sojah

iTrader: (1)

i just ordered the vaistech vml thing and a 250gb hard drive from newegg all for $350. so after i get this stuff and get it installed i will basically have a fully integrated hard drive in my factory nav cd screen thing that works right through the cd functions by hitting the cd button twice to go into mp3 mode and they say the sound quality is as good as the cd... i'm gonna dump the satellite radio crap and move all my music onto this new 250 gb drive and have it readily available all from the comfort of my car.

i guess i just never researched it much before but i found out about this like 4 days ago and already ordered it. i had always thought i needed an ipod and all that crap associated i.e. igarbage i mean itunes and have to play it through the player with some degraded sound quality. but after looking at the screen shots on the vaistech page it will look pretty much like a stock mp3/hdd is installed right into my audio options stuff like the tape/cd/sat/am.fm just like the new ones are i think. all for around $350 which is a lot less than these aftermarket flip up touch screen hdd head units i had thought about purchasing in the past that go for like $1200-2200+, man if this sound quality is just as good as cd i'm gonna be one happy dude... i'll let you guys know how kick *** it is next week when i get it up and running.

anyone else running one of these currently??

oh and will this allow me to bypass the 'i agree' screen???

hulla

I have one but I just use 8gb usb sticks. A 250gb hard drive is too much for our generation nav. If you load 250gb of music, it will be too hard to find the specific song or album you want to hear. It will be a lot like having a 400 cd changer. Each time you press a button to skip the folder, there is a 3-5 second pause before you can hear anything or read track info. With the newer nav system, you see the folder names in a list and select the the one you want.

If I had to do it again, I would look into the ipod solutions more in depth.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

hmm, so it said you could have something like only 999 files (mp3's) in a folder so i guess i would name something like reggae1 reggae2 reggae3 and so on for my musical preferences. do the folders show up in like alphabetical order off of root??? so you would have like root, then say 5 different genre folders like reggae rap r&b dancehall techno in the root and within those folders you could have like reggae1 reggae2 reggae3, within techno you could have like d&b, jungle, break beats, etc... right?? if this is the case i've already got gigs of music set up like this, it just sucks for a set up like this to be put into itunes...

how do you like the sound quality of yours, is it close to cd quality or closer to satelite quality ???

hulla

The frustrating this is that you don't get to see the folder list. It is not like the gen 5 nav systems. It is a lot like have a cd changer except that you can see song info once a song starts playing.

As far as the folder order, that is something kind of weird too. It is not alphabetical. I am not sure how it picks the order of the folders. I think that if you need the folder order a certain way, then you have to make m3u playlists. I don't bother doing this.

Anyway, it sounds like you are not planning on having many folders. Sounds like you will just set it on random play within a reggae folder. That sounds very doable. But if you want to listen to a certain Bob Marley album and have 400 albums on your hard drive, then you won't have much luck finding it before your commute is done.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

^ ^ ^ damn that is pretty crappy. i sorta wanted to do both. i have tons of mp3's singles and tons of albums, and if i can't see the name of the folder than whats the point??

i guess i'll call them up on monday and if they can't splain it to me in a way that makes sense for me then i'll just cancel the order. oh well sounded a little to good to be true.

jayclapp

I don't know your car or then actual Vaistech unit you have ordered. A week ago I installed a Vaistech LS2Vi in my 04 LS430 UL. Absolutely love it.

I purchased a 120GB iPod Classic (I'm a Mac user) and installed it in my glove box. You seem to have an aversion to iTunes, bit it answers most all the concerns others have voiced. I import my CDs in iTunes, create a playlist (a folder that you name), and import the music into it. I get the same quality as the CD. I name each playlist folder by musician-album name. iTunes then lists the playlists alphabetically. You can create a playlist folder and imports various singles into it, as much as you want, expcept the LS2Vi will not play if there are more than 99 songs in a single playlist.

When i connect my iPod to iTunes, it will display all items in my iTunes playlist. It will then import playlist that you check or all if you choose. I share my computer somewhat with my grandson, so I don't check his music! I have 60 albums on my iPod (22GB or so). After plugging it into the car, I virtually forget it until I want to add more music.

When I select MD in my audio I get the screen that displays the disk number (my playlist number, which is my music in alphabetic order). The nav screen will show the artist and album name and the name of the song being played. I can change the songs and albums from either the steering wheel or from the dash. From the nav screen you can go directly to any of the first 12 albums. Beyond that you can advance forward by each album with the artist and album being shown. Very easy to scan upward rather quickly.

Now, for finding a particular album I use the following technique. I created a list of the album in excel, entering the albums in sequence just as listed in the iTunes playlist (which is the same sequence as on the iPod). Print this out and you have a listing of your music by disc number. Keep this index in you car. You only have to generate this list initially.

When you add music to your iTunes playlist each new addition is incorporated alphabetically. As you add new music, add that to the excel list and sort alphabetically. Your new song is inserted in the same numbering as in your iPod. Print out a new index each time you add new songs. Actually very simple and easy.

The SL2Vi will turn you iPod on when the car starts and shut it off when you turn it off. It will charge the iPod while the car is running. You don't have to touch it and it remain nicely hidden in the glove box (I got the black unit and added a black silicon sleeve so it would slide and put it on the shelf. It almost disappears against all the black flocking in the glovebox.

Also, mostly for light entertainment, the iPod can accept videos and movies and the SL2Vi will play them on your nav screen if he car is stopped and the parking brake is on. I converted a 8mm camcorder to digital, converted it to be compatible with iTunes and used it as a test for video.

