SteveAndBelle

Update: Can't recommend Google Music enough. Just been driving around for the last 3-4 hours doing some pickups from places I'd never been before. Flawlessly played my music from the cloud via Google Music Beta while Google Maps Navigation Beta kicked in with it's voice directions whenever it needed to. Phone battery level plummeted (purposely left it off charge) and it got mice & warm but yeah, apart from that I couldn't fault it! Crystal clear audio, no breaks or pauses. Very nice. Hardly any need for a traditional Head Unit anymore, only really need a Bluetooth recieving Amp with very basic steering wheels controls. Wonder if any Google product will make it through the Beta phase :P

Not really... see the 2nd paragraph in the OP: "For those of you who don't know it's just a 'cloud' based music service but will be very handy for those of us who don't like Apple and/or their iTunes and/or their iCloud. Once you've logged in you point it to your music collection and let it upload all your tracks to the 'cloud' (limit of 20,000 per user at this stage). Once all your tracks have uploaded you can then access them from any internet connected device including your work PC, friends house etc. or even via mobile networks to your phone or tablet or whatever. If you have an Android device you can install the Google Music Beta app making it much faster & smoother than using the web interface. You can make Playlists and enjoy them across multiple devices (up to 8 at this stage)." I know I crap on too much but the above is all you really need to know. Not really for 'sharing' music (at this stage) but more for allowing you to access your own music from 'anywhere' that has an internet connection. Easy.

... and for all you 'iLovers' out there: http://www.thespacelab.tv/spaceLAB/2011/09September/MusicNews-019-Google-Music-iPhone-iPad.htm No specific app released for iPhones/Pads thanks to Apples stringent Big Brothering but at least you'll be able to use it... or you can just wait for the billion dollar marketing campaign Apple will flood across the globe when they finally roll out their version of basically the same thing ;)

Oh yeah, I'm a hardware hacker/modder from way back and had thought about doing this with one of the few $99 MyTabs I bought earlier in the year but decided against it because of the limits of the resistive screen and the fact that I knew it would only be a matter of weeks or months until a commercial version was available anyway. I love hacking/modding hardware but if I don't get into it early enough I can't see the point because inevitably someone will release a real version anyway. DIY satisfaction (heads out of gutter now) only takes me so far these days so it's gotta be very well worthwhile & completely 'unavailable' before I go ahead with it... like when I ripped apart one of my SONOS ZonePlayers and added a HDD or when I ripped apart of of my other ZonePlayers and made my own inCAR SONOS back in 2007/8. The HDD SONOS still works to this day but the inCAR SONOS prototype had far too many power issues to deal with so I canned it :( I currently have a SONOS Play:3 on the coffee table in bits for a future project tho :)

Mmmmm, Scotch... yum. Totally agree with you here. These need a lot of improvement before I'll take the leap however it's units like this that start the ball rolling and if this is what the generic manufacturers are pumping out just imagine what the 'brands' will offer soon! At least Android V2.2, Capacitive Touchscreen, Haptic feedback, HDMI & Multiple Composite video outputs, unlocked 3G SIM capable, Wifi, GPS, 4x50W built-in Amp, IR Remote, USB host/s, Bluetooth, the usual line level AV ins & outs and all the usual car integration features (steering wheel controls etc.) but not much else to be honest. Who needs a silly optical drive these days? So 90's ;) The detachable tablet is a nice touch but not essential for me. DVB-T Tuner might be kinda cool tho and the ability to connect multiple cameras not just for reversing could be handy too. Can't be too difficult right?

Google Music Setup Instructions... for Down-Underians ;) My original instructions no longer work due to differences in the latest release of VPN software. Please see this post for updated instructions: Enjoy.

O..........M..........G! That's it! I've been searching for this exact device for months now but to be honest I haven't looked for the last few weeks. Look what appears as soon as I stop looking :P Amazing. I'll look into this for sure but it absolutely must have capacitive touchscreen and be upgraded to Android 2.2 plus a few other pre-reqs. Probably don't really need the detachable tablet feature to be honest but someone in China has definitely put a lot of thought into that. Thanks heaps for the link Mick. Legend.

