Sony MEX-1HD Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback
- Additional Features: Built-in Hard Disk Animated Display
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: XM Ready
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CD-text While Ripping
Pros
Your entire CD collection in your car.
Cons
Remote and Memory Stick not included.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Transferring audio files with text to the unit was performed by creating a CD-RW on my PC then ripping to unit. Interface was easy to learn and use.
The recent introduction of car audio hard drives is welcome. I own a Sony Vaio PC and have my entire CD collection ripped to Sony's OpenMG (SonicStage) Digital Music Manager . I enjoy having a library of music on my PC and the thought of not having to carry a 100 or more CD's around in my car sounded great. My current car head unit is a Nakamichi CD-45Z and sound quality is important to me. There is a small sacrifice in sound quality with compressed audio files but its very little. The question I had about the MEX-1HD was if I could transfer CD-text while ripping CD's to the units hard drive. Having to enter the artist, album, and track info by hand would be very time consuming. I found the MEX-1HD on sale for $650 at a major retail store and with the a 30 day return policy. I bought a Radio Shack 12 volt power supply and set the unit next to my PC to put it test.
It rips in Sony's ATRAC3 format 105kbs and 132kbs. It does not allow MP3 files to rip to the hard drive but will play MP3 CD's and will display ID3 tag text. It rips at 8x speed which takes most CD's between 6-8 min to rip to the hard drive. The hard drive has 8.5GB's space of the total 10GB's for storage of music and text info.
The MEX-1HD does not allow direct connection to a PC. The USB connection is a digital I/O for a Sony Network Walkman only. The Memory Stick function requires Magic Gate Memory Stick for ATRAC3 (including text) file transfers between the MEX-1HD and Sony's Memory Stick devices or OpenMG Music Manager software.
You can rip your CD's directly into the hard drive but the task of entering text with the manual text function for 1500 plus songs I planed to install was not an option for me. I used CDDB Gracenote Online music CD database when ripping my CD collection to my PC. The hope that I could create a CD-RW disk on my PC which included text and then rip to the MEX-1HD was rewarded. Transferring my music collection (including text) to the MEX-1HD was very easy. It helped that I already had my CD collection on my PC. You can write up to 80 minutes of music to a CD-RW and re-use again and again.
The interface and folder system on the MEX-1HD is very user friendly. I have loaded all my files into one folder. I have 74 albums and 726 total tracks installed with 5.4 MB's space remaining using the 132kbs format. To access your library of music you simply rotate a knob to select the hard drive. Press the same knob to enter, then rotate to select a list of folders that the unit has automatically sorted your songs into by album, artist, song name, access history, and when recorded. The MEX-1HD also allows you shuffle play by album or folder. You can create a folder of favorites simply by selecting songs as a favorite.
I have kept the unit on and playing for days at a time, along with opening and closing the motorized face more times that you normally would with normal use. The unit has a cooling fan and has not even gotten warm. The hard drive makes a strange noise when it first spins up, but I have determined this is normal and the unit is super quite while playing. This is Sony's top of line and has all the high-end features Sony currently offers. The controls feel solid and once you set your preferences for the many display options its very simple use.
It rips in Sony's ATRAC3 format 105kbs and 132kbs. It does not allow MP3 files to rip to the hard drive but will play MP3 CD's and will display ID3 tag text. It rips at 8x speed which takes most CD's between 6-8 min to rip to the hard drive. The hard drive has 8.5GB's space of the total 10GB's for storage of music and text info.
The MEX-1HD does not allow direct connection to a PC. The USB connection is a digital I/O for a Sony Network Walkman only. The Memory Stick function requires Magic Gate Memory Stick for ATRAC3 (including text) file transfers between the MEX-1HD and Sony's Memory Stick devices or OpenMG Music Manager software.
You can rip your CD's directly into the hard drive but the task of entering text with the manual text function for 1500 plus songs I planed to install was not an option for me. I used CDDB Gracenote Online music CD database when ripping my CD collection to my PC. The hope that I could create a CD-RW disk on my PC which included text and then rip to the MEX-1HD was rewarded. Transferring my music collection (including text) to the MEX-1HD was very easy. It helped that I already had my CD collection on my PC. You can write up to 80 minutes of music to a CD-RW and re-use again and again.
The interface and folder system on the MEX-1HD is very user friendly. I have loaded all my files into one folder. I have 74 albums and 726 total tracks installed with 5.4 MB's space remaining using the 132kbs format. To access your library of music you simply rotate a knob to select the hard drive. Press the same knob to enter, then rotate to select a list of folders that the unit has automatically sorted your songs into by album, artist, song name, access history, and when recorded. The MEX-1HD also allows you shuffle play by album or folder. You can create a folder of favorites simply by selecting songs as a favorite.
I have kept the unit on and playing for days at a time, along with opening and closing the motorized face more times that you normally would with normal use. The unit has a cooling fan and has not even gotten warm. The hard drive makes a strange noise when it first spins up, but I have determined this is normal and the unit is super quite while playing. This is Sony's top of line and has all the high-end features Sony currently offers. The controls feel solid and once you set your preferences for the many display options its very simple use.
