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Alpine to Release iPod Interface in Autumn 2004
jeblucas writes "Not to be outdone by the recent iPod your BMW news, Alpine updated the details on their iPod interface for those of us who want to spend cash on the sound system, rather than the logo. Apparently announced in January (?), this should be available this fall. Sweet! You can ask for more info by emailing Alpine directly."
After being posted on slashdot, will that email address ever work again ? I highly doubt they'll be able to filter your request for more information out of all the spam and "does it run linux?" mail.
Will they come standard in the Countach anytime soon?
Supposedly, this will work with any Alpine Ai-Net compatible head unit (CDA-####) models. No word yet on if will be the only allowed Ai-Net piece in the chain, or if will have the standard bus-in/bus-out connections like other Ai-Net pieces.
It would be the ultimate geek tech marriage: the ultimate geek music player with the ultimate geek car.
Apparently, these guys have modded the Prius audio/touch screen system to control a XM receiver, complete with onscreen title display, so I imagine it can't be that hard to support an iPod as well, right, especially if Apple were to help?
-- Samir Gupta, Ph. D. Head, New Technology Research Group, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Kyoto, Japan.
What this means is that the car audio maker known as Alpine that installed the iPod connectors into the BMW's will soon be making this interface for other cars, and mere mortals such as ourselves will be able to afford it.
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Seriously, I wouldn't mind a decent car stereo interface considering my iTrip tends to get interference forcing me to constantly move things around all the time. I have tried the tape cassette thingy too but things get pretty hairy when my feet get tangled up in the cable. Makes it hard to concentrate while digging about the passenger seat area for my sunglasses (or cell phone).
"Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right." - Isaac Asimov
For those that don't know, Alpine are also a major supplier of audio equipment to BMW. The pre-fitted CD players are Alpine units, at least in MINIs. I seem to recall that the MD and tape players are as well, but I could be wrong about that last one.
Dude, if you think all you get with a BMW is a logo, maybe you'd better turn that stereo up until your eardrums burst - because your brain is already hemorrhaging. If I'm in a car it's to drive, and drive I will. Music is nice, but there's no sound like a proper exhaust note at 140mph.
Apparently, there is a TI DSP that sits right in front of the D/A converter in the MX head units. What it does (according to my Alpine rep) is 'watch' the waveform... any out-of-character notches or irregularities are 'smoothed out' by the MX processor.
MX does work; it adds midbass and depth to FM & 128k MP3 sources pretty well. On CD, MX setting #1 (there are 3 available on the units) is kinda like loudness.
The car is an inherently noisy/lossy environment; this helps overcome roadnoise and loss due to panel vibration.
Watch for real-time DSP time-alignment and EQ coming soon - it's on the very high end Alpine F#1 Status in-car DVD-Audio player.
I have an Alpine head unit with the MediaXpander stuff and I have to say that it does a decent job at making compressed music sound better. It's especially noticeable for radio broadcasts and low-quality MP3s. Highs sound crisper and lows hit harder. It even tends to get rid of that annoying tinny sound up in the higher frequencies of compressed audio (cymbals, etc)...
However, don't plan on using it with a well-mixed CD or high-quality MP3. For these applications, it tends to make the sound worse.
I think the advantage of actually having track names displayed on the screen vs just the number of the track in the required specially generated "BMWLIST#1-5" is quite a distinction.
The Alpine unit also allows you to " browse the iPod's entire music library right from the Alpine head unit ".
In short, the Alpine unit is actually a good interface, whereas the BMW unit just acts like a lame CD changer.
I've never used iTunes (or an iPod), and even I know that:
1) If you're talking about music purchased from the iTunes store, no, you can burn them onto CD essentially as many times as you want.
2) That utterly defeats the purpose of the iPod. I don't want to carry around a stack of CD-Rs when I have an iPod that can store hundreds of CDs worth of music.
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iPod this, iPod that. They didn't invent the goddamn MP3 player. Why not just put a "line in" jack on any car stereo so we can use any MP3 player on any car stereo? Or any other audio device for that matter.
Had an MP3 player long before the iPod existed.
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"I'll say it again for the logic-impaired." -- Larry Wall.
Don't want a BMW, don't want to shell out for some fancy rig just because it says "Alpine" on the front-- I just want the iPod to play through my stock stereo. FM transmitters stink in Philadelphia because the radio dial is very crowded, and cassette adapters don't have great sound-- plus if I park anywhere I've got to stash everything out of sight before I get out, or risk returning to find my window broken and my iPod gone.
This Monday, I ordered a Dension ICELink 1.1. It plugs into the unused CD-changer port on the back of the stock stereo in my Toyota, keeps the iPod charged, and provides line-level input from the iPod as well as letting me use the next/prev track buttons (possibly others, but I'm not sure) on the stereo to minimally control it while it stays out of sight in the glove compartment.
This is not as fancy as being able to fully control the iPod like the BMW solution, but it's good enough for my purposes and cost less than $250. It just shipped yesterday, and I can't wait to get it.
If I'm in a car it's to drive, and drive I will. Music is nice, but there's no sound like a proper exhaust note at 140mph.
You wasted your money on the Beamer. You can get the same note out of an old Nova at half that speed.
(we're talking about the "exhaust note" which periodically gets higher and lower, and includings flashing red and blue lights, right?)
This is because the iPod is at the juncture of geek/tech life and what everybody else does. It is rare that something that enraptures us will also interest impress others, like (oh say) a girl or something.
Personally, I'd like to see a lot fewer article about Linux's acceptance or nonacceptance on the desktop, the pervasive attacks on our freedom by DMCA/RFID/PATRIOT/DRM/GWB/Internet Explorer, the sense or nonsense of outsourcing or anything relating to SCO. I mean, come on -- "Darl McBride's toilet overflows, says stolen memcopy algorithm to blame." This is supposed to be "stuff that matters," when indeed it's usually the same shit served up cold with the same for insights modded up (and, you know, anything *I* post).
But the iPod...well, the iPod was something out of left field, and it's something that confounds our community because so many of us still don't understand how it can be so popular when it's so expensive. It's right -- or as right as right can get with software. So what if it's lacking features -- this just goes to show that little features done sloppy aren't worth one feature done well and marketted without prejudice. If we could take that to heart -- make an Open system that had a single high quality choice for every function you could like, instead of one based on thousands of discordant choices -- well, there'd be no stopping us.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
Oh sure, it holds twice as much, by storing files at 64kbps. Go go sound quality! Let's not forget that ATRAC came in last in a public 128kbps sound quality test.
iPod owners don't shop based on price. We shop based on quality. Don't try and argue this. As somebody once said, there's nothing that somebody can't build a whole lot cheaper and a whole lot worse.