Volkswagen to offer onboard, radio-controlled universal USB connector

Several new Volkswagen models are going to be featuring a handy universal USB connector built into the center armrest, such that you can plug in any old USB thumb drive or USB-connecting MP3 player and use the car's radio controls to navigate and play the music collection on that memory stick or player. They'll be starting with the Golf, Golf Plus and Touran models, expanding into other VWs in the line next year. It looks like the only format that will be supported is MP3, which is disappointing — but if the majority of your collection is in MP3 format, you'll surely be psyched to integrate all your mass storage media in conjugal bliss with your vehicle.

[ishtar @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

"universal USB connector" lol

[RBe @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Hey,

Its the Touraeg. Not touran.

[ajprice @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Yes it is a Touran, there is a Touran (a Golf size MPV) and a Touareg (4x4)

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/touran

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/touareg

[vladoman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

MP3 makes perfectly sense as it is the format that *all* of the MP3-Players support. Apple-AAC and M$-WMA will not be able to played over USB anyway due to their DRM restriction and are only allowed to come out of a player in analog format. This would mean that they need to remote control all kinds of players for this to work. (Unless they take the iPod-only approach..)

The solution with the USB host is so simple, just plug a MSC compliant players (the most of them are) and let the car radio play the (MP3) tracks.

[Galley @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

How many times do I gotta say it? No AAC support = no sale.

[spezi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

vladoman:

AAC is not an Apple standard, it is an MPEG standard and (for example) supported by many newer mobile phones with build-in digital audio player. The iTMS AAC files have DRM added, but that has nothing to do with AAC in general.

[Shaun @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Interesting. It's not clear in the original article if this is in addition to or instead of the already announced iPod integration.

I wonder how many people will opt for the USB stick approach for 195 euros instead of the CD autochanger (seems a bit of a poor swap to me) or go with the iPod connector.

[Moonshine @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

As higher capacity flash drives become available this solution will become more interesting - Certainly beats messing around with that annoying CD-changer in the boot.

[ericthebikeman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

RBe, most of the VWs in Europe carry different names here in the states if they are available at all. ie Polo > Golf, Bora > Jetta, Multivan > Eurovan. Sharan, Caddy, Touran aren't available in the states so most people haven't heard of them.

Is this the iPod integration they were speaking of or a step in that direction?

[G. Snyder @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

#4 - of course you can play AAC over USB.

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

AAC is an open format that is part of the MPEG 4 standard. It is not Apple's. In fact, Dolby was the chief engineer behind AAC. I only have a handful of Protected AAC (DRM infested files) on my computer, some older MP3 files, but all of my newer music is encoded as AAC which is the default format of both Itunes and WinAmp.

PS - Volkswagen recently signed on to do Ipod integration in both Volkswagen and Audi cars.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/sep/07ipod_auto.html

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

#9:
A Polo is a Polo and a Golf is a Golf.
Two different cars ;D

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/polo

http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new_cars/new_golf_hatch

[Cheeze @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

It'd be more useful if it was just a standard line-in.

then you could plug in whatever audio device you wanted without having to rely on the car to process the data.

[Andreas @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Quote: "Up to six music folders can be displayed as CDs one to six on the radio or navigation system screen. Any information that has been stored for the music files � for example, the number of the song and the timer � will be displayed."

Only 6 folders? No ID3 Tags?

[JL @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

It's just nice to see that Volkswagen is taking into account that not everyone uses iPods..

Many thanks to Volkswagen..

[atomb @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

What does the "U" in "USB" stand for?...

Thought so.

[spezi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Michael: "In fact, Dolby was the chief engineer behind AAC."

Are you sure about that one? Because I heard that the standard was in large part developed by the Fraunhofer guys, so the same group that did MP3. Of course, both MP3 and AAC were developed in collaboration with several companies...

(http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/techinf/aac/index.html)

[aelso @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Even though I have an iPod, and am likely to buy iPods in future, I still encoded my music in MP3 instead of AAC because it's universal. In case I want to play my music on another device. It's maybe larger than AAC, but it universal and sound quality difference is not that noticable.


It's good to see VW adding USB to it's cars. This should be the future of cars.

[aelso @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

Oh, #17 - spezi, that is MPEG-2 based AAC, used by Nokia in some of it's earliest music playing phones, like the 3300.

Apple used MPEG-4 based AAC in it's players, which Nokia also later adapted.

[borg @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

13: i think the reason to use USB is to let you plug in something that is not an audio player.

[spezi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

#19 - aelso:

You are right, it's MPEG-4 AAC, nevertheless my statement about Fraunhofer remains correct, I guess.

(http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/techinf/mpeg4/audio.html)

[RC Nitro Cars @ Dec 19th 2005 1:25AM]

This is great for people who cannot afford an ipod but has a big usb flash drive, they can store all there music on there rather than use them old fashion cds. lol