Japan8

I was just wondering how these have worked out for people in general (not necessarily in the 8 only). Particularly the HDD based ones that offer 20-40 gigs of space... have you had any problems with the drive failing due to vibration and jarring?

G8rboy

I've had an RCA Lyra 40gb for a couple months- it lives in my RX-8's center console. No problems from vibrations or anything else. Once I got my mp3 collection cleaned up and re-tagged, this thing is like gold. So far I have about 4000 songs on it, so I'm still less than half full.

zerobanger

I had 2 Archos 20 Gig Mp3 players. my first one died after 15 days and I returned it. It died. I bought another it was RMA's 3 times and after I got it back it died again. Was not related to jarring in the car, Archos are POS.

I recently bought the 1.5 Gig Rio. Its very, very small. Doesn't have alot of space but considering its tiny and fits anywhere its worth it to me.

AutoBahnRX8

I'm using a Nomad Jukebox 3 (60 Gigs) and love it. I'm using a wireless FM modulator for now, but keeping my fingers crossed for an aux. input. No problems as far as skipping, and the player fits perfect in the console. The only problem is that I forget to turn it off when I leave the car sometimes. Thank God for dual lithium-ion batteries!

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

I use a Neo car jukebox in my Probe GT, which has a regular 20 GB Maxtor desktop hard drive. No problems whatsoever during the last 18 months I had it. This jukebox will be transferred into the RX-8 once OverLOAD is done with the aux input module.
Other than that, I had an 20 GB Archos Jukebox Recorder (a.k.a. POS by zerobanger :p) for over a year which got recently stolen. So I bought a new one. Contrary to what was said about Archos, I had zero problem with mine...

Japan8

So it seems no one has any problems with units running a desktop HDD or laptop HDD... cool.

OverLOAD

I think that the most G's you'll ever see in the car is 2 or 3G's. Not that substantial. Most desktop hard drives are rated to withstand at least 3G's operational, and some laptop drives are rated as high as 10G's. For a while, I ran a Bigfoot 5 1/4" Hard drive inside a complete mini-desktop computer in the trunk of my MX-3. Four months later it was still just fine..

OverLOAD

Japan8

Thanks for the info overload. I was curious because of a couple projects on my mind... as I've never used a HDD based device in a car before, I was wondering how it held up to the shocks, etc.

Thanks everyone else for your info as well!

kratley

I have a Nomad Jukebox 3 hardwired into my CD head unit and I love it. The sound is wonderful. Everything about it is absolutely great except I haven't settled on a good place to keep it. Most use the cup holder area, but I want to keep that for drinks. I already have a wireless remote for it that I use when I sit on the dash, but I'll probably end up keeping it in the storage area behind the cup holders and buy the wired remote to control it.

jtimbck2

Just curious kratley, how do you have it hardwired in?

JSE RX-8

i have an Ipod and i just the FM transmitter. there is the ITrip and another transmitter by Belkin. just tune to the radio station and its 7500 songs at ur fingertips lol

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Yeah - just one problem: the sound quality SUCKS.

JSE RX-8

not if you find a good station. i have found a handful of stations where the sound quality is excellent

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Well, what I meant is rather: there is absolutely NO way that any FM transmitter's sound would satisfy me. They don't even reach the sound quality of the hard-wired FM modulators and for me, even those are bad.
I clearly hear the difference between an MP3 encoded with 128 vs. 160 or 192. Many people can't tell the difference and the tracks with 128 are perfect for them.
But, if the sound is fine for you, then more power to you :D
After all, this is all what matters for every person.

Japan8

You mean most people can't tell the difference between 128, 160 and 192 bit MP3's?! I didn't realize this... the difference was pretty glaring to me. If I am ripping and encoding myself, it's alwaya 192. So I'm with you... FM transmitters and tape adpaters are NG...

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

I didn't say "most"... I said "many"
Yes, I have met several people who didn't really hear that glaring difference between a 128 bit vs. 192 bit-encoded MP3 - or even if they heard some difference, they didn't care. For them, an FM modulator will probably be OK :p

Japan8

Oh.. my bad. But you are right... those who can't hear a difference or don't care will be happy with just an FM modulator...