Yeah, just like the nav system -- it talks to you and tells you what difectory you are in or what track you have selected. The actual input from the driver is by buttons on the HU or steering wheel. The Neo does the same thing except for not having the HU or steering wheel controls -- instead you use a wired remote, but it talks to you just like the Phatbox.

Ogg/vorbis is a codec that makes files of comparable quality to mp3 but smaller (or the same size but higher quality). I decided to go with mp3 at a higher bitrate (192KBps) since hard drives are cheap and the NEO doesn't do OGG and can't without a major hardware change. The other advantage of ogg/vorbis is that it is innately gapless for playback; mp3 isn't unless you use the LAME encoder, and most players don't do gapless mp3 even if you use LAME.

 

bobclevenger:
Could you please explain gapless mp3 to us? It is just no silence between songs?

 

If someone will be purchasing an iPod just for this setup, there is an advantage that they can use the iPod as a portable device (as it was originally designed). Whether this person goes ahead and uses this on a regular basis, or just on occasion. There is also a bit more availability, especially with second-hand of iPods.

---jps

 

Speaking for myself, I would never take the iPod out of the car. The only advantage I see to the iPod is price. The disadvantages are that it has to be mounted in a conspicuous location (which exposes the unit and the connection to damage) and lack of integration.

 

Exactly. There is NO silence between tracks that isn't on the track.

So "normal" tracks have the same 2 second gap between them that was on the original CD (or LP, tape, whatever) unless you choose to remove it when ripping, but "special" tracks that were recorded without gaps play back exactly the way they were recorded.

Think about live recordings that segué from one song to the next without stopping, or about classical recordings where movement 1 goes right into movement 2. Gaps between tracks are really annoying on these kind of recordings.

 

Gotcha, thanks.
BTW: I put the Kenwood Music Keg into my Altima to get a feel for PhatNoise products. So far, it works GREAT! Sure would like it for the RX-8 as well. All seems silent from my searches here and at

http://www.phatnoise.com/forum/index.php

 

Yeah, I have a sneaky suspicion that Phatnoise isn't going to release anything for the RX-8 until the '05s are out. And their unit might still require ver. 9.55 or later (peerhaps even 9.67 or later).

BTW, I'm trying to figure a way to semi-integrate my Archos AV420 into my RX-8 audio/video system. Getting it to play and display the video on the nav screen is no sweat. I'm trying to make the switching between DVD player and AV420 more automatic. Integrating the HU and steeringwheel controls is beyond my abilities, I'm afraid.

The good news for those who have or will be getting the new iPod Photo is that what I'm doing will work with that, and the icelink setup provides the control integration.

 

If you rarely intend to remove the iPod out of the car (I assume that you would do so to load more songs), then you don't have to mount it in a consipicuous location.

---jps

 

If song info is not displayed on the HU, how do you navigate thru your music if the iPod is mounted out of sight?

 

I believe the Icelink unit displays track info on the HU. I hope someone who has one will confirm or correct this info.

What I'm thinking about is the iPod Photo. Run the video output to the nav screen and see the whole display on it!

 

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...9&postcount=32

 

Thanks Gheist, I remembered wrong.
But the iPod Photo connected to the nav screen would have that info nicely visible -- have to work on that. Of course you'd have to access the iPod itself to use the menus, but that's not a big deal.

 

Sorry for the slow reply - don't frequent this forum as often as I used to.

I don't think the Mazda product is officially released yet. Despite the press release you might have seen, there's no official announcement on their webpage and they haven't started selling it yet. I guess it's still in beta

While I can't comment on the Mazda version of the Phatbox, I can say that the Audi product (which I have in my other car) is excellent and I think it's a great purchase. I wanted something that would let me keep the nicely integrated stock head unit. I didn't want to have to replace head units/speakers/amps/etc, and I also wanted something more elegant than just hanging a portable player in a cradle. With the Phatbox, I can navigate around my MP3 collection using the stock head unit controls and their voice prompts. A great product. I have no idea what the Mazda pricing will be when it finally gets released, but the Audi product with a 20GB cartridge is now down to $400.

 

Thanks nash,
I've been keeping up on the Phatbox progress. They have several press releases out that seem to refer to a new product --- probably set to coincide with the '05 model year. I'm hoping that the Mazda unit will debut at the same time.

 

Both the '05 RX-8 & Accessories brochures list PhatNoise.

Check the Mazda website.

 

Cool! Goin' there to check it out right now.

 

I am currently running my iPod in my 8 using a Monster fm modulator, and am definitely considering purchasing an IceLink. I recently heard that Monster is releasing a new product called iCruise that not only allows playing the iPod through the steering wheel controls, but also displays artist and track info on the Head Units' display.
I am gonna wait to see if iCruise will work with Mazda head unit and HU, else I'm getting the IceLink.

 

Just wanted to confirm that my Icelink - which works beautifully with my steering wheel controls and pipes some great sound does not display song information on the HU. In fact it has an issue where the time for each track resets ever 10 s though the tracks plays fine. Also Scan FF and scan REW also works fine if you want to scan through the track rather than switch tracks - This only works directly off the HU buttons though, not the steering wheel.

 

Do the steering wheel controls allow you to scan through the track rather than switch tracks when you are playing a CD in the head unit? Or does it work similarly to how it works for the interface?

---jps

 

I think the PhatNoise system is a good idea- it's not THAT much more costly than the six disc changer option, and you get to eliminate carrying hard media in the car, which I think is great. I lug a "book" of about 40 CD's with me as it is. I think this is where the future is headed- and the music shouldn't skip on a bumpy road.......

 

Its a computer hard drive, the day it "skips" is the day you loose ALL your music
computer hard drives dont like bumpy roads and PhatNoise mounts in the trunk (right next to the tire wheel well)
I agree, this is the future but I dont think its perfect yet.

 

I don't have phatnoise but that oversimplifies things regarding a computer HD...

true a large bump can damage a platter BUTT...only the song (s) that are in the damaged region are affected...the error correcting on the drive will by pass these sections...a simple way to keep things safe is rubber gromets where you mount...the Phatnoise I'm sure has this built in...but for DIY you can use it

 

Note that the PhatNoise units (and the Kenwood Music Kegs) use 2.5" laptop drives which are more resistant to jarring than standard desktop drives.
The NEO 35 that I have uses a standard 3.5" desktop drive and I have had no problems with it. Of course i don't go off-roading in my 8 much.

 

According to the troubleshooting section of the PhatNoise website, the system NEVER skips, thanks to buffering, and internal damping.

 

Anyone who claims their product NEVER has a problem is lying.