Which is french for car audio. Today we'll talk about the Creative Zen
Nano Plus. What's that? In short, an MP3 player.
I had mentionned some years back that I had found the Compaq ipaq pda, a
good addition to the 505 to play MP3 music with the factory radio,
combined with a tape adapter. The factory installs have always been
pretty nice on all the 505. My favorite unit is the one with cassette,
am, fm, weatherband and television channels. It is an alpine unit under
the cover and it supports a CD player made by alpine, altough almost
impossible to find these days. It also has a BBE sonic maximiser or
similar circuit when using tape. This is why it is better to interface
to the unit thru either the DIN connector or thru a cassette adapter,
instead of an FM adapter.
The Compaq was to replace my first MP3 setup which I had built myself
and installed in my 86 505 turbo. But that car ended up in a creek after
hitting a patch of black ice. Hard disk crashed. Not too long after that
I started using the Compaq ipaq, with its Compact Flash sleeve which I
had modified to clip to the air vent on the middle section of the dash.
Compact flash is a type of removable memory that is used in PDAs and
digital cameras. Well, not too long ago, my ipaq died for the second
time (changed the rechargeable battery the first time fixed it). The
battery being so expensive, I decided to look at what is out there as
far as MP3 players.
I wanted something small that I could easily carry in a shirt pocket,
something the size of a pack of chewing gum. There are a few available.
The iPod shuffle is one, but the lack of interface made me pass on that
one. I checked out some units from Sandisk, Samsung, iRiver and finally
settled for the Creative Zen Nano Plus, the 1 GB model.
It is the size of your typical lighter, shorter but wider than your
typical pack of gum. Pretty slick. The AAA battery takes almost 1/3 of
the unit, how they managed to cram the following in the rest of the
space is really amazing:
Connectors
-USB port
-headphone/line out
-line in
Interface:
-play/pause/power on/power off button
-volume up & navigation
-volume down & navigation
-thumbwheel with integrated pushbutton
-backlit lcd screen with menu
Internal features
-integrated microphone
-1 GB of flash memory to store your MP3 (or WMA) files.
-FM tuner
-hole for wrist strap or the like
It also comes with an arm band and a gel type protective sleeve.
Extensive recording features:
-You can record voice with the integrated microphone
-You can record from the integrated FM tuner directly to MP3 (very cool
and handy)
-You can record from the line in jack, directly to MP3 without using a
computer
-You can record from a turntable (with an external preamp) and it will
split the songs into individual MP3, without having to use a computer.
Same from a CD player or other source.
The Zen Nano Plus can be found for as low as $109 in grey (with mail in
rebate, online), $129 for the other colors, $139-$149 in stores.
So what to load on this? I'm using this in a Peugeot 505 afterall, so of
course you need a selection of French music, French artists and Peugeot
related tracks. Mostly electro, pop, disco and ambient. You've been
warned :)
Peugeot related:
Probably impossible to find outside of France, but the french like their
TV advertising songs:
_Les hits de la Pub_
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001HZ6YM/qid=1121192811/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/171-0043695-5527458
Track 12 is the track for the 206 "sculptor" ad, "Husan" by Bhangra
Knights (Raja Mustaq)
Track 16 is also related to PSA, it's the soundtrack to the Citroen
Xsara ad, by Montrealers Bran Van 3000
Speaking of soundtrack for cars, Mitsubishi (they are in a joint venture
with Peugeot btw) in the US is probably as avant-garde as Peugeot in
France. Over the years, Mitsubishi have used the fairly mainstream Dirty
Vegas and Wise Guys, but did you know they used Groove Armada and even
more interesting, they've used a french group:
_Telepopmusik_ http://www.telepopmusik.fr
On Catalogue records, Genetic World was the first album of the french
trio Telepopmusik. This came out in 2001. This included the famous song
"Breathe", used in a Mitsubishi tv spot. Highly recommended. Their
newest album came out this year and is entitled Angel_Milk.
Continuing on the car theme, going retro, but not french I'm affraid:
Gary Numan - The pleasure principle
http://www.emusic.com/album/10777/10777110.html
From 1979, contains the hit "Cars" of course. Recently I was listening
to the radio and there was this show about "one hit wonders". I was very
surprised that Gary Numan is considered in these parts as a one hit
wonder, as he definitely was not. A brilliant album, not limited to a
single song. Do check it out. The followup "Telekon" was also interesting.
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000007U6V/qid=1121194323/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_ur_3/103-0627892-8407064?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
My favorite is a version from 1981 or 1982 in a live show from Japan,
almost impossible to find tough. Original is from 1974. Vocoders are
cool, I'm glad to see that Kraftwerk is still using them these days. The
other logical Kraftwerk album, particularly with the ongoing Tour de
France, is of course "Tour de France":
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000A4G4N/qid=1121194929/sr=8-6/ref=pd_bbs_ur_6/103-0627892-8407064?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
While in the retro vein, I cannot fail to mention a few must have French
artists/albums:
Jean-Michel Jarre.- Oxygene
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001ZS3/qid=1121195022/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0627892-8407064?v=glance&s=music
This was initially released in 1978 in vinyl (got that) and later in CD.
Apparently there is a re-release in CD format, digitally remastered.
This is a great album for long commutes, you wont even mind driving for
that long. The follow up in the theme, Oxygene 7-13 is also interesting,
but not the monster that Oxygene was. Of course if you've lived in
Houston for many many years, you already have all his albums, after
seeing THAT laser show...
Didier Marouani/Space
http://www.space.tm.fr/
If you dont want to get more than one album, Best of Space is probably
the album to get:
http://secure.space.tm.fr/product_info.php?products_id=36
I personally have not bought this one yet. I do have most all the others
on vinyl, including a blue coloured vinyl version:
http://secure.space.tm.fr/product_info.php?products_id=32
Is that cool cover art or what? Somehow I think we lost something
significant when going from vinyl to CDs... we might have gained sound
quality, but we lost visual quality, that's for sure...
Pierre Henry - Messe pour le temps present
http://www.chez.com/blacksheep/musique/messe.htm
If you haven't heard anything from Pierre Henry, something is missing
from your soundscape. The most well known piece is "Psyche Rock" that
has been remixed a bunch of times. It is a good introduction to musique
concrete, also.
Of course "Air" has been recommended on this list a few times for their
album "Moon Safari". I would also recommend their more recent "Talkie
Walkie".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00013RC9I/qid=1121196683/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0627892-8407064
Last, a shameless plug for my music, completely free, btw, available for
download here:
http://www.cimastudios.com/fdion
That should get you half way in filling the Creative Zen Nano Plus...
Ciao,
Francois
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Received on Tue Jul 12 12:47:14 2005
