Thanks for posting the pictures everyone!! ...and I do agree ..removing that one bolt is a PAIN!! ughhh!! I am having a real hard time taking it out ....and I'm sure it's because I don't have the right tools....anyone in the bay area want to help me install a tape deck?? :D

 

I'm sure you'll have no problem filling that request... make sure to prescreen some of these jokers..

 

Really...anyone want to help ..lil ol me!!

 

Damn, why couldn't you be in Austin? :D

 

I could help - but not before early January (I'll be away until then). That's probably too much of a wait - if not, let me know.

 

I'm considering purchasing an RX-8 but I'm tired of talking to my local dealership, they seem to know very little about the cars they sell. I understand mp3 and and in-dash 6 disk changer are two options but are they mutually exclusive? Is it one or the other or can you install both? Thanks.

 

You are correct it's one or the other. The top bracket holds the CD Player, MP3 Player or 6-Disc changer. The bottom bracket can hold either the Mini-Disc or cassette player.

 

I installed my mp3 player today... those pics were a great help


I spent like a half hour trying to get the main plug behind the unit disconnected... and it never did come off!!! I have no frikkin clue of what I was doing wrong.

I looked at the unit better and realised that you really don't have to remove the 2 connectors in the back to do the mp3 player swap, so I didn't. If you tug on the unit enough theres enough slack in the wiring harness to do all you need.

What a pain in the ****!!! The fender strakes however went on in 15min and look sweet :p .

 

Just got mine for X-mas, I'll hopefully be putting it in sometime soon...screwed with it a little today and the console didn't want to pop apart; mostly because I was scared to damage it. I scuffed it a little getting it off... :-( but I'm really picky I doubt anybody would notice the marks unless I pointed them out.

We'll see how it goes later. I only got through a little before it got dark...

Wish me luck...it looks like I'll need it.

 

Just installed my MP3 player and noticed that the dealer neglected to put the magic screw back in when they replaced the display faceplate that they scratched up. Took 1 hour to get out and probably 10 minutes to put back in. Thanks for the step by step I really appreciate all your hard work.

 

Waaall, I just replaced my single CD with the 6 CD changer. Thanks to the excellent instructions in this thread, the thing went in just as easy as pie! Coupla comments...

The infamous "blue tape" was not a problem, as it was cold in my garage and when I gave the head unit a little tug, the tape snapped like brittle plastic! Too cool... I guess working in the cold does have some advantages!

The gold colored bolt was also not a problem, as it was fortunately just finger tight from the factory. It's a bitch to reach, but dooable.

Coupla suggestions to add to the knowledge base here:

• When you remove your shift **** (which is incredibly heavy for what it is, BTW) be sure you put a washrag or something simlar over the shifter column. It's pretty sharp, and would easily scratch your head unit face plate as you pull the unit out of the dash.
• If you DO forget and leave a CD in the player as I did (D'oh!) you can get it out by only reconnecting the largest electrical connector to the back of the stereo.
• Once you have the ashtray out, it's a great time to tap into 12V power that you might need later. You have two choices too: the power to the cigarette lighter (which is on whenever the ignition switch is in the ACC or ON positions), and the power to the light for the ashtray. I personally tapped into the latter one, as I plan to install LED floor lights sometime in the not too distant future

Finally, I just have to comment on how incredibly well made this car is! It is a real pleasure to work on, and amazing to me how nicely everything both comes apart and goes back together, once you know the tricks. Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this awesome thread!

 

Well, I just finished doing the MP3 Tango. Thanks to all the tips I found here it went very well. My only "Oops!" was knocking the 10mm socket off the extension while withdrawing it from the guts of the car after replacing the famous "Hidden Screw" (see photo for another shot of the location fo this screw) and now I have a 10mm socket under my carpeting somewhere!

Additional info: my mp3 player will play 700MB CDR discs just fine, both CD audio and mp3 formats. I am using Exact Audio Copy with LAME.exe as the encoder and Nero 6 as the burning software to make my mp3s. This uses VBR and it works OK. I'm pretty new to the mp3 scene, so if anyone has a better way of making mp3 discs (quality preferred over quantity) I would like to hear it. Maybe there is a faster way.

 

Im sure its here but i have tried to search, how much is the MP3 unit? Thanks

 

If you are interested in quality MP3's, then stay away from VBR - Variable Bit Rate. That is used to conserve HD space and not audio quality. Record your MP3's at 192KBits Per Second, at that quality you'll have a hard time noticing from the real thing (unless your some obsessed audiophile ******).

Enjoy the MP3 player!

 

Trussville Mazda (www.trussvillemazda.com) sells them for $267.60 plus shipping. They usually have them in stock and ship right away. I'm sure other dealers have them too, but I don't know of any.

 

Well, LAME has several quality settings and I am using the highest one. Minimum bit rate is 128kbps and it goes up to 320kbps. As I watch the encoding progress is is usually about 200kbps more or less, so I suppose I'm getting about the same quality. I will try a fixed bit rate, though. Thanks for the tip.

I'm not a REAL audiophile, though I do get pretty nit-picky on music files that are to be archived -- those have to be compressed in a lossless format. I use shn for those. In a car, you're not in an ideal listening environment anyway -- but late model cars have pretty good sound systems in them! Like the one in the 8.

 

can anyone tell me,... do they have a 6 disk version of the mp3 player or is that only a single disk option?

 

No, the MP3 player is a single-disk unit. But it can hold far more music than six audio CD's.

 

thanks im gonna order one!

 

I got my unit today, and installed it in about an hour.

My stock HU pulled right out, and there was plenty of room to reach behind and take the connectors/antenna out.

Most of the time was figuring out how to get the stock unit separated from the housing. Then I realized you have to take ALL the red screws out... duh!

Mine shows the tags for the mp3's.

On another note, anyone know how to combine mutiple tracks into a single large mp3 with no space (compilation cd's)??

 

Yes.

Oh, you want to know how.:D

Use any audio editing software that will accept mp3 files and do the "Cut 'n Paste Tango."

Open "file_1.mp3" and then copy it to the cliboard.

Clear "file_1.mp3" from the program.

Open a new file.

Paste "file_1.mp3" into the new file and save the result as "my_bitchin'_collection.mp3"

Load "file_2.mp3" and then copy it to the cliboard.

Clear "file_2.mp3" from the program.

Open "my_bitchin'_collection.mp3" (if it's not already opened)

Paste "file_2.mp3" into "my_bitchin'_collection.mp3" right after the end of "file_1.mp3" and save "my_bitchin'_collection.mp3" again.

You now have a single mp3 file (my_bitchin'_collection.mp3) that contains two pieces of music (file_1.mp3 and file_2.mp3).

Repeat as needed.

 

Adding to my previous post:
The procedure I posted will work for any audio files from any source, but it is time-consuming!

If you want to use CDs as your source, the CD ripper available at http://www.dbpoweramp.com/ has a "rip as one track" option.
The ripper is part of the file converter which also works as a stand-alone and is freeware! They have a burner that is shareware, will burn audio CDs and mp3 CDs, and is pretty cheap to register! It's a pretty good package.

 

Or just when you go to burn the CD, remove the blank spaces between songs. Default is usually 2 seconds. This way you cans till scan the songs easy, yet have no empty spots.

 

The problem with that is the fact that the Mazda mp3 player pauses between tracks. It does this even when there are no blank spaces burned between songs. It only does this on mp3 discs; "normal" audio CDs don't pause between tracks unless a blank space is burned into the disc.

 

Thank Bob! I give it a try tonight, but I have to re-install XP on the main computer

Don't worry, it's the only windows computer in the house (for work compat reasons).