[Bob in St. Louis]

I've got a bunch of tunes (FLAC and mp3) I'd like to have with me in the car. Burning CDs is getting old.
Here's what I have, don't have, and what I'd like:
- I do NOT own an iPod/mp3 Player, and my vehicle does NOT have any auxiliary input jacks. I do recall "back in the old days" a fellow could hardwire a coax "Y" to the factory radio antenna, then tune the radio to a given station. Then, your storage device would "transmit" the music. Seems to me this would be better quality than the FM transmitters.....correct me if I'm wrong.
- I'm NOT willing to replace the factory radio. Can't see where that would be cost effective. again, correct me if I'm wrong.
- Massive storage would be nice. Actually, this is very important to me. As I mentioned, burning CDs is getting old. The few Gig offered on the players I've seen are laughable. I'm talking well into the several hundreds of Gig, preferably one TB. I don't care how large the unit is as I'm willing to hide the "box", obviously a remote would be in order if that's the case.
- I'd like decent sound quality, not necessarily anal-retentive audiophile quality. ha ha

Not sure if this is possible, but here's what I envision:
- "Something" that contains a USB input. Maybe one of those $100 9" laptops on Ebay.
- The FM transmitter, or preferably a coax output.
- 12volt to 120 volt inverter.
- One of those $100 1TB USB external HDDs.


Any ideas, or am I just smokin' crack?
Thanks guys,
Bob

[Scott F.]

Bob,

I brought this one up a while back. My solution is a little off beat but it should work (but don't blame me if it doesn't).

My thought was to use the new Squeezebox Touch. Since it has a USB input and will read an external drive, you could hook up your TB drive, hide it under the seat and come up with some sort of mount for the Touch up near your dashboard.

Now, I was going to use the outputs to an input on my head unit but you could use an FM transmitter. Fair warning though, I've tried three or four FM transmitters and they all sound like hammered shit. Could be my head unit (factory Lincoln sound system) but one never knows.

That said, you now have to work out all of teh power supply issues. Not sure what the Touch is or for that matter what your TB drive might suck up in volts and amps. I bet Chris Hoff could help you out on some sort of regulated and well filtered supplies for both.

I was forewarned about the hard drive in the car during the winter months. It may need to be warmed up before it wants to work. Not sure what our searing summers would do to it either. I had planned on using a WD 300gig portable drive (about the size of a wallet) so I could easily pull it out during temperature extremes.

Dunno, seems like a solid thought experiment. I have no idea if it will actually work. I definitely give it about a 90/10 chance. Its all going to come down to power supplies and the pass though voltage and amperage of the Touch being able to power up a large USB drive.

Go for it and let me know if it works 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hammered shit? 
Ok, I'm not officially asking, but it doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy spending money on.

If you recall back in the old days when CD changers whre the rage, the "smart" guys would use the "Y" adapter to the coax on the factory radio antenna instead of the FM transmitter. That's what I'd really like to do. I proposed this to a young man at Best Buy a whle back. He looked at me like I was asking where he keeps his turntables. 

I recall your thread and was thinking of you when I typed this one. I assume you dropped the idea? The thread kinda died within a couple days. I'm thinking of using some form of "mini" external drive and insulating it as much as possible from temps and vibration. If it dies, I'll take it back to where I got it and try again (until I get tired of doing it).

Somebody, somewhere has to have done this. You and I can't be the only ones to want tunes inthe car and not want to deal with an mp3 player.

Bob

[Wayne1]

Okay Bob,

Here is another link to a different kind of fanatic forum.

http://www.mp3car.com/

Howse about putting a MacMini or a PC in the Suburban?

[Bob in St. Louis]

Another forum..... ....thanks Wayne. 

I've been eying some of the smaller cheaper PCs for use in the truck. I mentioned in my first post about those $100 mini PCs on ebay. They do have USB input, but they don't have an optical drive, and work with WindowsCE. They have SD card input for adding software (like Squeeze).
But what I can't find out is what software is compatible with Windows CE?

I'll check out the forum, thanks Wayne.

Scott, I did find where a fellow mounted a SB2 in his car:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=17638
But he's using an aftermarket headunit with the appropriate inputs.

Bob

[etcarroll]

I know you said 'no' to swapping out the head unit, but I was faced with same issue with my '03 Impala, and got a DUAL unit;

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_070XHD7714/Dual-XHD7714.html?search=Dual+VENDORID070&ssi=0&searchdisplay=Dual

Gave me complete control of my iPod, AUX input for my Zune, and USB for my wife's San Disk mp3 player.

And under $200.

[skunark]

If your car stereo has cd-changer controls then do check out the ipod cd-changer adapters as most also provide RCA inputs that you can plug almost anything into.   (still useful for the resistance!)   This will sound much better than a tape-adapter or FM transmitter but do keep in mind that it will replace a cd-changer if you do have one.

If you can navigate through the horrendous Crutchfield website, they have tons of ideas on what you can do.. 

Also, if you have a tape player, I would get a tape adapter over an FM transmitter.