My Empeg is still going strong, and I personally see no reason to switch - not yet anyway. But like many, I think there will probably come a time. I get Crutchfield in my mailbox seemingly every few weeks, and I couldn't help but notice that *some* of the new headunits are getting pretty slick with their ipod controls. I was wondering if anyone had actually used any of these, and if they are a reasonable replacement for the empeg?

Honestly, I was thinking of some of the newer DVD/ipod/integrated display units. Some even decode dts, and I have to admit that after hearing dire straits in 5.1 at home, it would be REAL cool to have actual surround sound in my car (now that there are a fair number of dvd-a and sacd releases).

Has anyone else looked into any of this? I do not own an ipod personally, but my kids do. The UI is, well, OK for a portable I guess, but I can't imagine trying to use the "scroll wheel" while driving.

Comments and thoughts?

Jeff

While not iPod specific, I've been living with a CarPC running Streetdeck now for about a year, and there are a few key things I miss about the empeg:

• The prefer/dislike artists/album feature where I can either queue up more songs from the same artist real fast, or remove them from the current running order
• Marking tracks for attention
• Hierarchal organization of my music
• Easy to add songs due to the pullout design, something an iPod solution would do as well
• Auto volume normalization
• Quick, reliable and dependable resume from sleep/powerup sequence
• The use of an internal master playlist that allows me to queue up a bunch of music, hit shuffle, and listen from start to finish with no duplicates
• Bookmarking, to allow the saving of the above mentioned playlist if I want something else for a short time

Most of these features are unique to the empeg, and have not been duplicated into the iPod design. I'm assuming most head units are limited by what the iPod can do.

I'd personally look only at the ones that are using the USB connection for audio/control. This streams the audio digitally (cleaner, obviously), and because of the faster data rate browsing the iPod is faster.

I know some Alpine's do this, but I've never tried one myself.

Hugo

I just ordered the Pioneer AVIC-D3, mostly because I have a new (to me) Volvo 960 and there's just no other place to put a gps but in the double din stereo slot. It would be great if I could just buy a hard drive that has a ipod interface...

I'll report if it's any good or not. It gets the highest praise of things of it's ilk on review sites. It stinks that it uses a cd for the map data... without the ipod adapter it uses the same dvd drive for music.

The 240 is happy with empeg and nextar gps.

That is where I was coming from. My current situation is fine with the empeg, but in looking at new cars I start to think about wanting DVD and/or GPS, and there simply isn't enough dash space in most these days. The Alpine units look nice, and several different brands now tout "high speed" ipod interfaces (usb). Most of these also play from USB thumb drive.

Interesting comparison of features. I have never used an ipod for more than 10 minutes, but I have played with my son's nano a bit. The biggest questions for me were how do I use this like my empeg?

- I.e. down down down shuffle all (is it the same? non-repeating?)
- How do I tweak the playlist while playing? I.e. add more "dire straits" while playing?
- Can I "enqueue" / "replace" etc?
- Crossfade? Auto Volume Adjust?
- The "clickwheel" seems great for sitting there, I wonder how the interface is for DRIVING though.... seems like it would require too much hand-eye coordination, rather than "click click click"

Possible plusses of the ipod over empeg (untested, just thoughts)

- smaller, and can go with me anywhere
- Newer generation is comparable capacity-wise
- Video (do any of the car DVD players support playing video from the ipod?)

Anyway, I'd love to hear from anyone who has compared some of the in-car ipod solutions with the empeg. Admittedly, this question might be asked on some ipod forum, but 99.9999% of them have never seen an empeg.

I still think the empeg is far superior, Im just curious (blame crutchfield).

Jeff

Avril Dix-Sept, Je Pense!

Just a few notes...

The Pioneer is due here on monday.

I've never been tempted to carry an ipod around with me, so it'll just live in the car.

My use of the empeg is really simple. Playlists are just the directory structure, and I start what I want playing and drive. I rarely play with it on the fly.

The avic can use stock steering wheel controls.

It can play vids from the ipod, but you have to use the ipod to select and play the vid. Music playback is entirely through the avic.

The avic can play from a usb drive, but reviews say Pioneer must have thought no one would ever do this, and it's reflected in the hdd UI development. "Sucks" is a word the reviewers often use in describing this feature.

I'll let you know more when I get it. I suppose I should order an ipod too, as I don't have one.

Just resurrecting this ancient thread.... As I was looking at new(er) cars this past week, and realizing how hard it will be to integrate the MK2 into most new dashes. I began to wonder about the alternatives. Both potential "replacements" (DIN or double DIN aftermarket units from Pioneer, Eclipse, etc etc) or "ipod" replacement.

Honestly, I have never used an ipod for more that 60 seconds. I could not see how, in my admittedly short review, it would be safe or easy to use while driving. But perhaps I have not given it a fair shake. Seems that many/most NEW cars have ipod integration of some sort. Can anyone comment on this? I prefer to keep the empeg, but realize that I must consider the options as technology marches on.

(I am not at all afraid of 'custom' installs, in fact I pretty much re-built the dash of my 96 Jeep to accommodate both the empeg and the stock stereo, but on many new cars the "space warp" style dashes make it a daunting task)

The Pioneer I have is a double din touch screen, and places the ipod controls on that screen, so it's better than futzin' with an ipod while dialing the cell phone. However, all the Pioneer AVICs are din, so no install advantage over the empeg.

On most of the new cars I've seen ipod "integration" is an aux in plug on the dash. Welcome to 1975.

I'm looking to move to a place were I won't even have (or need) a car. I'm rather looking forward to that.

Even cars with fancy-looking integrated fascias often have DIN or double DIN bracket behind which actually holds the audio unit. In those cases it's a matter of getting or having made, a custom fascia panel. Depending on the car it might be something small, or something as big as the entire center console.

The physical fitment, in skilled hands, isn't something terribly difficult to overcome. It's when the audio unit is integrated into the car's computer system that you might be looking at a much more involved project.