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  #1   Report Post  
SEVEN SEVILLE
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?

  #2   Report Post  
Joseph Oberlander
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

SEVEN SEVILLE wrote:

Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?


Kenwood makes a whole line of good MP3 capable players without
satellite radio. They work very well in fact.

  #3   Report Post  
Tim H.
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo

guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.


Hmm, interestin thing about compression. I understand you're not interested
in XM, but I have to "rant." I picked up my XM radio a year or so ago. It
was Alpine's XMA-T200RF unit. It came with an FM modulator to make it
co-exist with stock systems easier. I, too, could hear the compression
artifacts. I believe some stations are dynamically allocated bandwidth and
suffer from compression less.

Anyways, I decided to crack open the XM receiver and tap into the line
outputs (that go to the modulator) and run them to my stereo. It could be a
placebo effect, but it sounded better. Going direct got rid of the FM
bandwidth limitations. Again, this could be purely subjective, but I didn't
notice the compression artifacts as much.

Just my two quid,

-Tim


Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?



  #4   Report Post  
Jerry G.
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

You can get car radios that are FM/AM/CD that will play MP3's. The one in
my car will do all of these but not play MP3's. There are many models of
cars being sold with standard FM/AM/CD car radios that will play MP3's. MP3
is just another standard that requires its own type of decoding. Many of the
new CD and DVD players for home use will play MP3's.

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations. With XM radio, you pay and just get music. Because
of the quality of most of these radios, and the way that they compress the
signals, I found them to have some artefacts to my perception when
listening. I personally would not go to the bother of doing a detailed test
on one of these. Another thing, in my personal opinion, I don't think the
subscription fees for satellite radio are worth for what I would be getting.
For the amount of time that a person spends in their car, or even to listen
to radio at home, I think these fees can be put for something more useful.

--

Where you went for your radio, I have to say that the salesman is not really
an idiot, if you know what I mean. He wants to make his commissions. He
probably gets paid mainly on his sales. If he can sell you a subscription
for the XM service, he and his employer will have a continuous commission
for each month your are paying for a period of up to 1 year (from what I
have read).

Many of these services pay the vendor a commission for the sale, and then a
commission for each month that the subscriber stays with his plan. This is
how it works over here with the sales of satellite TV and telephone
services. I the area where I am located, our telephone company pays the
vendor about $15 for each contract subscription that they sell. They then
get about 3% up to about 10%, depending on the type of contract of sale, of
the subscriber's payments for up to one year as commission of sale. The
dealers usually split this with the employee who did the sale. I know of
some salesmen who have many hundreds of these types of sales under them.
They are making a good income from this alone.

I have seen situations where the salesmen will lie about the availability of
a product, because he wants to make a bigger commission from the one that
the already has. Or, he does not have the one you want in stock, and he is
too anxious to sell you another type that he has in stock.

In your case, I am very sure that the salesman wants to suck you in to
taking the services so that he can make extra cash for himself, and have
more points from his employer. If he is the owner or a partner in the
establishment, he probably even makes more for himself. There are many
stores where I will not go in to because of the pressure to buy from them.
They come after you like hungry dogs!

When purchasing at any store, make sure that you understand their return
policy. This is important in case you buy something, and you are not happy
with it. Always check out a number of places for the same type of item
before putting down your money for it. Carefully compare prices and options
available for what you are buying.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo
guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players
and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would
be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock
AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?



  #5   Report Post  
Jerry G.
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

You can get car radios that are FM/AM/CD that will play MP3's. The one in
my car will do all of these but not play MP3's. There are many models of
cars being sold with standard FM/AM/CD car radios that will now play MP3's.
MP3
is just another standard that requires its own type of decoding. Many of the
new CD and DVD players for home use will play MP3's.

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations. With XM radio, you pay and just get music. Because
of the quality of most of these radios, and the way that they compress the
signals, I found them to have some artefacts to my perception when
listening. I personally would not go to the bother of doing a detailed test
on one of these. Another thing, in my personal opinion, I don't think the
subscription fees for satellite radio are worth for what I would be getting.
For the amount of time that a person spends in their car, or even to listen
to radio at home, I think these fees can be put for something more useful.

