e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

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Omnifi™ DMP1 20 GB Automobile Digital Media Player

The Omnifi™ DMP1 is light years beyond traditional car audio products. If you’ve ever tried to load a CD changer in your trunk while it’s raining, or dropped your disc wallet in a puddle, or lost or scratched a valuable CD, or are simply tired of radio, you’ll appreciate the value of a secure music library with hundreds of your favorite albums. Moreover, unlike a portable MP3 player that cannot be easily operated in a car, the DMP1 was specifically designed for easy and safe operation while behind the wheel. Most important, the software backbone of this system is easy to use and does everything you need it to do, and it provides the additional perk of setting up your home PC as a music jukebox. Throw in the option of a Wi-Fi® home-to-car connection, and you have one of the most interesting mobile audio products to hit the road in years

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We might be living in the Golden Age of mobile audio/video entertainment. The old standbys of cassette, CD, and AM/FM radio are still alive and well, and they have been enormously juiced up by DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, MP3, XM and Sirius satellite radio, and HD radio. Clearly, no one has an excuse to say they are bored during their daily drive time.

Of all the technological improvements, perhaps none is as pervasive as MP3. MP3 kicked off the file-sharing revolution that is legally (and illegally) changing the business of music, and reshaping how we bring music into our lives and carry it with us. Although a few oldsters still resist, most music lovers now routinely rip CDs into MP3 or WMA files. They burn the files to CD-R, or transfer them to the flash memory or microdrives in their portable players. It is often difficult to connect the output of portable MP3 players into a car playback system (and let’s not even discuss the issue of how dangerous it is to drive while wearing headphones), but many modern car head units can play the MP3/WMA files on CD-R. That means a single disc might hold 10 hours of music — not a bad little library, and one reason why non-MP3 CD changers and players are now passé.

But what if you need to carry a really BIG music library with you? What if you don’t want to swap out discs every few days, or what if you are driving from New York to LA and need a lot of tunes? The answer is a new niche of products that can record hundreds of hours of music on a removable hard drive, then navigate and play back the contents through your car’s audio system. Even better, the task of putting the music on the hard drive can be done wirelessly with Wi-Fi®. In other words, there is a new generation of products such as the Omnifi DMP1 Digital Media Player.

The Omnifi™ DMP1 (Omnifi™ is a division of the well-known audio manufacturer, Rockford Fosgate Corp.) is a hard disk player for the car. Because its music content is ripped or downloaded MP3/WMA files, the DMP1 presupposes that you have a source of files, such as a home computer. (If you are a music lover, your PC might already have a few thousand songs on its hard drive). Also, although the DMP1 can be operated entirely by itself, you might also consider buying Omnifi’s DMS1 Digital Media Streamer, designed for home playback of MP3/WMA files. Finally, using optional equipment, operation of the DMP1 (and the DMS1) can be made simpler by using a Wi-Fi® connection. As you might have already guessed, the DMP1 is a sophisticated product that is far removed from ordinary car audio players.

Next page »

Page 1: The Golden Age of car audio?
Page 2: Moving music from your computer to the DMP1
Page 3: Installing the DMP1 in your car
Page 4: Using the DMP1