Synching your car stereo with home

Synching your car stereo with home
The major area where 802.11 has initially started to take hold is in third-party
add-ons to the car — a typical precursor to manufacturers directly bundling
these add-ons into the car (in-car VCRs started the same way). One example
is in the A/V arena. We show in Chapter 13 how simple it is to synchronize
your audio and video server across the house and over the Internet — why
not with your car, too?
Rockford Fosgate (www.omnifimedia.com), for instance, has an 802.11bbased
car product Omnifi ($599 plus the $99 wireless option) that enables
you to wirelessly transfer tunes from your home PC to the car, where they
can be played on your in-dash stereo. The in-dash device can store up to
20GB of files; the home component is a standalone receiver capable of
streaming media dispatched from the PC. (See Figure 14-2.)

Figure 14-2:
The Omnifi
system in
your car!
Omnifi eliminates the legwork (the need to burn CDs) to listen to digital music
in the car. It gives consumers the ability to download and transfer music and
programs from the Internet to the PC hard drive to the consumer’s car and
home stereo/theater systems — using wireless technologies. The Omnifi comes
with an Internet services package ($49.95 annually) that includes thousands of
radio stations, news and information, and a host of additional content from
providers, such as Live365, Yahoo!, Virgin Radio, AOL Shoutcast, Pinnacor,
Gracenote, Tower.com, and Muze. Way cool.
Omnifi is a family of connected devices based on its SimpleWare software
suite. You can manage your media files in one simple media player application,
SimpleCenter, and then wirelessly deliver the content to your stereo or
car-installed Omnifi devices. What’s more, you can schedule delivery of information.
The Omnifi scheduler gives users the ability to set information and
music preferences in the SimpleCenter application and schedule the delivery
of media automatically and wirelessly to devices in the car and at the stereo.
This feature works with both local files and Internet-based files that a user
can access through SimpleCenter’s Internet services offerings. For example, a
commuter might choose to schedule an information update of local weather
and traffic, stock quotes, breaking news, and his daily horoscope to be automatically
transferred to the Omnifi device in the car at 6:30 a.m. every day in
time for his daily commute.
Other vendors are entering the marketplace, so expect your car to become a
hot zone for wireless technologies soon.
Installing a wireless audio system in your car can range from the do-it-yourself
job to something that a local audio installer needs to tackle. Generally, you
have to install the electronics in your trunk or other tucked-away spots in your
car. Some devices allow you to transmit to the car’s stereo by short-range FM
transmitter. (Rockford sells one for its Omnifi that’s about $30.) So you run
power (per the installation instructions) to your installed device, and the wireless
connections can log onto your home network. You can then download all
your music to the device by using the software provided with the device. That
music is then played by tuning your car stereo into the frequency of the transmitter,
like 99.1 FM. An in-car handheld control device is either connected to
your main unit via a wireless or wired connection. More complex installations
require you to run the audio and video cables to your stereo system, which is
typically beyond the scope of the average homeowner.