Phatnoise Install

[EddyH]

Finally had a bit of spare time today to get the phatbox installed in the Ibiza. It was alot easier than anticipated and only took around an hour. So now both our cars have one fitted and as I'm using the Ibiza for commuting at the moment I'll be alot happier with a decent music selection available. Here's a pic of it tucked away in the glovebox for anyone interested.

 

[SMILEY CULTURE]

Sorry, don't been to be ignorant, but what is that exactly?

 

[LeeroyBrown]

Yeh i would like to know what it is aswell..

 

[devonmikeyboy]

 

[NickP]

Its a device that uses cartridges to store and play MP3's...

like this :Phatnoise

 

[EddyH]

It's a 20GB MP3 player that is controlled by the standard HU using the CD changer controls and relays album and track information via voice prompts.

 

[LeeroyBrown]

Nice, what abouts you get that from? Looks good btw..

 

[EddyH]

Nice, what abouts you get that from? Looks good btw..

From a US VW dealer on ebay. They're a £600 option on the new golf GTI but direct from the US VW dealer they work out at around £120 inc. shipping and duty.

 

[FriarFR]

also from www.pixmania.co.uk

 

[mr_claypole]

Cool,

looks like what i'm after actually... did you need any additional hardware to interface it to the alana HU, or do you have an aftermarket HU?

cheers

James

 

[EddyH]

Cool,

looks like what i'm after actually... did you need any additional hardware to interface it to the alana HU, or do you have an aftermarket HU?

cheers

James

I'm using the Alana, only thing not supplied that was required was a Leon mk1 glovebox mounted CD changer cable.

Ebay user to buy from is Mikan Motors.

 

[adaml]

I'm using the Alana, only thing not supplied that was required was a Leon mk1 glovebox mounted CD changer cable.

Ebay user to buy from is Mikan Motors.

Would I therefore be right in saying that one of these would just slot into a Leon mk1 with Aura HU, replacing the CD changer, and it would just work out of the box? (obviously I'd need to load some music on it first).

How do the voice prompts work? I would think something like - it reads out the track names as you're scrolling through them. How do you select different albums when there's only 6 CD buttons?

Sorry for all the questions but it sounds like this is what I'm looking for.

EDIT: Found the US website www.phatnoise.com, downloading the manual now.

 

[EddyH]

Would I therefore be right in saying that one of these would just slot into a Leon mk1 with Aura HU, replacing the CD changer, and it would just work out of the box? (obviously I'd need to load some music on it first).

How do the voice prompts work? I would think something like - it reads out the track names as you're scrolling through them. How do you select different albums when there's only 6 CD buttons?

Sorry for all the questions but it sounds like this is what I'm looking for.

Yes they work with pretty much any VAG HU.

Voice prompts and button use is very clever, you can also have numerous playlists but to access albums you press '4' which puts you in artist selection mode you then use the forward and backward buttons to scroll through the artists in alphabetic order which it reads out. If you hold the button down it goes through letters for faster searching. You can also press '3' which works in a similar way to the artist function but for album names instead.

I think there's a demo on the phatnoise website which should demostrate it better than my description.

Also forgot to add, if you buy from the US you need a new AC adaptor which you can buy from argos or similar for a few quid.

 

[slimjim]

20gig? pah!

dh100ix..... 80 gig

 

[EddyH]

20gig? pah!

dh100ix..... 80 gig

I think they do a 160gb drive possiblly bigger but 20gig is plenty for me.

 

[slimjim]

I think they do a 160gb drive possiblly bigger but 20gig is plenty for me.

160 gig? So it's a full size drive then? Not a laptop one?

 

[EddyH]

160 gig? So it's a full size drive then? Not a laptop one?

Just checked the website and biggest is 120gb but I know some users upgrade themselves, not sure what drive it uses but probably a laptop one.

 

[slimjim]

Just checked the website and biggest is 120gb but I know some users upgrade themselves, not sure what drive it uses but probably a laptop one.

120gig .... fair enough .....

But 160 laptop drives.... didn't think they existed.

Quite like the thought of having two set up. So the wife could have a drive and I could have a drive. Interchangable.

Can you plug them in at home as well? Of do you just run your mp3's off the puter?

Im on 55gig of MP3's now

 

[EddyH]

You get a dock for the drive but I just use it for uploading so not sure.

I've no idea about what size drives are available for laptops.

 

[slimjim]

You get a dock for the drive but I just use it for uploading so not sure.

I've no idea about what size drives are available for laptops.

Pretty sure it would recognise it as a drive, so you could run the tunez from it.

Mine does.