Do you need the Phatbox from Audi?
05-07-2004, 06:43 AM
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Do you need the Phatbox from Audi?
Since it looks like those of us with XM need to kludge together our own cable to make the Phatbox work I have to wonder if we have to buy the Phatbox from Audi?
I'm mainly asking because I see the non-Audi ones come with bigger drives in them.
I'm mainly asking because I see the non-Audi ones come with bigger drives in them.
05-07-2004, 06:59 AM
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Re: You can get the bigger drives with any of them.
Did you order that as a second drive then? The Audi catalog only lists a part number for the unit with 20 GB drive.
BTW, anyone heard anything on WMA9 support for the Phatbox? My entire CD collection is already on WMA9 and I'd hate to redo that.
BTW, anyone heard anything on WMA9 support for the Phatbox? My entire CD collection is already on WMA9 and I'd hate to redo that.
05-07-2004, 08:54 AM
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Re: I started with a 40GB (that came with the unit) and then got the 60GB from PhatNoise.
Quick question. I Ripped my CD collection with Winmedia player, using the option to code in MP4, or AAC format. Does anyone know if this works with the phatbox?
Thanks
Jerry D
Thanks
Jerry D
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05-07-2004, 12:35 PM
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High-Quality MP3s
Jerry,
I do not know about MP4/AAC, but here is some information that I put together a year or two ago on how to make MP3s that sound pretty damn good on the PhatBox:
Ripping and Encoding:
I rip my CDs using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and encode into MP3 using LAME with the --preset extreme setting.
You can get EAC here:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
And you can get the latest version of LAME here:
http://mitiok.free.fr/
Here is a tutorial to use EAC/LAME:
http://www.ping.be/satcp/
Here are a couple of related links:
Lame: http://mitiok.cjb.net/
Audiograbber: http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/
I initially ripped my CDs with RealJukebox. Disappointed with the quality, I re-ripped them in Audiograbber (using LAME to encode them with the --r3mix setting). Most recently, however, I have re-ripped with EAC (using the --preset extreme setting to encode them with LAME). The beauty of EAC/LAME is that you can rip CDs in (relatively) rapid succession with EAC and have LAME automatically encode them in batch mode while you sleep. Moreover, EAC uses a "secure" ripping mode that ensures that there are no clicks or pops on the CDs - which can sometimes be a problem with AudioGrabber.
Tagging:
The key to successful MP3s is not limited to the quality of the ripping/encoding, but extends to the ID3 tag information. In fact, absent quality tags, MP3s are useless to me. Here's how I handle tagging:
I have EAC/LAME, using FreeDB/CDDB information, set up the initial ID3 tags. Once I am finished ripping/encoding, I correct/modify the ID3 tags using a variety of other programs.
I do most of my tagging using MusicMatch Jukebox Plus - http://musicmatch.com - Freeware (although I use the registered "Plus" version). Based on the ID3 tags, MMJ creates a database of your MP3s. Working with the database, you can relatively easily manipulate ID3 tags on songs in a number of directories at once. It will also copy v1 tags to v2 tags, rename tracks based on ID3 tags, etc. The greatest problem is that it is somewhat slow.
When my needs are more surgical, I like ID3-Tagit - http://www.id3-tagit.de/ - Freeware. Presenting an Explorer-like directory view, you can change ID3 tags on a song-by-song or directory-by-directory basis. I use this to rename files based on their ID3 information.
Still, there are a number of good ID3 tag editors out there (many of which I have used), including:
1. Helium. Decent software, perhaps a little slow. Shareware - http://www.intermedia.st/helium
2. MPTagger is a shell extension & executable. Good. Freeware - http://www.mptagger.com
3. MP3Extension Shell extension, visible in the Properties tab. Very Good. Freeware - http://odin.mutschler.de/mp3ext
4. MP3 Tag Studio - Worth the $8. Excellent. Shareware - http://www.magnusbrading.com/mp3ts
Also, you might want to look at http://www.musicbrainz.org/ for assistance in tagging the most difficult tracks.
I hope that this is helpful to you.
Andrew
I do not know about MP4/AAC, but here is some information that I put together a year or two ago on how to make MP3s that sound pretty damn good on the PhatBox:
Ripping and Encoding:
I rip my CDs using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and encode into MP3 using LAME with the --preset extreme setting.
You can get EAC here:
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
And you can get the latest version of LAME here:
http://mitiok.free.fr/
Here is a tutorial to use EAC/LAME:
http://www.ping.be/satcp/
Here are a couple of related links:
Lame: http://mitiok.cjb.net/
Audiograbber: http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/
I initially ripped my CDs with RealJukebox. Disappointed with the quality, I re-ripped them in Audiograbber (using LAME to encode them with the --r3mix setting). Most recently, however, I have re-ripped with EAC (using the --preset extreme setting to encode them with LAME). The beauty of EAC/LAME is that you can rip CDs in (relatively) rapid succession with EAC and have LAME automatically encode them in batch mode while you sleep. Moreover, EAC uses a "secure" ripping mode that ensures that there are no clicks or pops on the CDs - which can sometimes be a problem with AudioGrabber.
Tagging:
The key to successful MP3s is not limited to the quality of the ripping/encoding, but extends to the ID3 tag information. In fact, absent quality tags, MP3s are useless to me. Here's how I handle tagging:
I have EAC/LAME, using FreeDB/CDDB information, set up the initial ID3 tags. Once I am finished ripping/encoding, I correct/modify the ID3 tags using a variety of other programs.
I do most of my tagging using MusicMatch Jukebox Plus - http://musicmatch.com - Freeware (although I use the registered "Plus" version). Based on the ID3 tags, MMJ creates a database of your MP3s. Working with the database, you can relatively easily manipulate ID3 tags on songs in a number of directories at once. It will also copy v1 tags to v2 tags, rename tracks based on ID3 tags, etc. The greatest problem is that it is somewhat slow.
When my needs are more surgical, I like ID3-Tagit - http://www.id3-tagit.de/ - Freeware. Presenting an Explorer-like directory view, you can change ID3 tags on a song-by-song or directory-by-directory basis. I use this to rename files based on their ID3 information.
Still, there are a number of good ID3 tag editors out there (many of which I have used), including:
1. Helium. Decent software, perhaps a little slow. Shareware - http://www.intermedia.st/helium
2. MPTagger is a shell extension & executable. Good. Freeware - http://www.mptagger.com
3. MP3Extension Shell extension, visible in the Properties tab. Very Good. Freeware - http://odin.mutschler.de/mp3ext
4. MP3 Tag Studio - Worth the $8. Excellent. Shareware - http://www.magnusbrading.com/mp3ts
Also, you might want to look at http://www.musicbrainz.org/ for assistance in tagging the most difficult tracks.
I hope that this is helpful to you.
Andrew
05-07-2004, 01:34 PM
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Phatbox doesn't sell the VW/Audi version direct anymore
And everything that is available, is available for the audi version.
Check clairparts.com for prices, and then beat up your dealer for similar pricing.
Check clairparts.com for prices, and then beat up your dealer for similar pricing.