Why couldn't MB think of this first.

http://www.apple.com/ipod/bmw/


Does anyone have another way to hook up their iPod to their MB without using that itrip thing? I heard that the iTrip doesn't sound that good. Am I wrong?

 

............Mercedes has always been atagonistic to ant type of aftermarket integration with their cars. I think it is stupid and not forwardthinking and will cost them sales. Even now, you get looked at with dissapproving eye if you take you car to an Mb dealer and he/she notices that you have aftermarket rims. Mb is slow to realize that their clientele is changing. They keep thinking that only men over sixty who don't know what i-pod are the only ones that can afford a mercedes............WRONG!!


Ted

 

No, MB is just not too keen to move that much downmarket. MP3 is a crappy sound format (read: budget). It does not have anything above 14 kHz. This is hardly a feature of a high-end sound system.

 

Hey, don't slam us over-60 guys. Well, actually right at 60 in my case. I've been upgrading audio systems and automobiles ever since I built my first amplifier and tuner when I was 14. I totally agree with your comments.

I design computer networks. It is no accident that you can take almost any computer built by any manufacturer and plug it into almost any network almost anywhere in the world and connect. All it takes is interoperability standards and modularity.

MB needs to get with the program and move into the 21st century.

 

I have to agree with Vadim re MP3. I don't expect audiophile sound in my car but I would like something better than MP3. I don't think it is too much to ask for MB to enable us to integrate our source with COMAND, NAV, and steering wheel controls whether we choose iPod, Rio, Creative, any PDA, or something else

 

The car is the worst place for audiophiles, you get engine noise, road noise, back seat drivers etc etc...

So the lower quality of MP3s are actually very well suited to this environment.

MB IMO has always been very very conservative.

 

"The car is the worst place for audiophiles" Bingo!! But, I still say that we can do better than MP3, even in the car. For one thing, I listen to FLAC encoded music on my Rio while on an airplane (much noisier than a car) with Bose Quiet Comfort II noise reducing headphones. I'd like to be able to access the Rio through COMAND while I'm driving to and from the airport or on a long drive. Plus, the E is so quiet that you can actually enjoy music. It may not be audiophile quality but it doesn't have to be low-end MP3, either.

 

For the record, iPod supports AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps) audio formats, as well as a new one they call "Apple lossless." Rip a CD using AAC at 160 kbps at 44.100 or 48.000 kHz sampling rate and you'll hear very high quality sound. Well worth connecting the iPod to you command using the Aux input and stereo mini cable.

 

Why would I need to do that? I have my CDs and 3 changer magazines handy.

Besides, although it indeed is possible to encode sound in MP3 using high bitrates, that would blow up the size of the file (and sampling rates over 44.1kHz are pointless since that's the sampling rate of the CD-DA format that CDs use).

MP3 format gained its popularity due to ~10x size compression that made it possible to download songs over the internet. That's the way the overlwhelming majority of MP3 files going around are encoded (96-128kbps). And those sound like crap.

 

We're kinda getting off topic here and I'll take some of the blame for that but this is an MB forum, not audiophile. IMO, MB should be moving toward open systems and full integration. Many of their decisions in the past have been toward proprietary systems and limited integration unless you buy in to their solution. They have ended up with a hodge-podge which nobody could possibly manage. I read some of these threads and am totally bewildered because you have to know which model, which year, which month of build, which phase of the moon, da-da-da-da. Some models have universal wiring harnesses, some have no harnesses, some have harnesses that work for some electronics but not others; some functions are integrated into one electronic device in one model but are scattered among several devices in another; you can retrofit certain functionality into some previous model years of some models but not others and probably not into the current model year.

C'mon, this is no way to run a railroad. Actually, maybe that's the problem. I remember one of my college history professors saying that before Bismarck, the Germans had over 30 different railroad gauges so it was impossible to travel from one part of the country (well, it wasn't a country then but you get my drift) to another without changing carriages several times. Perhaps a descendent of one of those railroad engineers is in charge of electronics in Sindelfingen.

All I want to do is to be able plug in my various devices and access them through the steering wheel controls. They can do that in Germany, why not the US. Maybe this is their way of getting back at us because of Iraq.

 

You might not need to do that.

But some newer Mercedes have CD changers that don't have cartridges, and it can take 5-10 minutes just to change all your CDs. When I'm on a long drive, the iPod is easier, and it would be even easier if it were integrated into my steering wheel controls.

-s-

 

When was the internet and TCP/IP developed? Early 70s. When did IBM come out with the PC? Early 80s. When did it become easy to connect the two? 1995.

All it really takes is TIME.

Although the iPod is not yet a standard, it is headed towards being a defacto one. Then I guess we just wait 15 years and if it holds its status that long, we will be able to connect it easily.

-s-

 

I have one of those cartridge-less changers and you're right about the time it takes to change CDs. I would buy an iPod if it were to be integrated into the steering wheel controls. I haven't tried my Rio in the AUX input yet but I have to admit that I'm nervous about having to open the glovebox, pull out the Rio, and fumble with the buttons whenever I want to change a track while still watching out for all the other idiots on the interstate.

 

15 Years!!! In 15 years, iPods will be shown on Antiques Roadshow as some curious early 21st century audio device -- primitive in its functionality but elegant in its styling and mass market appeal. Since most will have been well-worn by their users, they will have one on the show in pristine condition that belonged to some old fart who couldn't figure out how to use it.

