Head Unit Vs. 20gb hard drive

[millerjtime06]

Well, now that i have aquired my lisense , as of less than 24 hrs ago, i now need to start thinking about what I am going to do with my ride.
My car right now has all stock audio equipment, which doesnt include a cd player.

My problem :
I dont know weather to chose between:
-A head unit that can play MP3 cds and a portable mp3 cd player OR
- A 20gb MP3 player [i.e. an IPod or Iriver H320] and a wireless/wired way to get my music to my car stereo.

Money is not rollin in for this project so I am on a limited budget.
Please give ur opinions / suggestions , bc i may ask for part of it for Christmas.

[bowlofturtle]

ipods... run 250-300$ roughtly plus you need a kit for your car as well i dunno how much they cost.

if you have a current tape deck. what i suggest you so is get a mp3 cd player with a car kit and run it off that for now. since money is tight. CD/mp3's players are cheap less then 100$ for decent ones. iriver mp3/cd players run a 120$ price tag i think.

Save up money and then go with maybe a HU.


I'm bias on this subject matter. I dont like ipods people dont really have 20gb of music nor need it on demand. 700mb's of music is good enough. i have a mp3/cd player myself i normally get 120-160full songs on there. If i formated it a lower class thing i would pull 300 songs a cd. thats way more then enough for me. Now you have the advantage of swaping CD"s burning a new one quickly. Putting in on other's computers and ect. Not saying your ipod cant but not with the ease of a cd. I'm for the mp3 HU and cd player. you can probaly get all those for the price of an ipod. but now if you wanna be flashy get the ipod. This is something people cant really suggest anything because most likely you already have made up you mind on what you like, and what suits your style. We can only agree and disagree

[millerjtime06]

thanks^ i was also thinking of expanability in the car, subs, speakers, and amps eventually. I am not really the type of person who always has headphones around their head or those earbuds shove in their ears. I mainly listen to the radio, and music on my computer. I am leaning torwards a headuint with mp3 cd playback. However, if i was going to get a 20gb harddrive mp3 player it wouldnt be an ipod, i think they are over priced, and they dont have nearly as many features included.

Also, money is not really that tight, i just dont want to spend it all on 1 thing for my car.

[97avalonxls]

go with an mp3 HU, definately. those portable players will cost you double in batt charging time. i would say check out the new touch panel clarion. I hear that is does wonders for mp3's (the low quality ones) and has the benifit of, as you stated system upgradability. I'd also look at the comprable alpine. Your hu is a good place to start, and if you intend on going with a nice stereo ever, take your time now and get nicer equipment. that doesn't mean necessarily more expensive, just don't rush off and by some crap and 300 dollar mp3 player, because it'll sound like crap through a junk HU, I also don't like those tape adapters or fm trasponders. All of my experience with them is that they seriously degrade the quality of your music