You say you have a bunch of MP3 files on your hard drive, and you want a way to play ‘em in your car? Well, let us introduce you to Delphi Automotive Systems.

In response to what is perhaps the most revolutionary trend in music history with the exception of rock-n-roll, Delphi has just demonstrated one of the automotive industry's first MP3 audio playback original equipment applications at the 2000 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. MP3 playback has been added to its expanding Communiport Mobile MultiMedia product line. Communiport offers a host of integrated communication and entertainment systems tailored for individual vehicle manufacturers.

The Delphi MP3 playback devices demonstrated at the CES are integrated into Communiport navigation and audio systems mounted into passenger car center consoles. Presence of the MP3 unit is virtually undetectable. One MP3-equipped audio system houses a CD-ROM that outwardly looks like a standard integral CD player. In another vehicle, MP3 playback is achievable using compact flash memory cards inserted in a small double DIN MMM center console unit.

According to Dave Wohleen, president of Delphi Delco Electronics Systems, Delphi's MP3 demonstration shows that original equipment applications are right around the corner.

"MP3 is becoming an important medium that is absolutely revolutionizing the music business," Wohleen said, "and we're getting a great deal of interest from automakers on our MP3 playback application development."

For those of you who don’t know, MP3, which is short for the audio part (layer3) of the MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) specification, is an audio compression standard that emerged little more than a year ago and has been a growing Internet rage ever since. It enables digital audio music files to be compressed by a factor of 10 or more without compromising sound quality. With MP3 encoders, many music lovers now are compressing music off standard music CDs, converting it into MP3 computer files for their personal use, then copying the files onto recordable CDs or compact flash memory cards. This enables storage of 10 to 12 times more music on a CD-ROM than on a conventional CD.

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