--

Where you went for your radio, I have to say that the salesman is not really
an idiot, if you know what I mean. He wants to make his commissions. He
probably gets paid mainly on his sales. If he can sell you a subscription
for the XM service, he and his employer will have a continuous commission
for each month your are paying for a period of up to 1 year (from what I
have read).

Many of these services pay the vendor a commission for the sale, and then a
commission for each month that the subscriber stays with his plan. This is
how it works over here with the sales of satellite TV and telephone
services. I the area where I am located, our telephone company pays the
vendor about $15 for each contract subscription that they sell. They then
get about 3% up to about 10%, depending on the type of contract of sale, of
the subscriber's payments for up to one year as commission of sale. The
dealers usually split this with the employee who did the sale. I know of
some salesmen who have many hundreds of these types of sales under them.
They are making a good income from this alone.

I have seen situations where the salesmen will lie about the availability of
a product, because he wants to make a bigger commission from the one that
the already has. Or, he does not have the one you want in stock, and he is
too anxious to sell you another type that he has in stock.

In your case, I am very sure that the salesman wants to suck you in to
taking the services so that he can make extra cash for himself, and have
more points from his employer. If he is the owner or a partner in the
establishment, he probably even makes more for himself. There are many
stores where I will not go in to because of the pressure to buy from them.
They come after you like hungry dogs!

When purchasing at any store, make sure that you understand their return
policy. This is important in case you buy something, and you are not happy
with it. Always check out a number of places for the same type of item
before putting down your money for it. Carefully compare prices and options
available for what you are buying.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo
guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players
and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would
be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock
AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?






  #6   Report Post  
ReEfErMaDnEsS
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

why not grab a Nomad Zen player and a $20 FM modulator?


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo

guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?



  #7   Report Post  
michael turner
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 04:15:09 -0500, SEVEN SEVILLE wrote:

Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the
local electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car
stereo guy (just last week he was working the television department) about
MP3 players and he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and
suggested that I would be happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta
just stick with the stock AM/FM that's in there right now. Not much
difference between XM and FM you know, they even had a sample in the
showroom and you can hear the compression artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?


All I do to play my MP3s in the company car is, I just burn them onto
CDRWs as audio-CDs (the Ford CD-player that's fitted, plays CDRWs OK).
When I'm tired of the selections, I just re-format the CDRW and start
again.

--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)

  #8   Report Post  
(remove)sound
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?



Jerry G. wrote:

You can get car radios that are FM/AM/CD that will play MP3's. The one in
my car will do all of these but not play MP3's. There are many models of
cars being sold with standard FM/AM/CD car radios that will play MP3's. MP3
is just another standard that requires its own type of decoding. Many of the
new CD and DVD players for home use will play MP3's.

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations. With XM radio, you pay and just get music. Because
of the quality of most of these radios, and the way that they compress the
signals, I found them to have some artefacts to my perception when
listening. I personally would not go to the bother of doing a detailed test
on one of these. Another thing, in my personal opinion, I don't think the
subscription fees for satellite radio are worth for what I would be getting.
For the amount of time that a person spends in their car, or even to listen
to radio at home, I think these fees can be put for something more useful.

--

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription.
BUT, there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where
it would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have
these in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio
sucks. The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.
It would be good for background music in commercial establishments too.
(rights issues aside)

Bob



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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  #9   Report Post  
Kirstin Cogdill
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo

guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?


Can't a salesman give you some advice without you getting all huffy about
it?


  #10   Report Post  
michael turner
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it would
be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these in there
cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks. The XM
works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.


Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues aside)


I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.

--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)



  #11   Report Post  
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 04:15:09 -0500, SEVEN SEVILLE
wrote:

Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?



could be some guy....got hired on despite not haveing a background
inelectronics....and he is learning as he goes
  #12   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it would
be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these in there
cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks. The XM
works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.


Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.


Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV? I'm pretty
sure that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same
paradigm as you do. I could be wrong about this, but I seem to
remember having to choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper
paperwork.

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues aside)


I think that a commercial account would be covered in terms of rights.
It would be built into rental.



  #13   Report Post  
michael turner
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:35:59 -0600, dave weil wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it
would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these
in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks.
The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.


Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.


Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV?


Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.

I'm pretty sure
that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same paradigm as
you do.


AFAIK most of Western Europe has some sort of TV licensing system, usually
to fund the national broadcaster.

