In article , neil-
says...
I have been a previous user of the ipod and standard cd head unit, Quality
and ease of use are simply un-beatable but lacks itegration into the car,
you can now pick up the alpine "ipod ready" cd head unit which talks ipod
out of the box, all you need is the ipod. (check it out in halfords, then
buy it online at a sensible price).

I did prefer to have fully built into the car and not have an ipod stuck on
the dash so I now use the second most popular meathod, that is the
"M-Station" or NEO as it is sometimes called, this is a seperate mp3 box
linked to a head unit with line in (steer clear of fm modulators other than
respected names such as kenwood).
benefit is total integration into the car but still requires a separate
control module with lcd mounted on dash just above the head unit.(note this
has been knocked from the top spot by the kenwood keg, but does require a
kenwood head unit or additional modulator and is still only 10 gig)

Had thought of the M-station. Good little product, but as she would need
to pay out for an additional headunit anyway, to get a decent line in (I
agree about Modulators, tried one with my old CarPC setup, pile of
poop), she might as well spend the extra on something combined.

If it's large storgage your after the Dension DH-100ix, a single din unit
with up to 60 gig option, (no cd and **** sound so won't say much more
unless you are not really looking for audiophile quality but just large
storage, low cost and simple install with no aditional boxes to wire up. (
this has been replaced by the DH-101 which I don't know if it is any good or
not)

That was on my hitlist. It would suit her perfectly, the internal disc
cartridge would be right there in the "Easy to use" stakes, just taking
out a cartridge, plugging in a USB2 cable and copying files would be
perfect.

She has a totally standard Skoda 1 1/2 din factory stereo and all
factory speakers. Not audiophile by any means, but not bad. How bad
compared to most budget headunits does a Dension sound? Comparing to
basic £99 JVC/Panasonic etc, because if it wasn't for the need for bulk
MP3 storage internally, that would be all that she would spend.
Until recently these were really the only options worth considering, the
first still offers stunning quality sounds and ease of use so is well worth
considering.
HDD based head units were the drive is in the unit were available but very
rare, that is changing, JVC have just announced a fantastic new single din
unit the KD-NX901 it has a 20GB drive that uses some for it's integrated sat
nav, speed camera warning database and keeps about 15 gig for mp3, it will
also play mp3 cd's so you can keep the lesser played tracks on cd (10-12
albums) price is £500, but considering what it does is quite a bargain. the
JVC line gets good press from professional ICE specialists who previously
only sold Pioneer,kenwood, alpine and a few others and are adding JVC to
their product line. (was talking to MRD ice zone last weekend about
upgrading my system to dvd/sat nav multimedia.)

Thats a very god sounding system, she might blanche at the price for the
size of HDD, but the features look great.

How do you load up music files on that one?

You could also consider Sony's MEX-1HD. It has a 10 gig drive, and rips
directly from cd (into atrac3) it will also play mp3 and has the entire
gracenote cd library built in, gets good reviews.

Like the sound of that too. Will definatley google for it. Not always
keen on Sony stufff any more. Seems a lot "Cheaper" than it used to be.
I will be up-grading my kenwood head unit and 20 gig mstation to full dvd
multimedia sat nav soon, in case you are looking for a second hand bargain.