alternative in-car stereo / mp3 / comments please .. - slightly o/t

[Cicero]

=================================== The Sony machine you quote (Sony RCDW100 Twin CDR) appears to be a CD copier (CD to CD) so it wouldn't really be any help in transferring your LPs and tapes to CD. You would need something with inputs from a turntable and tape player which doesn't appear to be the case with this Sony machine. If it does have these inputs I would be quite interested as it would be a genuinely dedicated machine. Have you got any further information?

As far as recognising track breaks is concerned, I think that most commercial copying software (e.g. 'Spin Doctor') and probably most Shareware software will do this but not entirely reliably. It appears to work on the basis of recognising longer periods of silence which is reasonably accurate for most LP / Tape / CD tracks but it can give spurious results when the music itself includes periods of silence such as often happens in Classical music.

Cic.

[Adrian]

for the long link ! There's a link on this page to the manufacturer's PDF operating manual

- which seems to say that you can do cd-cd copies as well as burning cds from any other analogue (?or digital) inputs.

Apparently it also has the ability to recognise track breaks..

Yes - wouldn't be the end of the world if the odd spurious 'non-track' got into a cd.....

Still can't decide which way to jump - sounds as if mp3 might be the way to go. The 'purist' approach regarding fidelity isn't a big issue for me - music tends to be on in the background or while driving

- so as long as it's 'listenable' then that'd be fine...

Just had a quick play around BearShare - looks interesting...... now need to go looking for mp3-capable car radios (though I believe they're known as 'heads' nowadays. Funny - in boating circles 'head' has a completely different meaning .

Regards Adrian

[John Rumm]

You can frequently find complete albums for download, or even collections of albums. Finding older albums is not always easy unless they were popular, but when they are there is is often quicker than digitising yours.

The obvious two to try are

and

[Huge]

library and rip them from there? Assuming that one's music is available on CD, that is.

[Owain]

There are a lot of USB memory sticks that include MP3 players, and they're quite cheap if you don't want displays etc. Argos have 2Gb ones from £40

You would need to check individual specs to see if they allow replay through the USB port if you want to plug it into a car (or house) system using USB. These systems are becoming more common. You can also use them to carry .doc files etc around with you.

Owain

[Graeme]

In message , Adrian writes

Hi Adrian,

There are two options, really. Probably best for individual tracks is Limewire :

have mentioned torrents, from sites like Pirate Bay. For that, you need a 'client', and utorrent is highly recommended by many. Download the client, search for torrents, and away you go. A torrent is just a file that contains other files, such as mp3s, avis etc. I would make sure your virus checker is up to date, though, as you don't really know what you have downloaded until it is on your hard drive. Torrents are more complete albums than individual tracks. Many videos, too, but watch your bandwidth. Probably highly illegal, too.

>>>One problem - your car is probably positive earth?

Excellent. I'm learning a lot from this thread, too. Memory sticks, and such things.

Heh. Oily trailer ATM. Plan is to do a bit of work this summer.

My wife's iPod is 2GB, which apparently equates to around 500 tracks.

The music file on my hard drive is 19GB, and probably contains in excess of 3000 tracks.

I think the largest iPod is currently 8GB, or 2000 tracks, but they can, of course, be erased and replaced ad infinitum.

Sounds like us, driving to the bright lights of Perth or Aberdeen :-)

[John Laird]

Then what are you beloved old albums doing in the shed, then ?! I got started with transferring some of my albums to CD and in the end found more pleasure in getting a new drive belt, arm and cartridge and rediscovering vinyl...

The catch is that vinyl is not recorded "flat", but has emphasis applied to diminish low frequencies and boost high frequencies. On playback, low frequencies are boosted and high frequencies cut. This reduces surface noise which is usually hissy, and avoids massive needle excursions on powerful bass signals. I suppose it's possible that your PC software could attempt some reverse correction, but assuming you were going to run your deck output through at least a pre- amp, you will probably lose some very high frequencies forever (running the LP fast will push all the frequences up, some beyond what the cartridge can faithfully reproduce), and it'd all be a bit of bodge for a small time-saving, frankly.

I think my kids might get some of their music from Russia (not on my home network, mind), but I have no doubt it's dubious in some respect. I have a quaint old-fashioned notion that if I want something, I should pay for it. Sad in the 21st century, I know. I am quite happy to buy CDs at under a tenner on average (sometimes much mess) and get 100% of the engineered and mixed product. They were nearer =A315 in the early days, often for 35 minutes of simply transcribed analogue. Now, you will get a proper remaster, often done by some of the original team, and some bonus tracks, plus some sleeve notes telling you all about how the creative geniuses worked, how they weren't seeing enough groupie action, etc. (I do occasionally buy "new" music...)

