Despite the fact that some of the latest car models to arrive on the market do come equipped with entertainment systems capable of playing content stored onto USB flash drives, the large majority of vehicles do not provide such a useful feature. For this reason, Grom Audio has just introduced the USB MP3 Kit, a digital interface designed to integrate USB flash drives into OEM car stereo systems.

According to Grom Audio, the USB MP3 Kit provides direct audio interface to a car stereo via the CD changer port. The GROM Audio interface insures CD quality sound from MP3 / WMA / iTunes files on USB stick to car stereo speakers by allowing users to "fool" their car stereos into thinking that a fully featured CD changer is plugged in.

Using the MP3 Kit is actually a pretty easy task, since all the users have to do is transfer their MP3 / WMA / iTunes files to USB stick / disk, connect the GROM-USB car kit to the car stereo via CD changer port, plug-in the USB stick /disk into GROM and play the MP3 / WMA / iTunes files through the car audio system instantly.

After going through the setup process, you will be able to easily browse through the files using car stereo buttons or navigate through directories and map them to the disk buttons on your car stereo / steering wheel. The device sports a built-in high quality MP3 / WMA decoder and supports USB disk / flash drive / mass storage devices, as well as FAT 16/32 file systems, and its firmware is fully upgradeable, in order to make it compatible with more brands and models.

Unfortunately, for the time being, the device from Grom-Audio is only compatible with a select number of vehicle brands and models, namely BMW (97-05), VW, AUDI (98-08), Acura / Honda (91-08), Toyota / Lexus / Scion (98-08), Mazda (02-08) and Seat / Skoda (98-08).

The USB MP3 Kit from Grom Audio sells for around 125 US dollars, which is a fairly OK price point, given the level of versatility you'll be provided with.


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