I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember having to
choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper paperwork.


The license choice here is a Black & White (monochrome) or Colour TV
license, and it's been like that since the late '60s.
http://www.tv-l.co.uk/

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues
aside)


I think that a commercial account would be covered in terms of rights.
It would be built into rental.


Yup it's the same with pay-TV satellite/cable here.
www.sky.com
www.telewest.co.uk
www.ntl.co.uk


--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)

  #14   Report Post  
Richard Crowley
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK

"Kirstin Cogdill" wrote ...
Can't a salesman give you some advice without you
getting all huffy about it?


Would YOU take sound/audio "advice" from someone who was
flipping burgers last week?

Redirection (from MP3 to XM) is always suspicious behavior.
Was he not listening to the customer? Did he not know what MP3
is? Is there a big spiff on selling XM this week?



  #15   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 18:01:12 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:35:59 -0600, dave weil wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it
would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these
in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks.
The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.


Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV?


Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.

I'm pretty sure
that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same paradigm as
you do.


AFAIK most of Western Europe has some sort of TV licensing system, usually
to fund the national broadcaster.

I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember having to
choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper paperwork.


The license choice here is a Black & White (monochrome) or Colour TV
license, and it's been like that since the late '60s.
http://www.tv-l.co.uk/


Thanks for the info.


  #16   Report Post  
ec
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo

guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?


Alpine 98 series. I have the 9815. It was $350 ( $499 MSRP ). It can play
48KHz 320Kbps MP3's max which is near CD quality. ( if someone tells you
128K is, smack them ). FM tuner works great.


  #17   Report Post  
Jim Hoff
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

Bypassing the FM modulator and plugging direct will restore channel
separation, dynamic range, reduce distortion, reduce noise, and restore
freq. response (as you mentioned). Good move, that.


"Tim H." wrote in message
news:vcIXb.38418$yE5.137465@attbi_s54...

"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car

stereo
guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you

know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.


Hmm, interestin thing about compression. I understand you're not

interested
in XM, but I have to "rant." I picked up my XM radio a year or so ago. It
was Alpine's XMA-T200RF unit. It came with an FM modulator to make it
co-exist with stock systems easier. I, too, could hear the compression
artifacts. I believe some stations are dynamically allocated bandwidth and
suffer from compression less.

Anyways, I decided to crack open the XM receiver and tap into the line
outputs (that go to the modulator) and run them to my stereo. It could be

a
placebo effect, but it sounded better. Going direct got rid of the FM
bandwidth limitations. Again, this could be purely subjective, but I

didn't
notice the compression artifacts as much.

Just my two quid,

-Tim


Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?





  #18   Report Post  
Joseph Oberlander
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

ec wrote:


Alpine 98 series. I have the 9815. It was $350 ( $499 MSRP ). It can play
48KHz 320Kbps MP3's max which is near CD quality. ( if someone tells you
128K is, smack them ). FM tuner works great.


Btw - rough comparison:

128K - AM stereo quality.
192K - FM quality.(both with no hiss or artifacts, though)
240K - Tape or Vinyl.
320K - Good tape - Metal or Hi-fi VCR or R-R.

The quality jump from 128K to 192K alone is shocking. 320K
is half CD raw data in size, though with VBR compression and
a good encoder, you can get about 3/4 CD quality for about 1/3
the size - a nice compromise, IMO.

I'd consider 192K to be a bare minimum for a noisy environment.

  #19   Report Post  
xmdude
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

I have both XM and Sirius in my car and love both services. Personally I
think it's worth the $25 a month I pay since I'm driving quite a bit and FM
broadcast leaves little to be desired around here. The DJ talk in the
mornings is pathetic. Both of my systems are FM modulated and sound pretty
good. Hey... you can't take it with you and I can afford it, so why not?
It's not contract service like cellular phones, so I can cancel anytime.

About the MP3 player comments... Wal-Mart sells a FM modulated CD/MP3 6 disc
changer for 90 bucks. I have one and it works great. Best Buy sells an
identical CD/MP3 unit, but branded differently, for $229... so I think the
Wal-Mart version is a pretty dang good deal.

"Jerry G." wrote in message
...

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear

the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations.



  #20   Report Post  
Masterson
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?

