claude4

I have decided to go with the MP3 player in my RX8 and have read numerous posts herein about it, Including the wonderful self installation posted elsewhere on this forum.

Why does this thing cost $345?

My $19 CD-ROM player in my PC does what this does and it seems that the only difference between the stock Bose and the MP3 player is a swap of the CD drive unit. What am I missing here?

Anyone care to make me feel better on the cost of this?

Thanks,

Claude H.

Spin9k

Welcome to capitalism.... and hopefully THANKS to capitalism, if you wait a little while, others manufactures will notice the price gouging and offer suitable reasonable 3rd party units.

Congrats on your new toy... err... I mean family car!

jtimbck2

You can get it online for $267.60 and install it yourself. See http://www.trussvillemazda.com and search elsewhere in this forum for more info.

Genom

Actually it's not that simple. The CD-ROM in your PC just reads data off the discs, nothing else. The PC then takes that highly compressed mp3 data, process is and sends it off to the sound card for aplification and playout.

The standard CD player reads the standard audio data, send it to the amplifier and you ned up hearing music. Now an MP3 player has to be smarter than that. It needs to be able to read the ISO9661 data on the CD, read the file names and ID3 tags, be able to recognize folders on the CD, then read this highly compressed data, uncompress it on the fly, and THEN send it off to the amp and the rest of it.

The price IS high, yes. A MP3 player circuit board can be made for under 40 bucks now'a'days, so it IS capitalism at it's best, but thats the reason an MP3 player will be more expensive than a regular one.

ProtoConVert

As much as we live in a democracy... I wonder if Mazda can use DMCA to prevent 3rd party manufacturers from programming the display or something like that.

Kuf

While I'm tempted to get the MP3 player, I'm holding out in hopes that pioneer, sony or another name brand manufacturer comes up with a new head unit for the 8.

Why do they charge so much? Because they can. Right now, they're the only game in town.

claude4

Would a Pionner or the like be fully functional in an RX8?

How long would it possibly take for a competitor to come out with an MP3 player?

Thanks,

Claude H.

Kuf

This is pure speculation, but someone might come up with a custom harness and new dash panel to hold a regular DIN ( I think din is the standard size???? correct me if i'm wrong) size stereo. Most likely it will be some custom audio installler that will do it first. I'm just hoping they sell it to the public :D

RX8by

I am thinking of getting the M3 player or a 6CD changer. Is the M3 player better to use on a daily bases? I have all the computer equipment to produce them.

Kawi

How does 135 songs on a single disc sound? So yes, it's great for daily use.

For the sake of argument lets say a standard CD comes with 12 tracks. So at most you'd get 72 songs over 6 discs. But instead all you need is one disc and put twice as much music on it. Given of course the bitrate you save the MP3s at. Higher bit rate means larger file size so the fewer files you can store on a disc. So your mileage may vary. Oh, not to mention the disc changer actually costs more than the MP3 player at the Trussville site.

Gamera

Don't forget that with the MP3 player the filename/ID3 tags (v1 only) show up on the LED display, very cool . And with the existing Bose speakers/amp, the quality of MP3s (at 192 kbs or so) is virtually identical to the original CD. There is some delay when initially reading each folder, but probably not much worse than the physical disc switching by the changer.

bureau13

I don't see how...there's nothing in there that is using encryption as far as I know, and I don't think law, lame and vague though it is, has or could be used simply to protect an interface spec. Furthermore, Mazda should welcome the aftermarket. How is it not obvious that having aftermarket companies making extra toys for the vehicles they produce, thereby providing free advertising as well as making those vehicles more attractive, is a good thing for Mazda? Surely they don't really plan on making all their profits off their own rather lame set of audio accessories? I mean...having an available MP3 player is great...nice work Mazda, its about damned time...but it in now way is state of the art or good enough for many of the people out there who are into car audio.

jds

RX8by

I decided to go with the Mps player. I went to my local dealer parts dept. and quoted the price from Trussville,Tx. He said he would match it $260.00 + tax. They are Rosen Mazda of Lake Villa, ILL. They seem to really willing to deal.