Cars Adding MP3, DVD, Net Devices

L O S   A N G E L E S, Jan. 5 -- In the good old days, cars were just cars. But with the automotive technology industry expanding rapidly, that four-wheel buggy in the garage may soon earn the title of “multimedia communications vehicle.”

According to industry analysts, the automotive computertechnology market should grow from about $1 billion in 2000 to$8 billion by 2005.

Already, many companies are developing devices to providecars with entertainment, Internet capability, satellitenavigation, satellite radio, and futuristic safety features sothat they look and feel like something straight out of a JamesBond movie.

“We think the market for this technology will be very big,”said Dannie Lau, chief executive officer and co-founder ofPhatNoise, a digital jukebox maker.

On Thursday, Los Angeles-based PhatNoise announced a dealwith Visteon Corp., the second-largest auto parts maker,to license its MP3 jukebox, which will enable drivers to bringmusic from their PCs to the road.

The jukebox, available in March 2001 for select Fordapplications, is an add-on accessory to cars’ existing soundsystems. The jukebox features software that lets users loadhundreds of hours of music stored on MP3 files in theircomputers onto a small cartridge that then goes into the car.

MP3 is a compression format that turns music on compactdiscs into small computer files. The advent of MP3 and Napster,a free and wildly popular service that allows users to swapmusic on MP3 files, has sparked a revolution in the musicindustry in the past year. Demand for MP3 devices in cars isexpected to surge.

People Want Solutions for Computer Music Collections

“Napster has created over 40 million MP3 users. Now thatpeople have these rather large music collections in their PCs,they’re looking for solutions to adapt them to their cars,”said Lau.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Visteon, which was spun off from FordMotor Co. in June, Thursday also unveiled its own MP3player, to be available in late February, that lets driverslisten to CDs they burned on their computers.