23 replies to this topic

[RobJaxon]

Would it be possible to put this - http://www.amazon.co...l/dp/B000EXZB0M


..into my mini, and load it with music files, then play them through my speakers, could I attach it somehow to the headunit?

[james962]

in theory, if you wire in a fag lighter, you could get a 12v to 240v converter to plug in the hard drive.

Then, my external hard drive has a USB output lead, so you could buy a headunit with a USB port to plug it into.

Sounds abit long winded to be honest. anyway, why would you need 500GB of music files for you car? Is that not abit extreme?

[philster]

there's a few ways to get mass storage in the car

Firstly an in car pc, you'd need a monitor, you have to boot it everytime you get in the car and it's not gonna be cheap

or

You could buy a headunit with a USB input and use an external usb laptop hardrive (powers via usb)

or

You could buy a media player which is like an external hardrive but plays music/video directly from the unit to your TV/monitor

[redhotmini]

use an ipod. easy.

[HARBER07]

in theory, if you wire in a fag lighter, you could get a 12v to 240v converter to plug in the hard drive.

Then, my external hard drive has a USB output lead, so you could buy a headunit with a USB port to plug it into.

Sounds abit long winded to be honest. anyway, why would you need 500GB of music files for you car? Is that not abit extreme?

It would work like that although pointless as the USB HDD will probably come with a transformer built in transforming it back down to 12v. Ie. from 12-240-12. Dont know if you could wire it direct (12 from ignition direct to the HDD). Im never a fan of having 240v in a car though although many people do.

[RobJaxon]

What if the harddrive was powered through USB, couldn't I just plug it straight into the headunit?

[lankydan]

Personaly id get a laptop harddrive with a special case and plug it into the usb interface of the headunit which will power it and hold lots of music depending on what size hdd you decide to put in it.
dan

[lil'jack]

you could possibly use one of these but would need an amp for power to the speakers and also you would be better off having a screen for display as i am unsure if you could just turn it on and press play to get the music playing as it is for all sorts of media and would probably have a menu system upon booting.

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...7QQcmdZViewItem

[RobJaxon]

would a touchscreen monitor work with it?
why would i need an amp ?

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

It might not work if you plug it into the USB port of your deck, and imagine how long it would take to index the whole drive!

I have an AUX port on my deck, which I plug my mobile into. Its only got a 1gb card but these days theres 4gb+ cards available.

500GB is crazy storage space for music! If each file was 5MB and 3 minutes long then it could hold 100,000 songs, and 5000 hours of music. It would take over 200 days to listen to every track on there!! I wonder how many hours a person actually spends in their car....

Edited by MiNi2iNFiNiTi, 04 April 2008 - 03:11 PM.

[RobJaxon]

i spend about 2 hours a day. on average.
so could i get a touchscreen vga monitor with an AUX port?

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

By all means get a touchscreen to control how you listen to your music, but the AUX port isnt capable of providing a tracklisting of the attached device to display on the screen, in other words you wont be able to control the device that stores your music via the touchscreen - only adjust the volume of the sound that comes through your speakers.

[attachment=55202:Untitled___1.jpg]
This is an example of said setup, its what I'm running in my Focus at the moment but I got just a normal MP3 deck without a screen.

Edited by MiNi2iNFiNiTi, 04 April 2008 - 10:23 PM.

[RobJaxon]

Any way of controlling the tracklist etc....?

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

Any way of controlling the tracklist etc....?

Only by pressing the buttons on the phone itself.

[biggav]

I got an ipod photo 40GB (it's about 4 or 5 years old and you'll get them on ebay for peanuts). you can get head units that plug the ipod in and use the head unit touch screen to control everything. you can then leave said ipod hidden in the car (like a hard disc) and operate it on your head unit.

always more than one way to skin a cat.

check out this head unit