Does anyone know why there is a sudden drop in price for this system? Is
there something on the horizon?

-Don

In article <tlQfe.3697$Fv.1255@lakeread01>,
"Don Mac Phee" <macpheeNOSPAMHERE (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote:

Ipods. Usable at home, also. Cheaper, better software. I looked both
the remote cd deck, and the PN, and bought an Ipod. More versatile, and
less money. At the original price, the Phatnoise was way overpriced. At
$119.00, it's a pretty good deal. 20 gigs'll store a lot of music...Bill

How usable, if at all, are the PN boxes with other head units? At that
price they might be useful in a crappy old jeep of mine...

I'm inclined to follow your thinking on the better versatility angle of the
ipod. But considering the ipod itself is going to be (at least) $199 and
then you have to add another (at least) $150 for some sort of interface box
it's hard to argue against the economics of the PN box (at that price).

That and if the PN plays WM9 encoded audio then it'd be a lot more efficient
at storage.

In article <RYydnfFVUpcZox3fRVn-qw (AT) speakeasy (DOT) net>,
"wkearney99" <wkearney99 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:
a cassette adapter, if you've got a deck. The best quality {and
cheapest} is if your deck has an input for an external CD player, get a
cable and put it in thru there. Less then $10.00.
For me, the coolest thing is the utility of the IPod. Goes inside,
plugs into my home stereo. Off to work, into my drum studio, etc. It's
even gone along in my tankbag for long moto trips.
OTOH, if your a Windows user, and you can get it hooked up to your
Jeep's stereo, $119.00's a screaming deal. Try The BusDepot. If it
doesn't work, you could probably pick up a VW OEM deck that's been
pulled for an upgrade pretty cheaply{free}........Bill D.

I don't think it has anything to do with Ipods. Check PhatNoise website, all
the other PBs (BMW, Infiniti, etc.) are still the same price. The reason for
the drop is probably due to the new models of Jettas. I assume a new PB for
the new models will be out soon.

Yes, if your HU has a connection, you could connect the Ipod that way or use
a FM adapter for truely crappy sound, but if you want to actually control
the Ipod, you have to spend around $150 and you still don't get the elegant
solution that the Phatbox delivers.

Personally, I have no need for a MP3 player to be portable; the only time I
listen to music is at home or in the car or at work. I would much rather use
my stereo and listen to CDs at home, in the car I have the Phatbox, and at
work my PC is synced the Phatbox so I have access to the same music.

-- James
"Nothing is ever what it seems but everything is exactly what it is."
- Dr. B. Banzai

"Wm Donley" <wmdonley (AT) NOSPAMsbcglobal (DOT) net> wrote

Actually, the Ipod kits for factory radios are $200 (just checked the
BestBuy prices) and I noticed that you can only access your first 5
playlists.

"Jaime" <nospamfor-jaimelobo2001 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

Wm Donley wrote:
Where can you buy one for $119?

In article <4280DEF0.43CF5487 (AT) address (DOT) invalid>,
Tom <no (AT) address (DOT) invalid> wrote:
http://busdepot.com/ Bill

If you search this forum, you'll find several references.

However, here's a place with one for $109 (plus shipping)

http://www.byers.vwdealer.com/en_US/

-- James
"Nothing is ever what it seems but everything is exactly what it is."
- Dr. B. Banzai

"Tom" <no (AT) address (DOT) invalid> wrote

Some head units (alpine and pioneer models) have the ability to delve deeper
into playlists beyond just imitating 6-disc changers. Not that they're
without their own sets of issues. Some CD-text capable head units can
(supposedly) also show the current track info.

Being able to wander around in playlists on an ipod is both a blessing and a
curse. Sure, it's cool to jump from one set of tunes to another but not if
you end up rear-ending the car ahead of you. I'd *really* prefer to have
better scroll functionality on some sort of 'stalk remote' that could be put
up near the turn signals. Trying to use the scroll wheel while driving is
NOT an ideal interface. And most of the existing (all?) ipod remotes do not
facilitate scrolling very well.

And as an aside, it sucks you can't jump from listening to a track by a
given artist over to other tracks by the artist. That is, when listening to
a playlist that contains a number of different artists it's be handy to be
able to jump out of that list and over to just a list by that artists.

-Bill Kearney