... in the meantime have a look at these non-Apple car audio solutions: http://www.androidcaraudio.com/ Loads more functionaility, near enough limitless and will obviously work well with Google Music. You could very easily get a OBDII adaptor and run the Torque app to extend your dash gauges too! I've seen others DIY this concept using 7" Samsung Galaxy Tabs & blank 2-Din fascia with much success (do a search on YouTube). Makes so much sense and imagine the nice little digital amp you could chuck in behind the tab to fill up all that wasted space too. At long last we may be able to get rid of our token void-filling 'iProducts'. Happy days!

Sweet. Keep your eyes peeled for easy to understand step-by-step instructions on how to activate your invites! I'll hopefully be able to write them up tonight but may need a coffee beforehand :P

Ah yes, best if you were to use 100% legal tracks of course :) Unfortunately I'm one of those oldskool types who has blown tens of thousands of dollars on buying music over the last 20 years so my collection is 100% legit. Could've downloaded it all and bought a Lexus instead of a Corolla :( Oooh, just as I was typing the above reply I got my 2nd solid request for one of my two remaining invites. No more messages please but keep an eye on this thread for my instructions and for more invites once these other guys have signed up OK.

Sunk my teeth into Google Music Beta late last week and although still very early days it seems to work pretty well. For those of you who don't know it's just a 'cloud' based music service but will be very handy for those of us who don't like Apple and/or their iTunes and/or their iCloud. Once you've logged in (*) you point it to your music collection and let it upload all your tracks to the 'cloud' (limit of 20,000 per user at this stage). Once all your tracks have uploaded you can then access them from any internet connected device including your work PC, friends house etc. or even via mobile networks to your phone or tablet or whatever. If you have an Android device you can install the Google Music Beta app making it much faster & smoother than using the web interface. You can make Playlists and enjoy them across multiple devices (up to 8 at this stage). Extending this further (as I did on the weekend just gone) I Bluetoothed the sounds from the phone to my Corollas Head Unit and it worked very well indeed... 100Gb of music streamed to my phone via 3G then out to the head unit via BT and controllable via the steering wheel controls, nice ;) Track text doesn't appear on the stock Levin ZR head unit and I'm not sure it even would on any other head unit but meh it still works very well. I think the fact I was playing from a quick 'test' playlist I created helped because the tracks seemed to cache properly before they were played. If I just browsed for any random track and hit play it would need to buffer/cache first and that obviously took a while over a 3G connection so there was a long pause before music was heard. Streaming like this obviously eats into your monthly download limit so just keep that in mind if you're thinking this is for you too. (*) Google Music Beta is only available in the US at this stage however as long as you fool it into thinking you're in the US for the initial setup (Web Proxies & VPNs etc.) it will be fine after that. I have two invites left if anyone here would like to join in the fun on the condition that you also give away two of your 8 free invites to other TOC members too. Once I get two genuine takers I'll write up clear instructions on how to make Google think you're in the US. It's much easier than you think and you'll be uploading your collection in no time :) Google music is still in its infancy so there's a LOT more we should be able to look forward to in the future. Any questions let 'em rip and I'll try to answer them. PS. I have been uploading my collection for 3.5 days now and it has just reached about 6000 tracks. It's slow but once the bulk of the collection is up then it will only need to automatically update whenver you add new music to the location you've provided it... oh and Google Music doesn't like Apple DRM for obvious reasons :) If you're an iTunes user and want to use Google music you will have to make sure your music collection has no Apple DRM and isn't in M4A format... use a program like SoundTaxi to strip the DRM and convert to something more generic.

