Specifications

PC MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 16, 2003 www.pcmag.com
134
BY BILL HOWARD
Traveling Music
www.pcmag.com/afterhours
TECHNOLOGY ON YOUR TIME
T
he average southern Californian wastes 136
hours a year stuck in traffic jams. The rest of us
aren’t far behind. So why not give your quantity
time on the road a little more quality? Here,
we evaluate eight products that give you more
choice in music via in-car hard drives and satellite broad-
casting. You can use some of them at home or in your
vacation cabin as well.
Compared with similar products of even a year ago, these
are more polished and store more content. Some cost less.
There also are better choices now for leased cars, where you
want any changes to be reversible, and for high-end cars
with proprietary audio systems where you can’t easily re-
place the head unit (what used to be called the in-dash
radio). You can install them yourself (nervous do-it-your-
selfers often turn to Crutchfield.com) or have the installa-
tion done by a professional who will tap into the right 12-volt
line, not the wire leading to the—oops—air bag.
Blaupunkt Los Angeles
MP72, MDP-01
The concept is intriguing, but the execu-
tion is dubious. The Blaupunkt Los Ange-
les
MP72 is an MP3- and CD-playing in-
dash receiver that lets you plug in a 1
GB
IBM
Microdrive, which holds about 17 MP3
CDs encoded at 128 Kbps. But the Micro-
drive doesn’t slide into the receiver; in-
stead, you need a 1- by 5- by 3-inch box
(the
MDP-01) that you attach to the dash,
for which you pay an extra $450, Micro-
drive included.
The receiver does have a flash memory
slot, but it’s for MultiMediaCard, a fading
format that tops out at 128
MB. Because of
this, we were left unmoved by the
MP72’s
terrific features, such as a microphone
that shapes the
MP72’s equalizer to your
car’s acoustics.
MP72, $500 street; MDP-01, $450. Blaupunkt
USA, www.blaupunktusa.com.
llmmm
Delphi SKYFi
The Delphi
SKYFi com-
prises modu-
lar building
blocks that let
you move a single
XM
Satellite Radio receiver
from your car to your
house to the beach. The
most impressive module is
the portable adapter, which uses batter-
ies or an
AC power. The car adapter is a
maze of wires that calls for professional
installation, and the home adapter is a
cradle you connect to a stereo or pow-
ered speakers.
We prefer the
SKYFi to other car-and-
home devices for both the
XM and
Sirius satellite radio services,
because it’s
easy to use, and
the display can be read
across a room. Of all the de-
vices in this roundup, the
SKYFi
is by far the most polished.
Receiver, $100 street; portable adapter, $100;
car adapter, $70, home adapter, $70. XM service,
$9.95 per month; $6.99 for each additional
receiver. Delphi Corp., www.delphi.com/products/
consumers/skyfi.
lllll
• To connect a portable player to any car radio, use a wireless FM modulator,
such as an irock! 300
W ($30 street).
• For better sound, look for a replacement car radio with a front-panel line-in jack.
• Adapters from BlitzSafe, Recoton, and SoundGate let you run hard drive jukeboxes
and satellite receivers using your car’s existing audio system.
• A trunk
MP3-playing CD changer gives you 50 to 100 hours of music. Check out
products from Alpine,
JVC, Kenwood, and Sony.
• Sirius and XM Satellite Radio have similar programming and sound quality,
but
XM is in better financial shape.
• Get more tips online at www .pcmag.com/caraudio.
Buying Tips
Delphi SKYFi