the reproduction in high regard. First off, correct me if I'm wrong but aren't both the Phatbox AND Ipod capable of playing back unlossy file compression formats? I know first hand that the Phatbox is. You're the one that's chosen to listen to a second rate lossy reproduction of the original music through an Ipod.

And lets say that MP3 is the chosen format. When talking about audio reproduction in the car, there are already certain shortcuts that have to be made to even make the experience possible. Now with that said, there is no way that even the most trained ear will be able to discern a carefully ripped and encoded high bitrate MP3 from the original recording while in a car. You could sit yourself down and listen to the song through a nice set of headphones with absolutely no background noise and I highly doubt you'd be able to tell the difference from the original recording.

I am extremely picky when it comes to sound quality, yet I have no problem listening to any number of MP3's ripped from CD's as long as they've been ripped and encoded properly.

The ipod is not perfect, but if you use the dock connection output vs the headphone output, the audio quality increases. You are talking about a price/per sound quality issue.

Now this I will agree with you on, the Ipod is far from perfect. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif

Using the docking connection output still utilizes the same crappy DAC that the headphone output uses. No matter what, if you start with crap, you end with crap, it will never sound better than what the Ipod is capable of reproducing.

And as far as price vs sound quality, the Phatbox wins in both situations if you're careful and smart enough not to buy the first thing you see on the store shelves. Bang for the buck? Brand new or lightly used Phatbox's can be found for well under $200, and 120 gb laptop hard drives can be found for less than $150. Yet doesn't a 60 gb Ipod go for nearly $400?

And even if the Ipod were a better deal, I wouldn't recommend investing your money in such a crappy device made by such a monopolistic company such as Apple. If you want portable, definately go with the Creative Zen. Down with Itunes and the Ipod. lol //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[StuartV 10+ year member]

get a creative zen not only does it have a bigger hd than ipod and better eq the hard drive can be split( partitioned) into 2 sections allowing you to use one side for data storage plus the price is nice 2 i have one and love it . and in case your wondering how to control it they sell a seperate wired controller for it .

Errrr, ummm. You can put data on the iPod without having to partition it.

And, you can use it and control it from MANY HU's without having to clutter up your car with a separate wired controller.

And, if you have a decent HU, you should be doing your EQ there, not with the MP3 player.

 

[guy022077 10+ year member]

omnifi dmp1 hard drive 20gig with controller that looks like a hu face plate.