Wal-Mart sells a FM modulated CD/MP3 6 disc
changer for 90 bucks. . Best Buy sells an identical
CD/MP3 unit, but branded differently, for $229...


What is the name of the two different name brands?






  #21   Report Post  
James Sweet
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots?


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the

local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo

guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3

players and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I

would be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock

AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?



I had a Jensen breifly that was crap, returned it and got a Kenwood, I
forget the model number but I've been pleased with it, I think it was $250
at the time but this was a couple years ago. The FM tuner works ok, but I
rarely ever use it since I've always got a couple CD's of MP3's in the car.
I haven't noticed any difference in tuner performance between modern head
units of at least reasonably decent quality.


  #22   Report Post  
James Sweet
 
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"ReEfErMaDnEsS" wrote in message
news:nZLXb.311811$I06.3160189@attbi_s01...
why not grab a Nomad Zen player and a $20 FM modulator?



That works, but it's rather kludgey, it's much nicer to have all the
controls right on the head unit.


  #23   Report Post  
thelizman
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK

Richard Crowley wrote:

Would YOU take sound/audio "advice" from someone who was
flipping burgers last week?


Appeal to authority, and a straw man argument. You enjoy logical
fallacies don't you. I've worked as a game room attendant, computer
technician, website operator, and combat infantry in the last few
years. I bet I've forgotten more about car audio than many people on
this newsgroup will ever know.

Redirection (from MP3 to XM) is always suspicious behavior.
Was he not listening to the customer? Did he not know what MP3
is? Is there a big spiff on selling XM this week?


You expressed an interest in Digital Audio, presumably for its clarity
over AM/FM. And make no doubt - a properly installed XM setup sounds
alot better than FM. What the salesman did was redirect you to a
competitive product that he felt would satisfy your needs. If you know
it all, mister, then don't bother the salespeople. Order **** from
crutchfield, and spare both yourself and the salesguy the
pain-in-the-ass hostilites. He's just trying to make a living.

--
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teamROCS Car Audio Forums
http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #24   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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michael turner wrote:

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.


We do. Many establishments get their canned music via DirecTV. Several
cable services also broadcast digital music channels, and in larger
markets they rebroadcast local AM/FM content for free over their Digital
Packages. A long time ago they had SCR (Satellite Commercial Radio)
which sent commercial free music over C-band satellites, but this was
largely replaced by the micro-dish providers.

For individuals, the market is much shallower. The consumer demand on
this side of the pond is image driven, and not equity driven. We still
don't have jack from RDS other than the station call letters, while in
some parts of Europe RDS actually changes the channel for you.

--
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http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #25   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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michael turner wrote:
Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.


As much as I hate the idea of government providing products that could
be provided by the private sector, I have to say it's damn nice that BBC
doesn't put those annoying screen bugs over the shows. 3/4 of the
Farscape episodes I've downloaded are from the BBC, and its so nice not
to have the Sci Fi channels logo frelling up the action.

--
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http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
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"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #26   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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ec wrote:
if someone tells you
128K is, smack them )


Smack yourself. 128 kbps on a quality codec for certain pieces can
actually exceed CD quality. There's more that goes into coding an MP3
file than the bitrate.


--
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"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #27   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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Joseph Oberlander wrote:

Just wondering, but why is this crossposted to hell and back?

non-audio newsgroups deleted

Btw - rough comparison:

128K - AM stereo quality.
192K - FM quality.(both with no hiss or artifacts, though)
240K - Tape or Vinyl.
320K - Good tape - Metal or Hi-fi VCR or R-R.


Very rough - I'm wondering how you came up with those figures. For
starters, AM is not available in stereo - there's not enough bandwidth
to encode both channels on a single carrier. Regardless, AM quality is
equivalent to about 40 kbps MP3. FM radio quality begins at a mere 80
Kbps, and CD quality needs only 113 kbps. Of course, this all depends on
at least the following factors:

a) The codec - lame is probably the best choice, unless you have more
money than disk space and brains, in which case you'll want the fhg
(Fraunhofer Group) codec (which I'm told is still freely available for
the taking if you can find an older version of MusicMatch Jukebox).

b) The amount of information - and ironically classical music needs less
space because there is less overall information than contemporary music.

c) The available system resources on the machine doing the encoding.

