Question to Intravee/Dice/OEM iPod users

[PawnSacrifice]

I'm going to complicate things just a little more though. If the iPod is going to be hidden/out of the way then why do i need an iPod at all ?

I have been doing some web searches for i-Bus compatible mp3 players that can take a FLASH thumb drive. That way i can just keep upgrading the thumb drive as prices come down. There seems to be some references to just such a product on the 'HackTheIBUS' yahoo group, but i am still waiting to be admitted into that group for further research.

Has anybody made/bought such a device ? I think with a open source mp3 player i can apply the iBus hacks to make this myself, but it would be nice to see if somebody has already made this. Obviously the cost wuld be much lower than any of the other solutions and the functionality would be identical.

Does anybody know anything about such a beast ?

Hacking? Neo, put down the red pills.

The Dension GW300 has a USB port built in. I started with a USB stick but it wouldn't play the DRM tracks from iTunes... the iPod will. Also, as Siftah said, it's far easier to manage on iTunes. One thing I would say with browsing using the Business CD, it can take a while to scroll through the albums - I wouldn't want more than 100 (at most)... even at a high quality / lossless format it doesn't take that much room.

I know Apple are trying to play nicer with other hardware, I haven't looked recently to see if you can manage USB devices in iTunes? I believe tracks can be de-DRM'd now, at a price.

 

[Siftah]

The Dension GW300 has a USB port built in. I started with a USB stick but it wouldn't play the DRM tracks from iTunes... the iPod will. Also, as Siftah said, it's far easier to manage on iTunes. One thing I would say with browsing using the Business CD, it can take a while to scroll through the albums - I wouldn't want more than 100 (at most)... even at a high quality / lossless format it doesn't take that much room.

This is a valid criticism even with the Intravee on a Nav system to be honest - one of the reasons I tend to maintain a few specific playlists for the car and only sync certain artists - people I can't live without, currently Florence + the Machine and The xx

I find that much easier to do in iTunes with it's Smart Playlists than it is by manually managing music by dragging and dropping.

I know Apple are trying to play nicer with other hardware, I haven't looked recently to see if you can manage USB devices in iTunes? I believe tracks can be de-DRM'd now, at a price.

Nope, I don't think that's ever likely. There's some software called DoubleTwist which does it though, I believe.

 

[craig3.2]

Since no-one seems to have mentioned these 2 ipod kits,i will.
Firstly,the connects2 kit,is reasonably well priced(aprox £70),is easy to install;but it DOES NOT WORK WITH THE CARVER/DSP setup!!
Secondly,the BMW OEM ipod kit,which is arnd £110 if non carver/dsp,and £150 if u have the Carver/DSP HI-FI set-up.

Both work great with the business cd head unit(although this cd/radio doesn't have the ability to show artist tracks/names).

The main difrnce with the Connects 2 kit and bmw kit is,u can have individual songs or playlists from your IPOD,OR Albums individually with con.2;while the BMW IPOD Interface,u have to asign 5 Playlists to it,tho i use this kit,and find it very good indeed. i have only 2 playlists out of 5 at present(over 100 racks on each/no limit),which u tag as BMW1,BMW2,ETC.
The reason i went with the bmw kit,was due to me having the Carver dsp hifi upgrade fitted to my car,and the Denison g/w 300 wasnt compatible either/only the densn gateway 500 is(which is alot more expensive!!).

Hope this is helpfull
p.s u can check if u have the Carver(if u are unsure),by looking beside your battery,if the amp there has carver written on it somewhere,then u need to check if its ANOLOGUE OR DIGITAL,by looking to see if it has a digital signal lead going into it,or not(a small,thin wire into side of amp).
Cheers