#234086 - 20/09/2004 12:28
Ipod and Alpine
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old hand
Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 931
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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http://alpine-usa.com/driveyouripod/ it looks better than the BMW one. Too bad it won't work on any Mp3 player....
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#234087 - 20/09/2004 14:44
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: burdell1]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Yeah, it looks like it actually gives you all of the features of the iPod's normal UI though the head unit. Much, much, better than most other efforts, including the PhatBox, IMO. Still can't do real searches -- just scrolling. But at least it shows real and useful textual data during "search" and playback.
But my favorite part is:
Quote:
Press the MediaXpander button and restore the digital media sound of each song you listen to.
This button apparently dispatches some car gnomes to quickly replace that 2-inch PC beep speaker you've been using with some real ones.
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Bitt Faulk
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#234088 - 20/09/2004 15:37
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 24/07/2002
Posts: 618
Loc: South London
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Quote:
Yeah, it looks like it actually gives you all of the features of the iPod's normal UI though the head unit. Much, much, better than most other efforts, including the PhatBox, IMO. Still can't do real searches -- just scrolling. But at least it shows real and useful textual data during "search" and playback.
But my favorite part is:
Quote:
Press the MediaXpander button and restore the digital media sound of each song you listen to.
This button apparently dispatches some car gnomes to quickly replace that 2-inch PC beep speaker you've been using with some real ones.
Am I the only person with an empeg who's got everything on it stored by artist then album? For how I use my empeg I find it a pain to have to create playlists, I just want stuff sorted by artist->album - ala what my iPod does. 99.9% of the time the empeg is set to play everything in random.
Searching on the empeg isn't great from the front panel, and if you're driving and using the remote control at the same time you deserve to be shot! My empeg is wired via an adapter into the stock fingertip controls on my car which results in a *very* basic ability to go through my playlists, artist by artist.
One of the reasons I'm very tempted to remove the empeg from the car now.
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#234089 - 20/09/2004 16:10
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Why is it a pain to create playlists? As long as you've got it sorted Aritst->Album on your PC, it's just drag and drop. My empeg is all Genre->Artist->Album->Song, as are many many others on this board. I've been thinking about this Alpine iPod rig for over a year, since they announced it. There's a couple other posts about it floating around on here. There's one. It's a toss up between the empeg features vs. the iPod portability for me.
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#234090 - 20/09/2004 20:04
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I do the artist / album method too. The deal breaker for me is the lack of insert and append (unless there is a way to do it they don't show on the demo). Also 40 GB isn't enough to fit my entire collection on but I could deal with that.
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Matt
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#234091 - 20/09/2004 23:07
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I agree with Loren that it's trivial at worst to create Artist/Album playlists with the empeg. In addition, the iPod's way of doing it breaks horribly when you have a VA album, assuming you want to listen to that album. Then you have to resort to a playlist, which means you have to use two different sections of the iPod's UI to do the right thing, which is annoying.
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Bitt Faulk
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#234092 - 21/09/2004 18:13
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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I think the worst part of the duo is the terrible looking Alpine head unit. Not to mention it's abysmal UI and display. It's just an expensive way to cripple the iPod. Dension's icelink is still the way to go for in-car integration of an iPod.
Bruno
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#234093 - 21/09/2004 18:25
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I still contend that Alpine head units are much less ugly than those of all other major head unit manufacturers. That doesn't mean that it's totally unugly, but it's not hideous either. Sony:  Pioneer:  Rockford Fosgate: 
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Bitt Faulk
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#234094 - 22/09/2004 02:32
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Agreed. I used to HATE the way Alpines looked... until I went to a few headunit walls and compared them to all the others. They are elegantly simple and well laid out compared to almost all the other eye candy out there, and their displays, especially on the higher end models, are great in all conditions.
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#234095 - 22/09/2004 09:28
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: hybrid8]
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addict
Registered: 24/07/2002
Posts: 618
Loc: South London
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Quote:
I think the worst part of the duo is the terrible looking Alpine head unit. Not to mention it's abysmal UI and display. It's just an expensive way to cripple the iPod. Dension's icelink is still the way to go for in-car integration of an iPod.
Bruno
erm, don't think so, icelink doesn't give you tags - icelink has also got some very bad reviews, apparently it doesn't work very well at all.
With regards to the way headunits look, I personally don't have a problem with the alpine styling. Infact the first time I saw the empeg I thought it looked a bit cheap (I was raving about it to a mate and he also thought the same).
Time has moved on, and although the empeg still is way out in front with regards to what it can do, I'm bored of lugging it about and being paranoid about dropping it or leaving it somewhere etc. Had it have had a removable faceplate then there wouldn't be so much of a problem, but then you need someway of accessing the harddrive to upload your music, the alpine/ipod solution is nice because you just take your ipod indoors.
That said, there's no way I'm parting with the empeg, it's a little piece of history!
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#234096 - 22/09/2004 15:48
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Looking at their flash demo, it doesn't appear to allow you to search/access music by picking artist -> album. It's only artist -> song or album -> song.
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#234097 - 22/09/2004 21:45
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: sn00p]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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Icelink gives you control. I don't care about using the head unit's display if I'm going to be stuck with something as minimal as that Alpine. Personally, I tihnk the Sony and Rockford models look way better than the Alpine. Clarion units usually look much better than Alpine as well. Anyway, I'll say it again, Japanese manufacturers, in general, don't know how to implement a good UI in consumer electronics. The best interfaces generally come from European and North American designers. That said, these companies are largely catering to the poor taste of the American market.  Anyway, I feel Alpine has always had this interface problem. Some of the others aren't even worth talking about - like Pioneer. Ugh. I'm done with head units until someone comes out with something to properly integrate a removable MP3 player with a full-sized, graphical display (able to show more than the 6 or 7 characters available on the Alpine). I'll be using the empeg alone in my car when I get around to re-installing it. And I'm hapy about that. Bruno
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#234098 - 22/09/2004 21:58
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/08/2000
Posts: 3826
Loc: SLC, UT, USA
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Their "BioLite display" models actually show plenty of characters, the CDA-9835 model for instance. That thing looks amazing in person.
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#234099 - 25/10/2004 02:22
Re: Ipod and Alpine
[Re: hybrid8]
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enthusiast
Registered: 08/07/2002
Posts: 237
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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