I must have looked past this a dozen or more times, but it didn't register. But this week I'm having trouble with the PCMCIA card slot in my laptop, so the little light bulb above my head finally went on. Our 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 Sport has exactly the same sort of PC Card slot in plain sight, fiddly eject button and all.
Because I have a laptop, it just so happens that I have Compact Flash cards and a PCMCIA card. We use them to transfer data from our VBOX data logger on track days. And I have CDs. So I ripped a few tunes onto a CF card and gave it a try.
After plugging it all in, I needed to do nothing as the audio system recognized the memory card and began playing my tunes striaght away. A couple of flicks with the COMAND dial later, and I'm seeing a logical folder sturcture with album titles and track names.
Song titles show up on the multifunction display on the instrument panel and can be stepped through using the left-hand steering button, too. But, curiously, the cell phone hang-up button does not allow one to "zoom out" to change artists or albums like it does when an iPod is connected. Here, you do that with the COMAND wheel. Consistency would be nice.
And just like the slot on my laptop, there is a fiddly little eject button to get the card back out.
It works great, and 4 GB or 8GB memory cards are cheaper than MP3 players and iPods. But only laptop owners are liable to have the PCMCIA card adapter necessary to use it. You can buy one at Best Buy, of course, but it seems silly that this is a two-part process. Mercedes-Benz must think so, too, because a newer Benz I drove last week had a smaller SD card slot insead, no adapter required.
Discuss...
Dan Edmunds, Director of Automotive Testing @ 15,462 miles
84skyblue says:
04:41 PM, 09/17/08
Compact Flash?! What is this..2004??
7driver says:
04:54 PM, 09/17/08
skyblue, nice try but D-SLR cameras still commonly use CF. I guess Benz thinks this will be a favored car for professional photographers.
Even better than PCMCIA would have been USB, since the latter is still being extended while the former is being phased out in favor of ExpressCard.
roomwithaview says:
04:54 PM, 09/17/08
Does it playback photos too?
cheslin says:
04:59 PM, 09/17/08
Also, with the PCMCIA card reader you can upload contacts and addresses and store them on the hard drive. This works the same on the SD card slot on the 2009 models as well.
It doesn't have to be a CF card, it can be any type that will fit into a PCMCIA memory card reader- my parents have a 13-in-one reader that they use.
Though I'd still rather have many more gigs on my iPod.
actualsize says:
05:16 PM, 09/17/08
Yeah, the IT technician working on my laptop told me only yesterday that the PCMCIA slot's days are numbered.
I'm not a big fan of USB sticks in cars. Unless they're in the glove compartment or the center console, they stick out and are subject to damage.
afty says:
07:14 PM, 09/17/08
You don't need a PCMCIA slot to use a CompactFlash card, you can also use a USB adapter. This is how I get the pictures off my digital camera.
speeder31 says:
09:47 PM, 09/17/08
Global A-Go-Go, anyone?
the_big_al says:
11:09 PM, 09/17/08
okay - so PCMCIA may be a little old school, but the fact the 2009 goes to SD is good. I have been wanting something like this for a long time. iPods are expensive and bulky, compared to an SD card. Sure an iPod holds 80 gigs worth of data, but an SD card is a lot simpler to manage and if it gets lost or damaged, a lot cheaper to replace. I would go for this.
jahfakin says:
05:07 AM, 09/18/08
My mom's Jap spec Toyota Carola's head unit takes USB sticks. very convenient.
dougtheeng says:
05:56 AM, 09/18/08
I would much rather have an SD slot or USB slot then an iPod connection. The only problem is that as technologies change, the vehicle can seem a little dated.
drwales says:
08:07 AM, 09/18/08
PCMCIA is a little old school, but one can get CF to PCMCIA adaptors, Sony memory stick to PCMCIA adaptors, xD card to PCMCIA adaptors... MB are covering their bases -- cool . And yes, my (wife's) D-SLR uses CF.
citronc says:
08:24 AM, 09/18/08
Hey, at least it has a CD slot now too... My 2004 doesn't even have an in-dash CD, it does have the glovebox changer at least. I'm glad to see that they are at least offering alternatives now with the CF (now SD) slot and at least starting to keep up with trends a little. A USB would be nice but at least they are offering something halfway instep with the times for a change.
cheslin says:
10:27 AM, 09/18/08
The 2009 Multimedia package/P1 Package, depending on car, has an iPod/aux input, and you can also get a cable that is USB compatible that will plug into the same interface jack in the glovebox. All the E's, CLS's, ML's and GL's MY09 that I've seen yet have them, save for a totally base model E350.
allenychung says:
11:17 AM, 09/18/08
CF cards are so much easier to handle than SDs. SDs are handy for ultra compact cameras, but I'd take the CF for my DSLR any day.
jahfakin says:
01:31 PM, 09/18/08
I use to be a pro photograher, and all mu Canon D-SLR bodies take CF. They are fast, STURDY, and easier to handle than the smaller flash cards, when out in the field.
actualsize says:
02:35 PM, 09/18/08
I find that I like this better than any device hooked via the headphone port and the aux jack. With that setup, you have to control the song being played via the device itself. Here, even though a memory card has no interface whatsover, you get an on-screen display and full menu control through the head unit.
Of course I generally only see this on cars equipped with a navigation system, and that's NOT cheaper than an iPod or MP3 player and an aux cord.
jahfakin says:
08:15 PM, 09/18/08
actualsize,
Most new cars have an iPod interface these days. you simply plug you ipod/iphone in, and control the playlist via the car's head unit. Scion does this, and I'm sure most other car makers do, with the popularity of the iPod, I see why not.