Regardless, MP3 stinks for discriminating ears. Use ogg - better quality
at lower bitrates. I've got 6 mb Ogg files which put their 14 mb MP3
counterparts to shame. They've come a long way since 99.


--
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teamROCS Car Audio Forums
http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #28   Report Post  
Kalman Rubinson
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots?

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 20:09:05 -0500, thelizman
wrote:

michael turner wrote:

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.


For individuals, the market is much shallower. The consumer demand on
this side of the pond is image driven, and not equity driven. We still
don't have jack from RDS other than the station call letters, while in
some parts of Europe RDS actually changes the channel for you.


Too bad. I get DMX at my country house and I've enjoyed it for most
of the last 10 years.. The sound quality and program content, for me,
are vastly superior to what comes from cable and TV satellite
providers. Have not compared it to satellite radio but see no need
to.

Kal


  #29   Report Post  
Richard Crowley
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK

"thelizman" wrote ...
Richard Crowley wrote:

Would YOU take sound/audio "advice" from someone who was
flipping burgers last week?


Appeal to authority, and a straw man argument. You enjoy logical
fallacies don't you. I've worked as a game room attendant, computer
technician, website operator, and combat infantry in the last few
years. I bet I've forgotten more about car audio than many people on
this newsgroup will ever know.

Redirection (from MP3 to XM) is always suspicious behavior.
Was he not listening to the customer? Did he not know what MP3
is? Is there a big spiff on selling XM this week?


You expressed an interest in Digital Audio,


Perhaps you should get several facts straight. Go back
and read the original posting.

The OP was "SEVEN SEVILLE" (not me) who was asking for a
unit for his truck that he could use to play his MP3 collection with.

presumably for its clarity over AM/FM.


Actually I believe Mr. Seville was asking specifically
for MP3 playback so that he could play his existing
collection of music. He never mentioned anything about
"clarity" or "digital audio", but specifically for an "MP3
player". The salesguy attempted to up-sell him to a
sattelite receiver which he never expressed any interest
in. I strongly suspect that there was a financial incentive
to sell satellite radio receivers, but I could overly
suspicious from previous dishonest encounters.

And make no doubt - a properly installed XM setup
sounds alot better than FM.


Mr. Seville specifically stated that he could hear the
compression artifacts in the demo setup at the shop.
If satellite receiver quality really is determined by
"proper installation" then Mr. Seville had no real
expectation that they could do any better in his truck,
than they did for their own sales demo, now did he?
An inauspicious exhibit of their abilities to say the
least.

What the salesman did was redirect you to a
competitive product that he felt would satisfy your needs. If you know
it all, mister, then don't bother the salespeople. Order **** from
crutchfield, and spare both yourself and the salesguy the
pain-in-the-ass hostilites. He's just trying to make a living.


And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why local shops are going
out of business. Customers can't find anyone that either knows
what they are talking about or will give them a straight and
unbiased answer. Thank goodness for the internet. No further
questions, your honor. I rest my case. The witness is excused.


  #30   Report Post  
thelizman
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK

Richard Crowley wrote:

Perhaps you should get several facts straight. Go back
and read the original posting.

The OP was "SEVEN SEVILLE" (not me) who was asking for a
unit for his truck that he could use to play his MP3 collection with.


Okay dickhead, perhaps you shouldn't munge the quotes in your replies.
The original post is not on my server - one of the many reasons usenet
equiquette exists is to preserve the context and format of statements.

Actually I believe Mr. Seville was asking specifically
for MP3 playback so that he could play his existing
collection of music. He never mentioned anything about
"clarity" or "digital audio", but specifically for an "MP3
player".


Wow, I think I've met my match in the "pompous arrogant ****"
department. If I recall, my statement was that "[he] expressed an
interest in Digital Audio", which is what MP3 is. The salesman was right
to direct his attention towards digital satellite radio options.

The salesguy attempted to up-sell him to a
sattelite receiver which he never expressed any interest
in.


How can you express interest in something you don't know about? This is
why stores still have salesman. As I advised, if you know it all, then
don't bother the sales people.

I strongly suspect that there was a financial incentive
to sell satellite radio receivers, but I could overly
suspicious from previous dishonest encounters.



Newsflash guy - he's a commercial establishment. There's a financial
incentive to sell everything. It's called "capitalism".


