Digital Music player to connect to CD controls gl1800

[Boater]

Just wondering what digital music player the members would recommend for installation on a 2010 GL1800 with air bag option. I'd like to be able to plug it into the cd harness. I've seen comments on the J & M units. However some appear to have issues. And are quite pricey. I'm in Ontario , Canada & availability appears to also be a problem. Other units I've seen appear to exclude the gl1800's with air bags. Wondering what the difference is. Any help is appreciated.

[kwthom]

The issues, sadly, seem to be related to the radio/controllers on the motorcycle, rather than an issue with the players themselves.

I had the BikeMP3 unit first; traded it for the J&M model. Less flakey, but still an issue with the motorcycle rather than the player. I learned to live with it for a while, then I went off to integrate my phone into my motorcycle audio system.

Suggest you consider the ~$50 (U.S.) models available on eBay, if you have an account there. Search for "Digital mp3 Player Music CD Changer For HONDA Goldwing GL1800" for a sample.

[Boater]

Thanks for the response. I'll check it out. Wonder why Honda have not come up with an alternative.

[kwthom]

Thanks for the response. I'll check it out. Wonder why Honda have not come up with an alternative.

I'll take a guess...

The CD player was a great add-on, but it had it's issues from an electro-mechanical perspective. Thus, my suspicion would be there wasn't a lot of demand for this accessory.

Now, it was fortunate that Honda & Panasonic re-used many of the same electronic circuits from the radios in Accords and Civics of that design period (1998 - 2000) for the Goldwing. Thus, the MP3 players that were designed as replacements in cars also worked on Goldwings.

At that point, Honda probably had a few hundred CD players sitting in a dark warehouse somewhere. Someone else beat them in the reverse engineering it took to simulate the CD function with an MP3 player. It wasn't BikeMP3, either. I think Pete may have figured out the fact that someone else had it figured out for the automotive sector, and just introduced it to the Goldwing market first.

They (Honda) lost that battle with a redesign for the earlier model bikes. However, they won the war when they made the improvement to the 2012 and up radios, with the dedicated USB port for a MP3 stick. THAT was the alternative.

[huggiebear]

Boater check your private messages!

I use a J&M 18E and never had any problem. I had few SD and CF cards plus some memory stick in my drawer collecting dust so I bought a multi card reader and plugged into the J&M player USB and loaded
Each folder and Roote directory with 99 songs in each folder.
The bike is a 2010 GL1800 airbag.

[Boater]

Hi, where did you pick up the J&M 18E. I see your also in the same neck of the woods. Availability seems to be an issue. With the snow and cold weather up here. Its a great time to search or these things. Thanks guys.

[2003Cobra]

I've got the J&M Digital unit and it was all plug and play. It hasn't given me a moments problem.

[huggiebear]

For Boater
check your private messages!

[Boater]

Thanks for the info guys. The J & M may be the route to go.

[Terry D]

I have the J&M JMDMGL18-e, also. It worked great. Follow the instructions. Load the music on a flash drive. You only need a 4GB flash drive to load what the instructions recommend. I did experience drop out once in a while. Sent the player back to J&M and they tested it and found nothing wrong with it. I got it back and discovered on my own that my flash drive is one that the connection slides in and out and when I plugged it into the Digital Player it would slide back a bit and not make good connection into the player. So, I taped the slide part with painters blue tape and have not had a problem since.

[Boater]

Thanks. Appreciate the info guys. Take care & Have a Merry Christmas.