Motors Finally, a decent MP3 solution

Just a bump for this system, I've recently purchased the same head unit after reading this thread & can recommend it, for the price you can't go wrong.

PROS:
Cheap MP3 Solution
Good Sound
USB Flylead at the back of the system, hence no messy wires sticking out
Easy to use control layout (my previous head unit had impossibly small buttons everywhere that were useless while driving)

CONS:
I don't like the way the facia drops down for inserting a CD, doesn't feel that solid to me...but for the price can't really complain
Doesn't read folder names which can be a pain when you have 400+ of them! (unless I'm missing a setting somewhere)
Cannot turn the 'demo' display off, which I find distracting while driving

I paid £90incl postage from a very good eBay store (5200+ feedback all positive ) for a brand new boxed head unit & the hard drive set me back £80 + £5 postage.

I'm using a Freecom 80GB Toughdrive model HDD, which oddly only takes the head unit less than 10 seconds to innitialise & scan! When I use my Corsair Flash Voyager 1GB USB pen drive it takes a good 30 to 40 seconds though

Overall I think it's a great system, in hindsight though I would have preferred to go with the next model up if only to be able to turn off the annoying demo display.

Thanks for the post & help with this Pookeyhead, much appreciated

 

What ebay store??

 

This one

 

This looks great, I was planing on going with a car pc until I realized that it gets too cold in the winter for it to last. After kenwood got rid of the music keg I thought I ran out of options and since I hate seeing wires sticking out This looks great.

 

i brought the same unit aswell a while back... brought it off ebay aswell... a lot cheaper... i think i got mine for over £100

same probs as you.. the "demo" mode is annoying....

im using my psp atm to hold my music... but i would like something bigger.... i tried my laptop drive through a usb/ide adapter but it didnt work... i also tried my zen mico in hdd mode but nothing... the only thing with the psp is not enough space and having to turn it on and off everytime you leave the car and also having to have the extra usb lead hanging around... :S

 

Surpised those drives didn't work tbh. Do they spin up at all? If they do then make sure they're formatted in FAT32 as it won't recognise NTFS at all.

 

i did think about the fat32... cos the psp is fat32.. the red light came up... unless im doing something wrong.. i might have another go...

 

well i finally have a duable mp3 system now....

went down to pcworld and brought a 2gb usb stick to try on the headunit.. and yes it works.... i brought a PNY attache for £30 and it works... YAY... although i dont have the same amount of storage as the others im still happy...

also to Lord A i finally got demo mode off... try this:

standby mode > menu button > find "demo" text then hold the right control knob for a couple of secs and it works...

 

Yeah I tried that, didn't work on mine, and in my manual it says it only applies to the model above mine...

I get the menu up & can see the 'Demo On' however it doesn't let me change it at all

What firmware version is your headunit on? I'll take a look at mine on the drive back home today if I can remember.

 

Just noticed this thread again after so long.

Basically you can turn off the demo mode... I remember it being a pain in teh ass to find the menu for it, but you can.

It does read folder names also... You can search via folder, or file, and again, from memory, I cant remember which button to press, but it's all in the manual.

[edit]

Just noticed SPrings has found it for you... sorry.

 

Yeah I got the Folder reading option a while ago

Demo still doesn't go off though, read my post above yours, I can find the menu option, it just doesn't allow me to change it

 

are you pressing the right hand control knob straight in..? thats the button on mine that turns it on and off..

 

Silly question, but when using a usb HDD does it shuffle and everything else a cd does?

 

i have a question for the others that have this... does you text always scroll? mine scrolls once when a new song is on or when you do something else...

my mate who has a lower version than ours scrools all the time...

 

Anyone know if this will work ok?

link

 

Ya, I was being a bit of a numbskull before & pressing the control knob to the right instead of in. All the other menu options change when I press it to the right though, apart from the demo mode. Anyway it's off now, finally. I don't feel like throwing the radio out the window everytime I get in the car anymore Thanks!

Yes, you press & hold down '3' for 4 seconds or so & it goes into 'all random' mode which shuffles through all the mp3 folders on the disk / usb key / cd

Mine behaves the same way as you described yours. Not sure if there's a setting to enforce continuous scrolling, will take a look through the manual.

Looks fine from what I can see in the specifications.
Have another read through one of Pookeyhead's posts here. The link to the drive he bought is dead now but from what I can remember he also used a Freecom drive.

 

least i no how to random the whole music now.... was looking for it 2day on the way to work...

 

wooo, bought one today for £80, going to go fit it now. Wish me luck.

 

Good Luck!

 

Just thought I'd post an update to this.
When I was using my Corsair Flash Voyager 1GB USB pen drive it did take around 40 seconds or so to innitialise/scan, even though I only had around 7 albums on there (around 500mb)

When I got the Freecom 80GB Toughdrive I loaded it with around 20 albums at first (just over a gig) and that did take less than 10 seconds to innitialise/scan.

However, I have since loaded the drive with around 350 full albums (about 25gig / 380 or so folders in total) and now it does take ages to innitialise/scan - almost a minute in fact.
It's not that bad since it gives me time to plug the GPS in, get the 'ol diesel warmed up a bit etc.

One thing to point out though is that if you use the radio traffic updates (TA) the drive goes through the whole innitialise/scan process everytime, and that can be frustrating.