Hi everyone! As judging from my observations with new cars at the Melbourne Motor Show, the motoring columns in the daily press, write-ups in motoring magazines and reports on this list; it is becoming a common practice for vehicle builders to specify a slot-in single-disc CD player and radio combination as the stndard car audio option in a lot of vehicles. Some manufacturers like GM, Ford, Toyota and Saab are offering single-CD/cassette units in a form similar to the double-DIN CD-cassette units now available on the market. These would allow the use of a cassette adaptor if you want to play your MiniDisc walkman through the car sound system. But most manufacturers such as Honda, VW, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Daewoo and Hyundai are offering single-disc "slot-in" CD players which have no cassette facility. A few of them who use Philips / VDO-Dayton to supply the system, such as Hyundai, Daewoo and Alfa Romeo, have head-units identical to what is or was offered by this company in the aftermarket. This means that you can connect the MD walkman to the unit's AUX sockets and select the AUX input in order to hear it through the car sound system. Other systems often don't come with any external-source connectivity options or may come with a connectivity option for a dealer-fit CD changer (in the case of VW for example). OEMs and vehicle builders could realise that MiniDisc does exist and could look towards integrating it into their own vehicles. This reality comes about due to the popularity of "MD-Bundles" and the cost of MD equipment plummeting into affordable levels even though it is facing the threat of being usurped by the MP3-based solid-state audio players. As well, MD is available in stereo systems that are close to the bottom of the price range where you expect to buy a decent stereo system that will last. This could be done by integrating JVC's or Panasonic's single-slot CD/MiniDisc solution into their designs. If JVC improved the eject action on their mechanism in order to eject the MiniDisc a lot further than it does in the current implementation (bring out the disc by an inch at least), the mechanism can be used in curve-front dashboards like that found in the VW New Beetle. WIth regards, Simon Mackay ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
