OT - Firmware Upgrade for Car CD Player?

[f-x-d-w-g]

Seems to me that the firmware in a CD player could be downloaded, burned to disk, loaded into the player and loaded up.

My car (2002 Subaru Forester) CD only plays music CDs, my wife's new car will also play MP3 disks.  Seems like a download would enable my car to do the same but I can't find any information to support that thought.

Anybody here know if what I'm talking about is possible and available?

[Garry in AZ]

Dan, I think you're out of luck on this one. There is a lot more to playing MP3's than a software upgrade. There are memory buffers, and decoders that also have to be added as hardware, plus the code and memory it requires to display the ID3 track title and other data. The CD transport/laser mechanism is also different. I doubt your '02 Suby's OEM radio has the internal hardware required.

Garry

[f-x-d-w-g]

Thanks, Gary.  I was hoping it was simply a question of the decoding algorithms.  Oh, well, I don't really spend enough time in the car to worry about it.

[hotroadking]

You can get an FM transmitter that plugs into the lighter, tune to a radio station and plug your Ipod into the Transmitter, instant MP3 access...