Hi Sportivo. Sorry but I really don't know because I didn't dismantle the HU that far. See the first pic above ? Well you need to get that far and then go one step further and remove the PCB from the front end plastic. Probably not a difficult job and I'm pretty sure it'd be possible but I just didn't need to go that far so didn't bother. Give it a go yourself and if the LEDs look strange or they're just impossible to change all you have to do is put it all back together and you haven't lost out. Post the details up here either way. Might be handy for others. Steve.

Erm, I really don't think the stock HU has the know-how to handle video files sorry. It's a nice simple & effective stock HU for audio but honestly if you want to play video in your desh then I recommend replacing it with something else. The stock HUs LCD is only 4:3 anyway whereby most off-the-shelf replacements are at least 16:9 ratio so that's a good start. If you want to do it on a budget maybe try on of the cheapie Chinese double-DIN jobbies off eBay for around $500 as they seem to be able to do everything plus if you get the correct model (Auris Hatchback from memory) it should only take a matter of minutes to swap the stock out and screw the new one in. Steve.

Yeah, good idea in theory but yeah, no good in practise I reckon. I've got rid of the lights now anyway so no worries. They did look good but I'll just keep an eye out for the new model and hopefully this time they'll also be full LED too, not just tails & brake lights.

Yeah, you're right. All those toys are fun but also make it a very enjoyable car just the way she is. I just managed to get my 9th coat of 'Bowdens Own' Carnauba wax on her this arvo before the sun went down. She's so darn shiny & glossy now and feels like she's covered in WD40... so friggin' slippery. Crazy I know but a good start to her life I reckon. I might do one more wax coat when I get back from holidays in 5 weeks time but after that I'll prolly just keep her washed well and only detail & wax her once every few months. Looking forward to using my clay bar for the 1st time ;) Steve.

Had the Levin for a month now. Really enjoying it in stock format which surprises me. Those stock wheels still urk me and I still think it sits too high but strangely I'm quite liking it 'as is' and may not end up doing anything to it. I might be tempted in a year or two tho, we'll see ;) 4 weeks old and covered in 8 coats of 'Bowdens Own' Wax she's looking pretty good (ignoring the low res of my phone camera and the dust/grass seeds on the side, damned wind & static). Warning, images are BIG...

Yep, that's a basic test to see if the voice coil/s of the speaker driver aren't burnt out and although it does the trick it may not identify all the problems. Sometimes a speaker can produce a scratchy sound if the voice coil has been driven hard and has heated up too much and you may not hear that until you drive the speaker at low-medium levels. Do the 9V test though as it should identify most problems especially if you also flip the battery over to make the speaker cone go the opposite way without any problems too... just don't leave it connected more than half a second though OK :) The only 'easy' way to test the amp however is to power it up and drive the sub with it. You can do heaps of bench tests to make sure it's OK but you can't really do that on the side on the road or in someones front yard :P Just connect it up to your battery (best to get the current owner of the sub & amp to do it all for you so he can't blame you for frying it) and plug in a signal source. Easy and will only take about 60 seconds to do. It'd want to be a good price though because you can get some pretty amazing bargains out there nowadays. Low-end yet decent 12" subs in boxes with amps now sell for as little as $150 and come with warranties etc. so for $250-$300 you can get pretty decent 'starter' type gear that will blow your eardrums but not your budget. Check out a review I did a few months ago on some of the cheapies here: http://au.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28883 Steve.

+1 to what DJ said... however if you want to go the extra mile you could connect it up to your car battery being careful that you don't get the polarity wrong of course. You'll need the positive & negative (obviously) to the main amp terminals and can just use some reasonable thickness speaker wire for that but you'll also need to get a positive feed to the 'REM' connector to turn the amp on. You can do this by bridging the power from the positive terminal with a small piece of wire. Then you need an audio input. Just use your mobile phone headphone output or iPod headphone output and connect it straight into the amps RCA inputs. Before you start testing though be sure the volume of your music source is down and make sure the amp gain controls are pulled down too otherwise you might end up doing some damage. Good luck. Steve.

Ha, nah Mick, I'm keen but not that keen :)