Seriously, think about how fast the A/V and data systems technologies change. In less than 10 years -- DVD, digital cable television, recordable CDs, broadband network access in the home, the Internet (actually deployed to the general public in the early 1990s although it was available to the military as ARPANET before then), cell phones, universal email, UPCs so your grocery store can use optical scanners, wide-spread deployment of fiber optic based digital networks, check cards, RFID devices, GPS, the list goes on and on. Who knows what technologies will be available even 5 years from now? The only way to deal with it is to develop interoperability standards and modular system designs -- and even that will not enable easy exploitation of all new technologies but at least it will make to easier to provide users with most of what they are demanding.

 

Yeah, the downside of all this is clearly seen already: all cars on the road will be tracked - and remotely controlled - 24/7, no matter where you are. Bye-bye, spirited driving! Road signs will be enforcing speed limits upon every car in their reach... Hackers will be paid to disable these clever electronics... Endless fun...

 

1995 ? I had visions of 1989-1991. That's when I got my first FIDO address and was getting email from ther internet. At first I never knew anyone overseas. SO I had no idea if it would work.

 

I believe I wrote (yes, I did) that TCP/IP and the Internet... FIDOmail has nothing to do with that. However hooking a PC up to TCP/IP was a disastrous affair consisting of 3rd party network software. Windows 95 made it easy, which is what I said.

I guess I meant for me; I am sure it was easy for you when the Internet was created! I should have been more clear, I apologize.

-s-

 

With RFID, they'll even be able to tell if you modified your vehicle. Big Brother is alive and well.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vadim
[B]Why would I need to do that? I have my CDs and 3 changer magazines handy.

3 magazines?! I have 20 Gig of music on my pod. If I were to keep all that music I would have a back seat full of CD's. You can keep all your CD's at home, safe, while you still have all your music. I don't think that MP3 quality is as bad as it sounds when you are in the car. Even while I'm at the gym with headphones on, the MP3's don't sound that bad. The majority of new music is mixed like crap anyway. White stripes used all recording equip from the 70's. You can't find a high end audio setup that can make that recording sound good. I guess I have to get one of those iTrips.

 

iTrip has had mixed reviews. In cities with lots of FM radio stations, it can be hard, sometimes impossible to find a frequency that will work. In other cases, the trip from the iTrip to your car's outdoor antenna is sometimes blocked by metal or special glass making reception poor. Others say they love it.

My advice is to be sure you can return it if it doesn't work well in your situation.

I'm assuming you don't have an E Class with and AUX input. That, of course, is the best way to get the sound into your command system.

Good luck

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mass_W203
[B] Exactly my point. 128kbps MP3 probably sounds ok through headphones in a gym, but I sure can hear the difference in a car (unless it is drum-and-bass music, which I don't listen to). That's the reason I prefer CDs.

How many CDs is 20Gb equivalent to? If you indeed use high bitrates, that would probably give you 50-60 albums? Well, I have several thousand CDs in my collection. Ripping a CD takes longer than sticking it into a magazine.

 

And how does that compare when the changer is in the trunk? I too am an audiophile but I can't get past the sheer convenience of mass storage devices for music collections. Hard drive space is only getting larger so the ability for someone to store their entire collection on a HDD, regardless of the size of the collection and even in a lossless format, is becoming more and more a reality.

When I'm on the road, my ear is more forgiving. If not, I would never be able to tolerate the stock Bose system, CD source or otherwise. My guess is that most owners are the same way.

Do MP3s sound as good even at higher bitrates? No, but there is a huge trade-off I get with an MP3 collection encoded at something like 192. For one thing I can take my entire collection with me. Most of my CDs are not CD-Text enabled so artist, album and track info isn't available when they are played back in the car. I can't create a custom playlist with CDs in the car unless I want to burn discs ahead of time and that limits me to a maximum of 20 songs or so. If I want to switch albums, the switch is many times faster with an MP3 device (and that's assuming the desired album is either alreayd loaded or available in another magazine ready to go - which still doesn't help current S-Class owners who have changers in the trunk).

For all these reasons and more, integration with portable music devices is a smart idea. By the way, that's coming from someone who has a COMAND system which supports MP3 disc playback. Although not documented, the system will also play back MP3 encoded DVDs. It works ok but there are few hiccups, some of which are pretty frustrating. If anyone's interested in my findings, do a search for my posts on the subject from a few months back and there's more than enoug info to be had.

 

I am not against convenience, don't get me wrong. It's just all that hype about MP3 that makes me cringe. I would sure like to be able to download an entire CD in a lossless format right from my home computer to my car's 10TB hard drive over a WiFi link for it to stay there forever - but we are not there yet.

 

I may not have it quite right but as I recall, a 20GB player is promoted as able to hold 10,000 songs (using MP3) which would equate to about 500 CD's. Using a CD quality encoding protocol would half that. Even so, 250 CD's ain't bad for a device which is smaller than a deck of cards. You can also get players with much higher capacity.

With the Rio software, I can rip a CD in a few minutes. It is probably driven as much by the speed of your processor, amount of RAM, motherboard bus speed, type of connection (Ethernet or USB), etc as anything else

 

ipod is up to 40GB now - so the arguement for mass-storage is that much stronger. i'm guessing MB won't intergrate with the ipod just to avoid looking like they're a couple steps behind BMW. Maybe MB will suprise us and build a large hard drive into future models. and maybe the new s class will have wings too.

vince