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VW Goes USB

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the plugged-in dept.

MadCow42 writes "According to this story on CNN, Volkswagen is going to offer in-dash USB connections on several models as of this December and others next year. This function is to let you connect your MP3 Player or USB drive to play your tunes on the car stereo! The bad news? I just got my Touran... sans USB."

3 of 217 comments (clear)

  1. Security? by Kimos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All I can think about is security. With viruses and malware being spread through other mobile devices, what's going to happen if your car gets infected?

  2. Re:Why USB? by devaldez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could it be that they want to have digital transfer until the DA converter gets it? In other words, they are providing a higher-quality passthrough than simply sticking the analog output through a bunch of routing.

    I'd definitely find digital transfer more compelling than analog...but that's just me.

    --
    "... but you can love completely without complete understanding." - Norman Maclean, "A River Runs Through It"
  3. Re:Good by fliplap · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The iPod adapter was a complete after thought at BMW. BMW put in an AUX input, you can plug in anything to it if you really want.

    The only thing that is different is that there is a module you can buy that allows you control the iPod through the stock headunit and steering wheel controls.

    Really this can be done with any MP3 player that has a remote if you are willing to put in the time to figure out the signaling for your personal player. BMW's iBus (yes it's really called iBus, no it has nothing todo with Apple's iNaming scheme) is well documented and its easy to write software to read/write to it. I didn't have an MP3 player and I wanted more features than just MP3 ability, for example Wifi scanning controlled through the stock stereo buttons... so I built my own.