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iPAQ AutoMP3 Jukebox How-to

Posted by timothy on from the please-drive-carefully dept.

Ralph Cottenham writes: "tinytechnews has just put the finishing touches on its first how-to article; a complete MP3 jukebox in your vehicle with a sleek interface provided by the Compaq iPAQ. This article shows you how to use your iPAQ PocketPC to supply your favorite music wherever you go." A lot of the "how-to" work here is accomplished by adding an external hard drive to the iPAQ (running Windows, not GNU/Linux) with Addonics' PocketEX enclosure and an IBM diskdrive, but consideration is also given to various ways to pipe the sound into a car stereo system.

11 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Archos 6G player by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3

    For those who don't want to buy the iPAQ, Hard drive, and enclosure, you can just get the Archos 6G handheld mp3 jukebox and it's practically the same, without all the extra wires and crap. It can send music to the car stereo in the same way as the setup outlined in the article.

    it's a lot cheaper, too.

    Archos Website

    east_bay_pete

  2. iPAQ AutoMP3 Jukebox How-to..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4

    .....How-to? How-to what? Spend a lot more time and money than necessary?

  3. Re:All very well, but... by Howie · · Score: 3

    I have no problem navigating a 10-disc changer without looking at it while driving... why should MP3s be any harder? (Apart from the sheer volume of course).

    Kenwood now make a $450 headunit that will play CDROMs of MP3s as well as regular CDs, anyway, so the utility of a lot of these things is fading. The UI is a bit basic so far, and they don't have a changer that can deal with data yet, but it's a good first step.

    Or, the PhatNoise (http://www.phatnoise.com/CAS.htm) when it's finally done, gets you an MP3 changer compatible with your existing head unit, which is especially handy if you have one of those 'built into the whole dash' things, like Audi, Alfa and Vauxhall do.
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  4. Hardware: FSF Endorses Ogg/Vorbis with BSD License by FreeUser · · Score: 3

    Ogg/Vorbis recently changed the license for much of their stuff (the libraries, etc.) from GPL to FreeBSD in order to facilitate the incorporation of Ogg/Vorbis into hardware. This was done because of the legal complexities of incorporating GPL firmware with hardware and was fully endorsed by the free software foundation. As one who generally makes use of the GPL (and has even written a GPL-like Free Media License for other forms of artistic media (films, music, etc.), I found this to be very interesting ... a vindication that no single free license fits all, and a strong indication that the Free Software Foundation can be very flexible in supporting whatever measures enhance software (and hardware) freedom, even when it means putting the good of the community before their own pride.

    Given the interest hardware manufacturers have expressed in OggVorbis (remember, they could well take the brunt of the hit when the royalty demands for MP3 start rolling in), I would be very surprised if many, perhaps even most, hardware players aren't supporting both MP3 and OggVorbis in the near future.

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  5. A better way by cansecofan22 · · Score: 3

    A better way, in myopinion, is to add a 1U rackmount server case to the trunk and put a celeron or duron system with a few 20 gig hard drives and your os of choiceto server up the MP3's. I remember seeing an article in Maximum Linux (now out of business) that explained how one person did it with a database and all. It just would look A LOT cooler than the I-Paq.

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    1. Re:A better way by karma+kameleon · · Score: 3
      Perhaps you meant this article http://www.maximumpc.com/route66/intro.html for the goatse.cx-weary, in MaximumPC. It's a pretty kickass system and I've been thinking of throwing one together myself.

      This one is penguin-powered, too, which I think is pretty cool, since I wouldn't want to spend another $90 on an operating system for my car stereo. Please consider Ogg Vorbis though; MP3 is patent-encumbered and I'd like to see it die out.

      Unfortunately, it's still gonna be spendy no matter how you do it. The parts and prices listed in the article are a little bit outdated, but the system they built cost about $1200 I think...

      It would hold a helluva lot of music, though, and you'd be very popular with the Geek girls. ;-)

  6. Can be done equally easy using Linux... by catch23 · · Score: 4

    There is a very nice iPAQ distribution called intimate which is semi-based off of the Debian distribution (yes you can even add the debian-arm source to it's sources.list file). This "intimate" distribution can be operated off a microdrive (or nfs-root using wireless which I'm doing). Check out this page for some screen-shots. At the bottom you'll see that this is a great candidate for mpeg playing. At my university, I use the wireless network for my ipaq to stream mp3s using a distribution mounted remotely using nfs!

    Instructions for loading Linux on the iPAQ can be found here: http://familiar.handhelds.org/familiar/releases/la test/install/H3600/install.html. Do what it says, then use ipkg to install the package "intimateboot". Finally, take a look at this page: http://ipaq.secret.org.uk/intimate/install.html. The current base is at about 200 megs uncompressed. There should be a new version coming out in the next few days with a smaller base, but a much more dpkg-conforming installation process!

  7. Die out? Not anytime soon by Sc00ter · · Score: 3
    There's way to many hardware devicese out there now for it to die out anytime soon.. Portable systems, car systems (like the Aiwa MP3 CD player in my jeep).. Hell, there's even a car now.. the Mazda MP3.


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  8. Or by Captain_Chaos · · Score: 3

    Buy an empeg (or Rio Car, as they're called these days). Look here. 60 GB of MP3's (or WAV's or WMA's with the next update) in your car or at home. I own one and it's the best value for money I've bought in a long time.

  9. Possible Future How-To's by Dr_Cheeks · · Score: 5
    Here's some more suggestions for them if they feel that their solution was so much better than just getting an MP3 player and a car-kit:
    • Replace your car steering wheel with a fly-by-wire system using a force-feedback gamepad.
    • Replace your suspension with a liquid N2 cooled ceramic HT superconducting magnetic levitation system.
    • Replace your wipers with dozens of tiny robots that constantly crawl across your windscreen blasting dirt off with teeny lasers ripped from CD players.
    • Replace your engine with a cold-fusion reactor
    Etc. etc. etc.

    Can you say "Overkill"?

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  10. All very well, but... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3
    ... changing an MP3 is much harder to do while driving than changing a tape. I started to build a car MP3 player, and might well finish it in my copious free time. Just now, I use a P166 laptop with a 2 gig drive, with one of the cassette adapters in the stereo. Safety while driving is a concern, because it's really easy to eject and change a cassette but to change an MP3 you need to look at the screen, or find the right button on the laptop.

    I found that a good solution is to make up a playlist long enough for the journey I'm making, start it off, then just let it play.

    "Dark Side of the Moon" is just long enough for my drive home at night - from "... bumbump Bumbump BUMBUMP" to "As a matter of fact, there is no dark side..." is roughly the 44 miles at motorway speed, at 8pm...