Anyway, to return to your in-car needs, you will find that some kind of "line" input is increasingly common on car head units these days. I would doubt if any of them would stylistically match your car interior, however. But even if you have to purchase a simple radio unit, something like an iTrip works surprisingly well.

HTH.

-- "Going out of my mind, back in 5 minutes."

[Adrian]

Many thanks... Currently trawling through Gnutella with BearShare as a client - very interesting......

OK - so I've found some music - quite a lot of which is already on vinyl in the box in the shed (so I don't feel _too_ illegal !)

Now to look into actually playing it....

Many thanks Adrian

[Adrian]

Ah - so you can..... how interesting

I'll go take a look - thanks

Adrian

[Adrian]

Indeed.... Haven't looked for CDs in our local library - might take a look next time I'm in there...

Thanks Adrian

[Adrian]

In my case it's more a case of 'memory fades' - but I know what you mean !

We're in the process of completing a large carport so that work on the car continue _despite_ the Irish weather !

That's quite a lot...

Understand that... I was wondering whether it'd be necessary to take along several USB sticks for a journey - but probably not....

Maybe different sticks for different styles of music...

Dindn't know Perth had any bright lights. Didn't the last time I was up there - but that was a few years ago..

Ah well - off to plant a few more lettuces and play a bit more with the carport...

Thanks Adrian

[Stuart Noble]

think the latest version from Limewire is pay per download

And the rest.....

I would

Too slow for most people. They say the binary groups are faster

[Mike Barnes]

It's good if you want something simple, but for power users it doesn't hold a candle to J River Music Center, IMO.

I also have a nearly-full 60 Gb iPod, but I have an Audi factory-fit head unit with Dension Ice-Link adapter, which (like your Alpine unit, I imagine) allows me to use the steering-wheel volume/next/previous controls. So the iPod stays tucked out of sight in the glove box.

[Grunff]

Yes, you can definitely do that.

This varies from player to player. Most support folders, but some just play everything sequentially.

I don't know about this particular one.

[John Rumm]

not sure ripping cds is any "more" legal ;-)

[John Rumm]

Aha, back in the days when RIAA was just an equalisation curve and not a dirty word for organised megalomania hell bent of suing grannies. ;-)

Some audio packages can implement RIAA equalisation in software, although I think you still get best results using a preamp with a proper phono stage.

(maplin used to do a mono preamp module with RIAA equalisation, I used a pair of them to build a little compensation box to stick between a record deck and a sound card. That seemed to do the trick nicely)

Yup, I have no problem with that. It starts getting a bit much when they want you to buy it over and over on every format you may want to use it in tough. Especially since all you are paying for is a license - the media cost representing the square root of naff all.

[Alan]

When I was in the market for this I found that very few adaptors gave the display info on-screen - like the current Artinst, Album, Track etc. The Alpine does this, which is nice for finding the track you want. The others I looked at the time just treated the iPod as a limitless CD changer with just track up/down functionality, but little ability to navigate round the iPod.

Alan.

[John Laird]

I suppose it gets a bit tricky, proving you own one version and want another. I do object to the notion of levies on media such as cassettes (I presume that's a dead issue now, although I wouldn't be surprised if there are moves to put levies on solid state players). I wouldn't buy downloads at what amounts to very nearly the same price as a CD, only without 90% of the data, never mind the actual CD and box and insert. And the logic of only buying part of an album also escapes me. There's always Now That's What I Call A Load Of Old Bollocks Vol 257 for that.

Sadly, I think the cutting edge has left me behind. But there are compensations - I no longer feel the need to listen to Radio 1, Radio

2 can be found to be playing the full 9 minute version of Won't Get Fooled Again in the middle of the morning, and almost every music show on the Beeb telly channels seems to be aimed at my generation. So that's alright, then.

-- "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

[Mike Barnes]

Exactly right. Personally I'm quite happy to stick the iPod on album shuffle and take what I'm given. Passengers sometimes like to exercise some choice and they can easily do that by taking the iPod out of the glove box and using its controls.

Artist and title display on the head unit would be nice (but I've quite enjoyed guessing!). My system is three years old and I understand that more modern adapters do a better job. I'm about to replace the car so I'll soon find out.

I don't have much choice as modern Audis aren't compatible with after- market head units. I quite like that as it means mine's less likely to get nicked.

[Lurch]

On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:24:54 +0100, John Rumm mused:

Perhaps "more legal" was meant to be "less traceable"?