CD Changer Interface

[supacon]

Hello:

I'm interested in a project that involves using a computer to play MP3s and more formats, and I'd like to know if you or anyone who might read this knows about the specifications for a CD-Changer interface.  I have a Kenwood Excelon X659, which has support for a CD changer, and ID3 tag support.  I think it would be a nice easy solution if you could hook the car receiver right up to a computer, and make the deck think that the computer is a cd-changer (or something like the "Kenwood Music Keg").  I'd prefer this to the music keg because I could use a standard, much bigger hard disk, and also writer or get software that would support a much wider variety of formats.  I'd like to see support for OGG, but it's just not happening yet in car hardware.

if anyone has interesting info, I'd love to hear it.  you can e-mail me at mailto:jdlien@fullspec.ca">jdlien@fullspec.ca.

[admin]

I found this page:
http://www.mictronics.de/?page=cdc_proto" TARGET="_top">http://www.mictronics.de/?page=cdc_proto
a while back, when I was looking into doing something similar with my Pioneer IP bus head unit.    It contains some info on the Blaupunkt, Kenwood, Pioneer, Panasonic and Alpine M-Bus cd changer protocols.

In the end I said to heck with it and decided to continue to use my gamepad and character lcd.  Even if there would've been a straight-forward way to get it to work I'd still want to keep the lcd, since the 10-character display on my head unit is nothing to write home about.

For those with Sony head units, the Gnunilink project looks promising:
http://gnunilink.sourceforge.net" TARGET="_top">http://gnunilink.sourceforge.net

Haven't seen any OGG support in the hardware players yet, but there is Flac support in the Phatnoise player.
http://www.phatnoise.com/products/digitalmediaplayers/formats.php" TARGET="_top">http://www.phatnoise.com/products/digitalmediaplayers/formats.php
But even then, the price is close to highway robbery and the storage capacity leaves a lot to be desired.

If nothing else, an aux-in adapter for the headunit is definitly worth it.  It's nice to be able to use the head unit to control the volume and switch audio sources.

Hope this helps.