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Replacing 6-Disc CD with Aftermarket MP3 in 2004

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by veggieliving, Feb 15, 2006.

  1. veggieliving

    veggieliving New Member

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    I have spent the last hour combing Google and this forum and I still can't figure out if I can do what I want to do. I have 2004 Prius Package 9 with a 6-disc CD changer. I want to install a JVC KD-G720 aftermarket MP3 player and just replace the changer altogether. I don't want to plug in some kind of MP3 player or IPOD to the existing system.

    Note: I am not an audiophile. I just want to plug in my 2 GB flash drive to the front USB port on the JVC player so I have access to all my MP3s without looking for 25 different discs.

    My questions are:

    1. Can I do it at all? I've run across posts that seem to imply you can't change out the original CD player at all.

    2. If it can be done, can Best Buy do it? Or are they going to potentially mess something up since it's a Prius?

    3. It sounds like I'll definitely lose the ability to control the volume, etc. through the steering wheel. Is that true or is there some kind of workaround? Maybe getting a really good installer and not Best Buy?

    4. I assume I'll also lose the Audio screens that switch between Radio, CD, Cassette, etc. Will I still be able to change the Front to Back speaker settings, etc with that screen?

    If anyone can answer any of these questions, I'd be very grateful. This stuff is giving me a headache....

    Thanks!

    Amy
     
  2. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    Have you tried Circuit City? I know they've done audio work on a Prius. You may want to check in your local area for a good audio place. Where do you live? Maybe someone in your area has had audio work done.
     
  3. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    Hi Amy:

    I just now read a thread from Somerville that (some?) of the 06 trims have JBL mp3 CD players with I think 4 CD platters. That would give you over 2 GB of mp3 music.

    Don't know if it can be purchased after-market, but I'd imagine system integration would be assured.

    Other solutions are varying degrees of kludge, unfortunately.

    Good luck in your hunting, and please let us know what you end up doing.
     
  4. thejq

    thejq Junior Member

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    Only 1 hour of researching? You need more ... way more ...

    As for your question.
    1 and 3. Yes, you can replace the OEM radio with after market. You need to get the installation kit from Metra which has the instruction (http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=12009). This post also has a solution so you can use some steer wheel control.

    2. I don't trust Bestbuy. They will tell you that you need $1k worth of wiring and parts.

    4. You will most likely lose the ability to use the screen for your radio and sound, unless you somehow can use the OEM AMP with your new HU. I'm no expert here.

    I always think the cleanest solution is the IPOD way with either the ICE>LINK or AIC-100. You can still use your steering wheel buttoms and screen to control the IPOD which can be hidden away. At least, that's my plan, and I think it's easy enough so I can install it myself.
     
  5. petteri

    petteri New Member

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    If it is a DIN sized radio you can fit it in the cubby below the factory radio. You can then wire the JVS directly to the factory amp, assuming it has line level outputs at the correct voltage. You will then keep ALL of the functions of your factory unit. You can have a switch installed to automatically switch from the factory unit to the JVC. I have done this with a indash MP3 player, the Empeg (Riocar).
     
  6. veggieliving

    veggieliving New Member

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    Thanks for the replies! Here's what I finally did:

    I talked to a couple of installers at different places and due to all the concerns about what would, would not, and might not work on my car after the custom install and the fact that I found the USB stereo I was looking at didn't do playlists the way I wanted, I ended up buying a flash-based SanDisk Sanza MP3 player for $129 (would NOT buy iPod Nano because I WILL NOT convert my MP3s to their format) and a $12 cassette adapter and I'm very happy.

    It was cheaper than the replacement stereo and I don't have to worry about replacing everything back to normal when I decide to sell the car.

    Thanks again!
     
  7. BobR

    BobR Member

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    The ice>Link emulates a CD Changer and so wouldn't work.
     
  8. BobR

    BobR Member

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    The iPod plays MP3s. What is "their" format? Apple uses AAC with DRM for songs downloaded for the iTunes music store, but doesn't require that it be used.
     
  9. veggieliving

    veggieliving New Member

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    The people at two different stores told me that the iPod Nano would not play my MP3s and that I would have to use iTunes to recreate all my Windows Media Player playlists and convert the MP3's themselves to "their format". They didn't say what format that was, though I recently loaded iTunes and bought a couple of songs and they were M4Ps which nothing else would play and I couldn't find any software to convert them to MP3s, so I decided I wouldn't ever use Apple's technology again.

    In any case, I plugged in the Sansa and it synced automatically with all my meticulously built playlists in WMP and works beautifully, so I'm happy.
     
  10. ttabbal

    ttabbal New Member

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    You, and the "people and two different stores" were quite wrong. iTunes and iPod play MP3 perfectly fine. My wife and I both have iPods that have 90% MP3 format files on them. The iTunes Music Store (ITMS), sells in protected format because of the RIAA (the people that own the copyrights to the music). That protection format has M4P filenames. They are designed to make it hard to convert to another format, because that's what the RIAA wants. If you don't like that, complain to the RIAA, not Apple. If you want to buy MP3s, go through allofmp3.com or something like that. No US service can legally sell them to you.

    Now, I don't know of a way to convert your Windows Media Player playlists to iTunes. There is probably a program out there that can do it, but I've never had to worry about it as I never liked WMP much anyway. If you're happy with your device, that's fine. I'm just posting so that people don't get confused about how iPods work.

    I've played the following formats on my iPod.

    MP3
    AAC
    Protected AAC
    Apple Lossless
    Audible Audiobooks

    They all work just fine.
     
  11. EricGo

    EricGo New Member

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    Hi ttabal:

    You can add MP4 to your list of iPod compatibile formats for sure, and perhpas LAME, but on that I am not positive.

    It might be easier to say what *doesn't* play on iPod: WMP (blah), and Ogg :)()
     
  12. petteri

    petteri New Member

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    You can add FLAC lossless compression to the list.