Have you guys seen the new Ford/Microsoft infotainment system called Sync announced at the auto show today? Although usually not a fan of microsoft, it actually looks pretty cool. I love the fact that it has a USB port that you can connect any MP3 player or thumb drive to, and get full integration and control of playing the songs through the head unit. Plus, you can even select tracks, artists, genres, etc, all with voice commands. Nice, I wish the G had that! It also supports bluetooth streaming audio, so you can listen to internet radio from your phone.

Another cool feature is bluetooth phone integration that lets you continue the call from your car when you get inside. First vehicles to have this should be the Focus and Five Hundred coming this fall.

I wonder if/when other car manufacturers will start integrating similar functionality. Maybe Ford has some exclusive deal with Microsoft for a while. I think this will certainly be a good thing for them. It really seems to like a no brainer to me that cars should have USB ports that will let me plug any player or thumb drive into them and let me play my music.

Here are some videos about it.

www.syncmyride.com

 

Interesting, but given that iPod has a huge percent of the MP3 player market (don't recall how much, I believe it's in the 70 to 80% range), it would be hard for Sync to be successful. Best bet is for car manufacturers to standardize on iPod integration (which many car companies are aiming for). But, bottom line is, as long as you have an AUX input (like the G35), it would be hard to beat the ease of use of the iPod itself (of course, having controls easily accessible would be good).

 

I'll settle for Infiniti getting their CF reader software to work better. On a HD based system, it shouldnt be that hard for them to release an update

 

But the cool thing with Sync is that is DOES work with Ipod, Zune, almost any MP3 player, and even USB thumb drives. I don't want to have to buy an Ipod, I want it to work with what I already have. Hook up ANYTHING and you get full integration: MP3 display on the stereo, ability to use steering wheel controls, voice commands to select tracks, etc. This is the holy grail to me, have full integration with any MP3 player. This is even better than having the AUX input, and still having to use the MP3 player's interface, and not the car controls. Plus, the voice commands for selecting tracks, genres, artists, etc, is pretty cool.


I agree, I think Infiniti had a chance to do something really cool with their CF slot and HD music box. I was so excited when this information first came out. But, I feel their implementation has been something of a disappointment, and is one reason why I didn't spend the extra to get the Nav. They should allow copying from CF to HD, and have better software for managing the file/folder structure on the CF card. I'd much rather have the Sync system than the current Musicbox.