Has anybody seen one of these in person? Aiwa's page is utterly devoid of interesting details (it's also down at the moment). The gist seems to be that you can burn CD-R and CD-RW disks of your MP3s and this gizmo will deal with it. Presumably, this will be buckets cheaper than an EMPEG, as it's coming from a major manufacturer and is probably little more than new software layered on their existing hardware.

The Aiwa gizmo is presumably also a preview of other new gizmos to come for the Christmas insanity season.

Dan

Not sure about the aiwa unit, but check out a review here of an apex dvd/mp3 player...

http://www.nerd-out.com/apex/
http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/conel/apex600a/apex600a.htm

-mark


...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

Yeah, I saw that Apex DVD/MP3 player when I was shopping for a DVD player. It was actually one of the least expensive units on display, and I considered it for a little while. But I ended up getting a more conventional DVD player with more/better features. Seeing as how I already had the Empeg set up to play through my home stereo, I didn't really need another MP3 player.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

...I'm relying on my computer for dvd playback right now, which can be kinda a pain.. I was actually thinking of buying that unit; for $150-170, it can't really be beat, and from the reviews it's supposed to actually be better at dvd functionality then some of the bigger brands..
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

The reason I didn't buy it is because it didn't have all of the outputs on the back panel that I wanted. Although right now, I'm only using the stereo outputs, I intend to upgrade my amplifier and speakers so I'll need the 5.1 and the digital outputs (for a DTS decoder later). The version of that player I saw on the shelf didn't have those outputs, so I skipped over it (although I don't know whether the one you're thinking of getting would have the same limitation or not). Also, it looked very cheezy and cheap compared to the other ones on the shelf.


Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Indeed, the Apex looks and feels cheesy, but they're now auctioning for $280-350 on eBay -- twice their retail cost. Given that any DVD player you buy today is guaranteed to be obsolete in two years, you might as well buy a cheap one that works for you today. As a nice bonus, you can disable all the bogus copyright protection features.

The Aiwa is interesting because it does like the Apex but in your car dashboard. I still can't get into the Aiwa site (sigh), but there's a short blurb on mp3.com.

In short: it's an in-dash audio CD / MP3 CD-ROM player with a 4x45 "watt" amp, AM/FM tuner, and other whizzies you'd expect from any other $350 Japanese in-dash CD player (including a steering-wheel mounted remote control). mp3.com claims it goes on sale in June.

Dan

Indeed, the Apex looks and feels cheesy, but they're now auctioning for $280-350 on eBay -- twice their retail cost. Given that any DVD player you buy today is guaranteed to be obsolete in two years, you might as well buy a cheap one that works for you today. As a nice bonus, you can disable all the bogus copyright protection features.

---

Dang - I wonder if people realize that yes, you CAN still buy these at circuti city.. I saw one when I was in a circuit city@california just two weekends ago and almost bought it then.. ($159..)
-mark

...proud to have one of the first Mark I units

As a nice bonus, you can disable all the bogus copyright protection features.

This I did not know. Are you saying that this unit allows you to turn off Macrovision and Region Encoding? If that's true, I would have bought it if I'd known about it.

See, my current TV set is pretty old and doesn't have video-ins. Only a cable-TV input. So I have to use the video-ins on my VCR to convert the DVD's signal into one that the TV set can understand. This invokes the Macrovision protection. So I was forced to buy a macrovision-breaker device and insert it into the signal chain just to be able to use my new DVD player. Another example of copy protection inconveniencing the honest consumer.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

I have one of those XWave DVDs they mention at geek.com. It probably has the same firmware as the unit reviewed (including loopholes menu), but also has Dolby Digital AC-3 decoder (with various downmixing options for people with ordinary stereos) and both coax and optical raw digital out. As MP3 player, however, it is quite inconvenient.



Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
#5196

Dang - I wonder if people realize that yes, you CAN still buy these at circuti city..

Apparently the ones you can buy now have the "loophole" menu removed. The interesting loopholes include disabling Macrovision and region lockout.

Dan

FWIW, Kenwood has also announced a gizmo that's essentially identical to the Aiwa (I think it's the eXcelon Z919 or whatever). Crutchfield lists the Aiwa for $300 and the Kenwood for $650 and the specs on the two decks seem roughly identical.