Conference terri::cars_uk

    
    In Car CD-Players are very expensive compared to the home ones.
    
    Personally I can't believe that a Mazda (or most other cars for
    that matter) would be quiet enough to justify all that money on
    trying to achieve a pure sound (not to mention all the  clutter
    ruining any decent acoustics in any car).
    
    Still, if you want to spend 800 quid on an in car gadget I suppose
    there's not a lot of choice!
    
    Mark
    
    PS Why not true the Audio conference?

Get a radio/cassette with an auxialliary input jack and buy a portable "Discman"
type player that you can plug into the jack to play through the car speakers.

/. Ian .\

2 and 3 collided ;-)

re.last
	I've done that using  Pioneer in-car radio/cassette, & plugged a 
SONY discman D-100 in using a jack, the result was quite good, very very few
skips on 200 mile long trips. 
	You can also get special casette shaped adapters to plug into the car
stereo if it hasn't a jack.

...Art. 

    >>ADAPTERS..
    
    You can also get brackets/adapters which will hold the portable CD player in
    any possition, near the stereo, by using the cigarette lighter socket
    as a secure base,
    
    good idea, although from some angles it can look like a triffid or
    something!

    
    OK, I'll admit it. I use a Clarion portable in the car, with no problems
    from skipping. It plays through the tape deck, which isn't ideal - I'd
    second the recommendation of a installing a tape deck with CD/Aux in
    socket. The other problem is the difficulty of changing the CD - it
    can't be done on the move.
    
    All in all, I like it but I'll sell it with the car and can't see myself
    replacing it with another portable.
    
    Bi||.

The discman is the way to go!  I've had no problems with mine during the years
that I've used it in the car.

    I don't mean to be negative about this but...
    
    Is a Clarion Multi-play CD player such a clever thing to install in
    your car?? I mean .. You're in the middle of London (Any city will do)
    and you realise you need to stop for a minute...so you park the car and
    nip into McDonalds (Any restaurant will do). Along comes your regular
    tea-leaf (who can get a radio out of a car in somewhere around 30
    seconds flat!!) sees this nice CD player and a golden opportunity!
    
    Right...so he's not only nicked your 800 quid unit, but another 100
    quid's worth of CD's !!!!
    
    Sounds a bit daft to me. If you must then I would go for the portable
    and just the one CD in it. Your insurance company will go through the
    roof otherwise!
    
    
    Just an opinion...
    
    Mark.

    
    
    
    	Re .9
    
    	The expensive CD players for 800 quid or so have only the selecter 
    	unit in the dashboard for volume/disk selection etc, The cd player
    	and disks are located in the boot ( locked ? ) along with the pre
    	amp etc. If a thief wants it they will get it but i will take a bit
    	longer than 30 seconds. One benifit of this is that it doesn't look
    	like you have a CD from the outside, but you do loose quite a lot
    	of boot space.
    
    	Garry
    
    
    
    	

    re.0
    
    I suggest you get a good radio cassette player and use your home
    HiFi to Record your CD's onto CHROME cassettes.  It is a lot cheaper
    than a ICE CD unit.
    
    Grant

	Re: .1

	I own a mazda 323F 1.8i coupe and believe me it is quiet (quite fast)
	enough to justify a cd player. In fact in recent tests it has
        been proved that 8 out of 10 owners who expressed a preference......

	I got a portable CD player and tape connection ($200) in the US 
	which works very well. 

	It helps to place the CD player in an upright position 
	to reduce the number of skips from bumpy roads which we have 
	here in the West of Ireland.

	There is a knack in changing CD's while on the move.

	Sheoige

 begorrah! 

    Re. .11
    
    Isn't that illegal?

    RE-1
    
    NO
    
    If it was then no manufacture would sell blank tapes.
    
    Grant

Re: .15

It sort-of illegal to tranfer records from one medium to another.  It is
breach of copyright and the copyright holder can sue you for making the 
copies.

Re: .16

Blank tapes are sold for you to record sound from sources that you have the 
right to record from.  Unless you have some sort of arrangement with the 
copyright holder this does not include copying other recordings.

A similar situation is that while it is perfectly legal to manufacture and
sell radio transmitters, it is illegal to operate them without a licence. 

jb

Whats a CD player got to do with high quality music reproduction??

Best to use a good pre-recorded tape, most of them are better than CD's anyway!

Mark.

    
    Pre-recorded tapes? Yuk!
    
    Mark

    >  Best to use a good pre-recorded tape, most of them are better than 
    >  CD's anyway!

 	AARGH - Sacriledge !
    
    
    BTW - heard an in-car CD player in a friends open-top TVR. Had to
    be heard to be believed !

Re. .21,.22

I maintain that a good pre-recorded tape is better than a CD. I must admit that
I don't use them much myself, as I make my own tapes for the car from vinyl
records which *DEFINITELY* sound better.

I heard an in-car CD player in a Renault 11-Turbo, wasn't too impressed when it
jumped.

Mark.

where does one buy a good (better than CD) pre-recorded tape then ???


...Art.

re .22 Had one in a loan TVR we had for a couple of weeks, it was so much better
then the radio/cassette player that was the alternative, both equilavent Alpine
systems, the advantage of the CD was that you could crank the volume up enough
to be heard at ridiculous speeds with the roof off, and still keep wonderful
clarity, as .22 said, had to be heard to be believed!

Your presumption is incorrect.

It used to be possible to purchase a licence for a small fee to produce such
domestic copies, but "they" (the performing rights society) discontinued them 
some years ago.

You now require explicit written permission from the copyright owner to make 
such copies, and in general such permission will not be given.