Mr. Seville specifically stated that he could hear the
compression artifacts in the demo setup at the shop.

If satellite receiver quality really is determined by
"proper installation" then Mr. Seville had no real
expectation that they could do any better in his truck,
than they did for their own sales demo, now did he?
An inauspicious exhibit of their abilities to say the
least.


The keywords being a "demo setup", which was likely through an FM
modulator. A unit with builtin XM reception produces very high quality
music. I think you need to stop speaking for Mr. Seville. You're not
even doing a good job of making up your bs on the fl, much less trying
to interpret his perceptions.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why local shops are going
out of business. Customers can't find anyone that either knows
what they are talking about or will give them a straight and
unbiased answer. Thank goodness for the internet. No further
questions, your honor. I rest my case. The witness is excused.


"local" shops, when they are going out of business, are doing so because
of their inability to compete with chain stores in the areas of price
and product availability. The talent at the chain stores is roughly the
same, which can be bad or good. I haven't seen any local shops going out
of business around here. In fact, one of my former coworkes left his job
at a chain store to start a "local" shop selling car sound and
performance products - he's making more money than he knows what to do
with. Another former coworker left a management position at said chain
store and bought up a 'local' shop and has now expanded to two
operations in fairly large market (Greensboro / Winston-Salem, NC).

Local shops going out of business indeed. Ask Eddie Runner how close he
is to going out of business.


--
thelizman

teamROCS Car Audio Forums
http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

This post is Copyright (C) 2004. Reproduction of its content anywhere
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  #31   Report Post  
Robert Grizzard
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots? BECAUSE ALF, YOU ARE A JERK

In sci.electronics.repair thelizman wrote:

This post is Copyright (C) 2004. Reproduction of its content anywhere
other than the rec.audio.car newsgroup without the express written
permission of the author is forbidden.


Do I have your express permission to quote your posts (which are
crossposted to the Usenet newsgroups rec.audio.car, rec.audio.opinion,
and sci.electronics.repair) for the purpose of answering your points?
IOW, I wish to reproduce the contents of your posts in a venue other
than that you implicitly grant permission for.

If I don't then can you please limit your responses to those Usenet
newsgroups that you do grant permission for?

  #32   Report Post  
Sockpuppet Yustabe
 
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"Robert Grizzard" wrote in message
...
In sci.electronics.repair thelizman wrote:

This post is Copyright (C) 2004. Reproduction of its content anywhere
other than the rec.audio.car newsgroup without the express written
permission of the author is forbidden.


Do I have your express permission to quote your posts (which are
crossposted to the Usenet newsgroups rec.audio.car, rec.audio.opinion,
and sci.electronics.repair) for the purpose of answering your points?
IOW, I wish to reproduce the contents of your posts in a venue other
than that you implicitly grant permission for.

If I don't then can you please limit your responses to those Usenet
newsgroups that you do grant permission for?


you can sit down now. you have my permission.




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  #33   Report Post  
Z Gluhak
 
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Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes uses when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better than FM
to me.


Smack yourself. 128 kbps on a quality codec for certain pieces can
actually exceed CD quality. There's more that goes into coding an MP3
file than the bitrate.



  #34   Report Post  
Mark Zarella
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots?

Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes uses
when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better than

FM
to me.


He was referring to the encoding algorithm. That is, the compression
algorithm used to MAKE mp3s from cds. What you're referring to is DEcoding
the "universal" mp3 code, which should (theoretically) be the same across
players.


  #35   Report Post  
Z Gluhak
 
Posts: n/a
Default why are salesmen such idiots?


Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes uses
when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better than

FM
to me.


He was referring to the encoding algorithm. That is, the compression
algorithm used to MAKE mp3s from cds. What you're referring to is

DEcoding
the "universal" mp3 code, which should (theoretically) be the same across
players.



I understand - so was I. When you buy a song from Itunes or Napster, they
made the MP3. It's 128K. It sounds very close to cd quality.

I was wondering what codec, or encoding algorithm they use to make quality
Mp3s at 128K.





  #36   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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note: sci.electronics.repair removed from ng xpost list

Z Gluhak wrote:
Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes uses when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better than FM
to me.


I'm not quite sure on Napster, but iTunes uses AAC which is a very good
codec, probably the best lossy compression codec commercially available.
It's basically MP4 of sorts, the MPEG Layer 4 Advanced Audio Codec.