Oh yes, the unit pressed the annoying "I Agree" after a few seconds to allow you to read it.

I basically upgraded my audio system while installing a 120GB hard drive. A wonderful toy! Hope you can enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

damn, so i just canceled my hdd order and the vaistech vml order, but now i'm considering the sl2vi ipod route.

i have something like 1000 cd's all on an external comp hd and something like another 5000 mp3's/ song singles. a few of the singles are repeats and can be found on the actual albums but i have a ton of dj mixes that are only in mp3 song format and cannot be found on any album. i don't know how much of a hassle it would be to convert all of these into play lists especially since my favorite genre folder currently consists of about 2400 songs? that means i would have to create a different play list for every 99 files/ songs?? and what about albums, how long would it take to put 1000 albums (considering they all fit) onto the itunes thing? i would say i would be apt to listen to probably about 40% at any given time so yes this 1000 could probably be trimmed down to about 500 or so. if i just put my favorite everyday listening genre of reggae/ dancehall i would have at least 250 cd's/ albums right there.

i just thought it would be so perfect to be able to copy my root music folder which contains all of this music to another 250gb hd and be able to browse and play it like i was sitting at my computer from my car. i guess this was just a dream though

jayclapp

iTunes has three major areas: Library, Store, and Playlists.

You can import virtually anything to iTunes that is connected to your computer. That includes external hard drives. It will import to the "Library". Areas in the Library include: Music, Movies, TV Shows,etc.

When you import to Music area it will list every song individually in an album. I believe this is the only place where the actual import is kept and the music will show up in a long continuous list where you can sort bby Artist, Album, Genre, etc. You select what you want to import and it will buzz away until done. A CD will take be a minute or two.

Playlists are basically folders that you create, name and import music that you want. It is displayed alphabetically. You add music to each playlist by selecting music from the Library (which is displayed adjacent to the Playlist column. You just drag the selected music to the chosen playlist you have generated. Instantly it is in the playlist (I think it actually creates aliases which then direct it back to the original in the Library). When you select a playlist you have the option to burn a CD.

I think you could import your entire music contents from an external hard drive with almost a single command and walk away and come back later after it is complete. You should find all your music in the Library. Of course your computer must have space to accept this.

At this point you would want to sort and categorize your music into playlists that you could recognize and contain more than one and less than 99 songs (the SL2Vi will not recognize a folder or playlist with only one song). You don't have to do all this at one time. You can a few and even transfer them to an iPod to see if all is like you want.

Transferring to an iPod is easy. When you connect to your computer you will see another category display in iTunes: DEVICES. Your iPod as you named it will appear as an icon in this list. Clicking this icon will bring up the window to handle your iPod. Selecting the "Music" tab will then display a copy of your playlist that you have generated. You can choose to "All songs and playlists" or "Selected playlists". You check a box by each playlist if you don't want everything in you playlist. Click Sync and it will transfer. If you are attaching an existing iPod than has music you have previously transferred, it will show that playlist with the boxes already checked. To add new music just check the new albums and it will transfer only those and add to your iPod.

All of this is much simpler than it sounds. For instance, I have never used an iPod until I purchased the SL2Vi unit last week. I have begun to lose my hearing somewhat and wear hearing aids. That means iPods with earphones don't work out very well with hearing aids. But I do love music and with a really good sound system in the LS430 and being very quiet I am able to enjoy music like never before. So I have been making copies of CDs since getting my SC400 in 1992 and playing them in that car. I habitually copy a new CD into iTunes and burn a copy to leave in a hot car.

Also know that I am not selling Macs. I learned on a Mac in 1989 when our Engineering Department installed Macs for us to use. Years later they went to PCs but I never liked them and to this day don't understand how to use a PC.

Hope I haven't bored or insulted you with unless info that you neither wanted nor needed. Just trying to respond to you questions.

hulla

Sounds like the ipod system is not very different from the multimedialinq hard drive based system. You can print out a list of albums for the multimedialinq also.

Printed paper lists are something I wanted to avoid. Kind of like carrying a paper map to use with the nav system.

I thought the advantage of the ipod would be in using the ipod screen to quickly find the album you want to play. But you say it is plays the next folder very quickly, so maybe it is better in this regard. The multimedialinq (using a usb stick), is not any faster than a cd disc changer when moving up to the next album.

Anyway, I am still happy with the multimedialinq. Better than being limited to 6 discs in a changer.

jayclapp

With the iPod on the SL2Vi you can roll thru the albums as quickly as you can hit the DISC button on the dash. When you stop the first song in the album will be playing and the artist/album and song title will be displayed. You can rather easily find what you're looking for if your playlist is alphabetic. Say you're on Disc (Album) 1 and you have 200 albums stored on the iPod. You want to listen to something that starts with the letter J. You just roll thru to DISC 100 and you instantly know where you are. You will have some familiarity with what's in you iPod and can the either advance of go back as needed. You don't really need a printed list, but it's a handy reference to remind yourself as to what you have on the iPod.

It is incredibly faster than the CD changer because it's electronic and doesn't have to wait for the mechanical movement of the changed from disc to disc.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

sounds like ipod was the way to go, to bad i despise i products. maybe i'll revisit this later on.

vaistech canceled the order no problem, and newegg is charging a 11$ restocking fee, mehhh, 11$ for a lesson, could be worse.

thanks for all the input.