I'm taking the plunge after being seduced by the prices on www.incar-discount.co.uk (very helpful by the way, they actually answer e.mails!) and being shamed by the sound in my wifes stock Polo. They have the Kenwood KDC-M4524 MP3 on offer for

Rich,

First thing, dont worry, the job is relatively straightforward

Forget the PC2-69-4 adaptor, it doesnt come with the Active aerial adaptor (trust me, i know..i bought one from Halfords)

Go here for a proper Blaupunkt VW Adaptor.

http://www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/vw.asp (

Good choice, Rich. That M4524 is a very recent addition to Kenwood's MP3 spectrum, isn't it? Does it also have the switchback front?

And the price looks good too. Cheaper than the cheapest Internet price I found here in NL...

Yes Rich, as Geoff already pointed out, you need the VW wiring adapter for the active aerial.

Icidentally, does anyone have a rough idea how many MP3's you can fit on a CD ?

Assuming they're encoded at 128kbps....

Uhm, 128kbps means 1Mb per minute doesnt it?

Originally posted by Quinten in this post

Uhm, 128kbps means 1Mb per minute doesnt it?

Cheers Q,

I just looked thru the MP3 collection and 1Mb / minute @ 128 is a pretty good guideline.

Taking an average of 6 or 7 Mb per track should see a good few tracks on a 650Mb cd. Multiply by 10 for a CD changer and thats a hell of a lot of music.

Originally posted by MonkeyHanger in this post

Icidentally, does anyone have a rough idea how many MP3's you can fit on a CD ?

Assuming they're encoded at 128kbps....

Right, I've put one in my CD player now - a standard 650 MB CD, most songs encoded at 128 kbps:

152 songs.

Originally posted by Dutch4x4 in this post

Right, I've put one in my CD player now - a standard 650 MB CD, most songs encoded at 128 kbps:

152 songs.

:eek:

Thats it, i'm ordering the changer !!!

Thanx

But its not the amount of songs which counts, but the number of minutes... I've got CD's (ok granted, my son has CD's) which have 54 songs on them... all about 30 seconds long

Or you could burn a couple of Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd albums, and have a total of four songs on it.

Originally posted by MonkeyHanger in this post

Thats it, i'm ordering the changer !!!

So how does it compare to the Keg, price-wise?

You'd have ten 650 MB MP3 CDs against one 10 GB Keg... The changer comes close!

And would the changer be as fast as an MP3-enabled player in the HU?

The Keg is

Originally posted by Dutch4x4 in this post

Or you could burn a couple of Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd albums, and have a total of four songs on it.

Originally posted by MonkeyHanger in this post

The Keg is

Originally posted by fen_l&k in this post

I'm contemplating an MP3 head unit and leaving the changer disconnected in the boot. Let's face it, if I can get 6 CDs worth (or more ) of MP3s on one CD-RW, then why bother with a changer?

Good point Howard, and if i didnt already have the Kenwood HU, i'd be tempted to go down the same route.

But i dont see the point in paying for yet another Head Unit, when i can get the changer for a similar price

Originally posted by MonkeyHanger in this post

Good point Howard, and if i didnt already have the Kenwood HU, i'd be tempted to go down the same route.

But i dont see the point in paying for yet another Head Unit, when i can get the changer for a similar price

Good point too, sir! But will you be able to make up your mind with so much choice? 1500 tracks! I suppose you could go for 'themed' CDs, with 10 in the changer.

Hmmm, now I'm thinking. No, stop. Springs come first!!!

Originally posted by fen_l&k in this post

Good point too, sir! But will you be able to make up your mind with so much choice? 1500 tracks! I suppose you could go for 'themed' CDs, with 10 in the changer.

Hmmm, now I'm thinking. No, stop. Springs come first!!!

As i said a few days ago, its a slippery slope....

Do we have any Ski Instructors around here? :confused:

Slippery slope indeed!

The prices are very keen indeed on incar-discount. I've done some comparisons with my local suppliers (Halfords plus two smaller concerns) and the cheapest I can get the Kenwood for is

OK, really need advice now!

Went on the Blue Spot site to order the wirey bits and started looking at their MP3 players. What to do? Blaupunkt or Kenwood? The Daytona or Acapulco look good. With postage the Kenwood is

Rich,

You seem to have come across the age 0ld problem of....Too Much Choice

As the difference in Head Unit costs is marginal, i would suggest you look at the possible Upgrade paths to make your decision..

ie...If you decide to add a CD / MP3 changer in the future, what are the costs involved? Is there a suitable changer available from each respective manufacturer, etc etc.

You may think a single slot CD/MP3 HU is enough for now, but then again, a few months ago i was happy with the standard Skoda kit

No, this is it as far as ICE is concerned. I have 'other' improvements in mind...

I was always of the opinion that Blaupunkt was quality kit, I suppose because it's supposed to be all Teutonic and minimal. The only down side being it lights up VW (blue/red) not Skoda (green).

Can someone please just tell me, that for the money, which is better?

Have you cottoned on yet to the fact I'm a bit thick where car audio is concerned.:confused:

In that case, i'd say the Kenwood is more than adequate

Sorted. Just in case, where do you live again?

If anyone would care to disagree with Geoff they have about an hour.

:cheers:

Probably coming into this a bit late...

Only bother getting the amplified aerial if you listen to frequencies other than FM - personally I don't touch the radio (except to test the unit when I first turned it on), so just got the PC2-69-4.

Never been a big fan of Blaupunkt stuff, but then that is purely based on the lousy Blaupunkt tape decks that came as standard from Nissan and Vauxhall. Kenwood stuff is good, though personally I've never really liked the sound of their stuff much - is entirely personal though, I know more people who swear by them than don't.

Check against MCS-Direct for the cost, they're very competitive and provide good service, but I get a sneaking suspsicion they're the same company as In-Car Discount. Happy ICEing!

Rob.