AAC includes Digital Rights Management, however. My view on DRM is that
anything which restricts your ability to portablize your music and adds
size to the file is detrimental. It just so happens that the same kid
who cracked the CSS DVD Encryption scheme (making it possible to backup
your DVD's, or rip them to your hard drive like I do) recently cracked
Apple's DRM on AAC.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...id=141&tid=188



--
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http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
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"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #37   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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note: sci.electronics.repair removed from ng xpost list

Z Gluhak wrote:

I understand - so was I. When you buy a song from Itunes or Napster, they
made the MP3. It's 128K. It sounds very close to cd quality.

I was wondering what codec, or encoding algorithm they use to make quality
Mp3s at 128K.


See other post. They're probably passing AAC files off with an MP3
extension. There is also a fraunhofer pro codec which uses additional
spectral data to clean up the bass and treble. It can be played on MP3
player, but only players with the fhp codec will get the benefit of the
pro encoding scheme.

AFAIK, Apple uses AAC and probably just gives it the mp3 extension
instead of incrementing to mp4.


--
thelizman

teamROCS Car Audio Forums
http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #38   Report Post  
Adam Drew
 
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Default why are salesmen such idiots?

Z Gluhak wrote:

Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes uses


when

you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better than


FM

to me.


He was referring to the encoding algorithm. That is, the compression
algorithm used to MAKE mp3s from cds. What you're referring to is


DEcoding

the "universal" mp3 code, which should (theoretically) be the same across
players.




I understand - so was I. When you buy a song from Itunes or Napster, they
made the MP3. It's 128K. It sounds very close to cd quality.

I was wondering what codec, or encoding algorithm they use to make quality
Mp3s at 128K.


Z Gluhak wrote:

Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes

uses when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better

than FM
to me.


Apple offers a tool for the record companies to encode their own
files--the "Music Store Encoder Tool." I haven't run across a copy
yet...

iTunes uses a 128 kbps bitrate, but they use AAC format instead of MP3.
They say it's roughly equivalent to a 160 kbps MP3, but on
complex/fast/detailed songs I've found that I want a higher bitrate.

Here's some info:
http://www.apple.com/mpeg4/aac/

Stuff like Jack Johnson or Norah Jones generally sounds fine to me; it's
fast punk rock--especially the drums and cymbals--that start sounding
"syrupy" to me. (That's the only way I know to describe it.)

From what I've read, Apple tries to rip the file from the original
studio masters/tapes which explains the high sound quality. If only
they'd offer songs encoded at 160 or 192 kbps...


HTH,
Adam

  #39   Report Post  
thelizman
 
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Robert Grizzard wrote:
Do I have your express permission to quote your posts


No, now sit down waldo.

Incidentally who is the genius who crossposted this thread to
sci.electronics.repair?

--
thelizman

teamROCS Car Audio Forums
http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

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  #40   Report Post  
Adam Drew
 
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thelizman wrote:
note: sci.electronics.repair removed from ng xpost list

Z Gluhak wrote:

Hey thelizman do you know how quality of a codec Napster or Itunes
uses when
you pay the buck for a song from them? It definitely sounds better
than FM
to me.



I'm not quite sure on Napster, but iTunes uses AAC which is a very good
codec, probably the best lossy compression codec commercially available.
It's basically MP4 of sorts, the MPEG Layer 4 Advanced Audio Codec.

AAC includes Digital Rights Management, however. My view on DRM is that
anything which restricts your ability to portablize your music and adds
size to the file is detrimental. It just so happens that the same kid
who cracked the CSS DVD Encryption scheme (making it possible to backup
your DVD's, or rip them to your hard drive like I do) recently cracked
Apple's DRM on AAC.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0...id=141&tid=188


AFAIK, only the songs purchased from the iTunes store have the FairPlay
DRM built in. If you set iTunes to rip your own music to AAC files, it
applies no copy protection. Apparently the new version rips to AAC by
default; I disabled it because my car player only plays MP3s...and I'm
pretty sure iTunes won't convert an AAC file to MP3 on-the-fly when
burning an MP3 disk (not that I'd want to).

The extension on a ripped file is .m4a
The extension on a bought file is .m4p

Adam
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