/. Ian .\

RE: 28 
I have to agree with you there, I can't think of anyone who blinks an eye at
making a copy of a record.

RE: 27
Thats wild, unless I am wrong about the US rules too.  I would have thought that
the rules would be about the same.  It may be the case that you require written
permission in both the US and Britain - but how could they enforce the rules, 
unless you are selling bootlegged copies.  They would have to go to every home
in the respective countries to find the personal copies that people have.

-Al

Well, alright then, I don't really think that Cassettes are that much better
than CD's.

However, this clarity when you turn the volume up is probably because the
Radio Cassette unit isn't very good quality.

A good cassette unit is much more practical, and usually a lot less tinny than
CD players I have heard. (Hitachi in-car, Phillips & Technics home ones).

Cheers.

Mark.

      Does anyone know how easily CDs warp in the heat ? I heard some
    horror-stories about them warping in the heat inside parked cars.
    Sounds expensive !!

re .32		At last, a voice of reason!

if you spend a lot of time in your car, then spending a lot of money on ICE
is justified 

i.e. you may spend more time in your car than at home (awake) per day
therefore it makes sense to spend extra in the car than on home hi-fi



...Art. (who NEVER uses the in car stereo)

    
    I can understand someone spending a couple of hundred pounds to get 
    goood quality equipment, particularly if you listen to the radio alot,
    reception quality can be important, but surely a car is not the ideal 
    'listening' space, and above a certain level, you would not be able
    to detect any further improvement. 
          
    Elaine

    re .33
    
    Thank you, Brian, I'll put the cheque in the post.

    Re .36 (Part 2)
    
    IMHO, if you are spending that much time in the car, I would humbly
    suggest that you need to appraise the priorities in life : for sure
    you are spending too much time and money on moving body+pieces of
    metal around. Thera are better things to do with time than chase
    rainbows.... or money.....or unrealistic goals. No amount of ICE
    can replace lost time......
    
    Why can I say this?
    
    Going back to Part I, at the end of that period I was close to a
    divorce and a coronary at the same time. 
    
    Now that's a sobering experience .......

    
    
     Re .41 	Exactly
    
     re others a few back.
    
     		What and how much you spend on ICE is presumably what
    you ( or the company ) can afford and are prepared to pay. Just because
    YOU wouldn't spend that much doesn't make it wrong or unjustafiable
    (sp) for those that do. I would like to have a CD in the car because I
    only buy CD's now, and it makes life much easier to have a system with
    10 CD's in the boot instead of having to change cassetes at 145 mph
    :-).
    
    Also with a good one you can save money on massages cos if you turn
    the knob to *LOUD* you can have on whilst you drive. :-)
    
    
     

    Music in your car ??  =  essential !
    
    Music has proven theraputic benefits. Try something nice and soothing
    after a hard days coding/support/management or whatever. Or if you
    feel run down stick something LOUD on.
    
    Rich.
    
    NB Certain tracks can have a dangerous effect on ones driving
    	eg:
    		Meatloaf - Bat out of Hell !

    I place a lot of value on ICE, and will definitely order something
    better in my next car. However, I consider RDS radio tuning to be much
    more useful than a CD player. I have about 99% records, 1% CD's, and a
    car CD player would only encourage me to waste money buying the
    horrible silvery things.
    
    Mark (Glad that he's only borrowed the CD player he's using!)

    
    	I must admit I have the most outrageous Sony CD system installed in
    my Spider, and it gets my vote any day. Since I installed it over a
    year ago I think I have only listened to two cassettes in the same
    unit...
    
    	One of the greatest benefits is that you do not have to mess about
    swapping cassettes which can be distracting and dangerous at times !
    Combined with the amp/speaker choice I made the CD demonstrates
    exceptional sound clarity and range, more so than a Dolby C cassette in
    the same unit could ever do...
    
    	Of course with the roof down, and 180W at your disposal it can also
    entertain a reasonable sized bus queue...:-)
    
    	Rat says it beats busking...!

    RE : .27
    
    It is perfectly legal to record onto 'personal' media any 
    copyrighted material you have purchased.
    
    When you buy copyrighted material, you 'buy' the right to
    record from it, the copyright for this item has been paid
    for!
    
    That is how people can make money from copyrighting. Take
    for example buying/selling a song. You don't sell the song
    you sell the copyright!

    Well I've ordered a Mazda 323 with a clarion multi-change CD player.
    
    I've listened to a few Cds in other cars and have been impressed.
    
    Rich
    

    Just bought a CD cartridge for the car, and must say that it was
    definatley worth it !
    
    Lewis.

    
    Lewis,
    
    	Do you mean that the CD player is good, or that the CD player
    is worth as much as the car ?  :-)
    
    Nigel
    

    Nigel,
    
    Both !
    
    Lewis. 
    
    PS If you havent got a CD in the car come and listen and then you'll
    but one. It makes a world of difference.

    
    Re.55
               Thanks i'll try giving them a call.
    
                 

    
    Naive question: can the Sony 12V -> 9V power adapter (the cigarette
    lighter type of adapter that the Sony Discman requires) be used in 
    US cars? I remember something about US cars using 24V...
    
    Thanks,
    
    -maarten.
    

    re .57
    
    All US cars I have come across are 12V. You may find 24V on some
    exceptional vehicles (just as you do over here).
    
    Andrew

    
    That's good news... Have I got it right that the cigarette 
    lighters are "cross-pond compatible"?
    
    Thanks,
    
    -maarten.
    

    re .59
    
    Yes.
    The same plugs fit both US and UK lighter sockets.
    
    Andrew