(T) MP3 or not MP3

Picking up my Stilo 1.6 Dynamic on Saturday
The only one the dealer could order us has an MP3 upgrade. Now I know what MP3s are, but the upgrade purely means it'll play 'home-made' cds doesn't it? Or is there a memory where it'll store tracks on the car's stereo itself?

We told the dealer we didn't want the upgrade and wouldn't pay him the £100 for it. He said he'll take it out (which I'm concerned about because it seems Fiat technicians are often monkeys), although I suspect by the time we pick up the car he'll just say we can have it as it is.

The car's getting to the dealers tomorrow and we're picking it up on Saturday, should I phone him and tell him we'll have the MP3 upgrade, or just chance it?

By the way, as an aside, I'm getting my Stilo from Thames Fiat on the Thornton Heath roundabout, just outside Croydon.
Anybody got any comments about their service?
They've been pretty good so far, but I've only dealt with sales, what's service like?

Mate, don't pay for anything you don't want. If they "give" it to you then fair play, if not, then leave it. My personal opinion anyway.

Basically MP3 is a way of encoding songs digitally.

Mp3 uses a lot less space than normally audio cd's and u can normally store anywhere upwards of 10 albums on a single CD.

WMA (windows media audio) is a simliar format as well but uses less space again with the same quality and some headunits will now play these as well.

Most (not all) audio files that are on P.c's these days are one of these types.

If there any specific questions you have drop me a P.M as this is my job. lol

Hope this helps for now

ive got the MP3 and appreciate it far more than a standard cd player. so given the choice id go for it, although the fiat one has no built in hard drive or anything it is pretty cool. and i can get between 8 and 12ish albums per cd.

well if they do swap it out, make sure they dont palm you off with a tape unit or none stilo fit cd player.
when getting the stilo here I wanted a cd player in it, fully expecting it to be swapped from the tape unit to the cd unit, in the end it was a facia and a cheap sony cd player, but it was my own fault for not paying attention to whats said

mp3 players should be able to play standard CD's, which i believe is what your asking. Its just a clever CD player, nowt more.

The Standard Stilo tape Head Unit is perfectly good, just make sure the garage does you a good deal on the 5-disc changer, then you have a mince looking stereo no-one will want to steal, but good sound and nice big easy buttons.

Oh the standard unit is fine, without question, was more thinking along the lines that if he was just wanting a cd player rather then the cd/mp3 player

Matt,

I really wanted Mp3 but the only car I could get (two weeks ago) had a standard CD player.

The CD player is fine and dandy, great sound, but I still want the Mp3 facility. If it were me I would pay the extra, thoug I appreciate every little extra sees more hard earned money going on the car rather than life's other necessities.

I wonder if it would be possible to swapsies with CD and MP3 units. I'd happily give £100 for one.

Moogs

Thanks for your help guys. I'm going to pick it up this afternoon and we'll see what's on it once and for all. I'm not going to pay the £100, so if the MP3 player is there we're laughing, if not, no matter.
I'll tell you what happens later - that's if I don't spend the whole weekend on the road enjoying myself!
Matt