I want to install a portable MP3 to my Element , but I have been reading some threads and I am a little confused..I have some Cd's with mp3 that I cant play on my cd...what kind of MP3 do you suggest I buy.. I want something that is portable and I can use it in the Element and home...can anyone give suggestions?? thanks

Well, I love my Nomad ZenXtra 40GB player!
I think I'm the only owner in this club that has one. :?
Everybody else will be recommending the iPod.
Great choice of colors, by the way! 8) Any accessories yet? Ooooo, besides the wheels!?:D

thanks for the reply, I still have another question...does this MP3 plays cd's or I have to download the music to the MP3?? thanks again :roll:

thanks for the reply, I still have another question...does this MP3 plays cd's or I have to download the music to the MP3??
The MP3 player just plugs into your AUX jack in the dash. You leave your CD/radio in place. The player runs throught the AUX in the radio.
This answer your question?

I am so sorry I am new at this :oops: ...but I really dont understand...I want to play music I have on a cd....and it has to be in an mp3 player...so it has to be an MP3 you can play cd's.... :?: :?:

Hmmm, now you have me confused. You want to put a CD in an MP3 player? You have to convert the CD to .MP3 or another audio format.

LOL...my stepson had an mp3 player in his car and he sold it so he gave us the cd's with more that 50 songs each cd....we can only listen to them in the computer, but I want to listen to them in the Element and dont know what to buy or do....sorry about the confusion....

Hmmm, maybe that should've been your first post! :P
If you want to play those CD's (50 songs on a CD are probably WMA format) in your E you'll need a CD/MP3/WMA receiver.
Here's some examples;
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-878t23KVkzU/cgi-bin/prodgroup.asp?s=0&cc=01&g=62700&est=&search=mp3

It is possible to make your own cd's that'll play in the stock E cd player but they can't be mp3 format. You could either get a portable CD player that plays mp3 format (there are many by RCA, Sony and others) for around $75 or so.

The better option would be to get an mp3 player without a cd drive (Rio, Creative, iPod) depends on how much you want to spend. Then you could just copy all the songs from the cd's onto the mp3 player (via your computer) and plug it into your aux jack. That'd save you from needing to swap cd's and more control of the content. You could get thousands of songs on one unit that way.

If I understand what you're asking, you likely have data-CDs with MP3 files on them, and need a CD player that can play them.

That's exactly what I do. You can fit up to 700 megabytes of MP3 files on a regular CD-R disc. Assuming average bitrate MP3 files, that's about 10 hours of music.

But, as you know, you can't just pop these discs into a regular audio CD player. At best, it won't recognize the disc. At worst, it will make some horrible sounds, possibly damaging your equipment. That's because normal players are designed to read audio-format CDs. That's a very different thing than data-format CDs.

To read data-format CDs, you need a CD player that's designed for it. They are readily available and inexpensive. Look for "Supports MP3 data discs" or other verbage. I've had a couple of the Philips Xpanium players, starting around $50. They do a good job, and seem well made. My current one cost $60 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009OOFV/ref=pd_sbs_e_1/104-9403206-2073566?v=glance&s=electronics), cheap enough that I'm not going to cry when it dies from being slapped around in such a harsh environment as a car. It's a decent player for such little money.

A word of caution: The marketing hype of some companies may try to mislead you into thinking that a player is MP3-capable by saying it "Supports CD-R and CD-RW discs". What they mean is CDs burned in audio-format, in other words, normal audio cds. Don't fall for it.

Hope this helps.

thanks for the information...just one more question...does this one have an adapter for the car?? or is it only on batteries?? thanks

You can buy the adaptor at alsmost any elelctronics store.

I bought a Panasonic portable CD player that also plays MP3 files for about $55 at Costco. It was made for joggers. Their new version has a wired remote which would be handy in a car.

We use this to listen to books on CD. I borrow the books on CD at the library and convert them to MP3 files on my computer, then burn those files to a CD-R that I use in the Panasonic. Four or five books will fit on one CD.

I use rechargeable AA batteries and they last probably 10 hours before needing recharging. As noted above, you can buy an adapter that plugs into the 12V outlet and converts the power to the voltage your player uses. These adapters are about $20, and are available at Radio Shack, Best Buy and other such places. I would get one that has selectable voltages and multiple plug tips. Otherwise you have to match both voltage and plug type up to the player you buy, which means Radio Shack is your best source. (I saw a nice sized multiple voltage one at Best Buy that I liked.)

I decided just to use batteries since I have a digital camera and have a bunch of batteries and rechargers, including one for the car.

Some portable CD players come with 12V adapters and say "car kit" on their packaging. Here's the one from Panasonic via Target for $60. (Note the cassette adapter which is so last century when you have an Element!):
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0001IXUGM.16._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_8/602-3676371-5219064?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B0001IXUGM

I bought the Panasonic specifically because it has a resume feature that restarts at the same book segment (3-5 minutes apart), if you stop it. It also has a pause for gas stops while we're on a trip.

Bottom line: you need a portable CD player that supports MP3 playback!

[quote:acff587036=" "]thanks for the information...just one more question...does this one have an adapter for the car?? or is it only on batteries?? thanks[/quote:acff587036]

That's a good point, I don't think the one I linked to comes with a 12volt adapter. As Beatbox said, you can get them separately, but it might be easiest for you to buy a player with a "car kit", as BigFoot said. You won't need the cassette adapter, but the cig-lighter adapter is nice, and no fiddling with voltage settings on a universal one. It's nice in the E because it's all right there on the console.

(speaking of "last century", when are they going to get rid of the silly cig-lighter power ports? I mean, the car doesn't come with an ashtray, why the inch-wide power socket? Jeeze, my old Coupe deVille had twelve of them, but that was when people still smoked like chimneys! Now I just want a little plug. That shouldn't be that hard to standardize. :) )