Customer Reviews

Kenwood KDC-MP342U WMA/MP3 CD Receiver with Satellite/HD Radio/Bluetooth Ready Front Panel USB/AUX Input

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my 2nd MP3 player by kenwood. My first one was a much older model and after what seems like easily 6 or 7 years of faithful service I decided to upgrade.

The usb port on the front is what makes it worth the upgrade. I can put thousands of songs onto a dirt cheap thumbdrive and not have to worry about MP3 cd's all over my car.

The headunit also breathed new life into my 11 year old factory volvo speakers. I had no idea they could sound as good as they do. I've still got plans to put a recently acquired set of boston acoustic 6.5" speakers in the front doors but I'm re-thinking my decision to also upgrade the rear door and rear deck speakers.

As far as the things about the unit that I don't like, they're very minor. For one, the 1~6 buttons control playback options and what not. The numbers of the buttons are very easy to read as they're lit up but the functions is in a gray colored text that makes it hard to read. Before actually reading it in the manual, I didn't know how to pause playback. The number 6 button does that but you wouldn't know by looking at the unit because the little play/pause label is nearly impossible to read.

also, when adjusting the bass, mids and treble, like my older unit, these only go to 8. Why 8??? Why not 10? Kenwood, this makes no sense. Stop it. Also, I'm a little disappointed to see the attenuation button absent from the unit. I used that pretty frequently on my older one but I guess they have to save something for the units that cost more than $110. :D

Anyways, minor complaints and that's about it. The unit sounds great, and aside from initially figuring out what the small buttons do, I really like it. The music is easier to hear on the interstate as well. That was an unexpected surprise.

I bought a JVC El cameleon for my car. One of the reasons was the bluetooth option for my phone. After trying to turn up the volume several times and changing EVERYTHING except the volume (because of the digital display) I returned it and Bought this marvel. Again the reason was that I needed the bluetooth for my phone (which is huge btw.) You can purchase the bluetooth adapter separately. Well, when I got installed and just turned on it was awesome, just hearing the radio I realized the difference between Kenwood and the other brands. It was crisp clear with the right amount of bass and treble and it has that punch that makes you feel you bought the right one. Also it has a sturdy feel, it seems simple but has a lot of functions, you have to learn the manual, but once you learn to program it is fantastic. it has front inputs for whatever you want to connect from a USB memory stick to iPod and you can control from the head unit or the iPod. The bluetooth also works perfect with my BlackBerry Pearl with the OS updated I can stream music from it and sounds superb. You won't regret buying this one its a sure buy!

iTouch, CDs, tuner, flash drive all work seemlessly with the unit, with plenty of power for the average user. If you are one of those "I want to feel the bass shake the car" type of people, you will need a separate amp. Control surfaces feel well-made and sturdy, not typical for radios I've shopped for this price range.

The only drawback - not a do-it-yourself project. I ATTEMPTED to install this radio myself in our nanny's Honda Civic (I do not routinely do this because, being a doctor, I'm not schooled in car electronics.) Feeling confident after seeing reviews at ePinions.com stating how "simplistic" or "intuitive" it was to install for an "Average Joe," I took on the task. Well, if you're not a seasoned radio installer, don't attempt it - you may mar your dash getting everything hooked up. The installation guide is scant at best. In frustration, I eventually called upon my neighbor (a master electrician) to help me, and he finished the job flawlessly (and quickly, I might add).

One thing keeps me from rating this 5 stars, and that is it's inability to randomly play an entire USB flash drive if the music is organized by artist/folders. The only way to search gigabytes of music is to organize either by style, decade, artist, etc. To do this one must create folders on the drive, but once multiple folders are created, this receiver can not play all of your music randomly. It can only play what is in the selected folder randomly.

Beyond this this is a significant upgrade to my 1998 4runners factory stereo. My previously installed after-market speakers sound much better with this new receiver, telling me the factory unit was severely under-powered!

The aux input, which should have been included on every car stereo made since 1980, is a nice touch.

You can randomly play all your ipod music.

Decent looks, CD capability and satellite readiness make this a good buy.

I should note that the maximum number of songs in a folder is 255 so you cannot randomly play more than 255 of your songs. This is the biggest limitation of the unit. The maximum number of folders is 255.

Edit: I found an inexpensive fix for the random play issue. I purchased an external 60G USB harddrive from Xigmatek. Once formatted to FAT32, it works like a champ, and I now have a random folder with all my favorites, and all my other folders by artist/genre. Now I like my Kenwood even more.

I have a 2005 Outback with the stock cd player. I needed something to play my itouch so I did a search on updating my stock player. I found only one site who offered an dash adapter kit for my car which was Crutchfield. I checked with BestBuy to see if I bought a cd player from them if they could install it. They were unable to get the adapter kit so when I went back to Crutchfield I found that they offered the Kenwood KDC-MP342U plus threw in the adapter kit, harness kit, instructions, antenna adapter and shipping for FREE!

I am totally THRILLED with the Kenwood KDC-MP342U!! I never felt my car seat vibrate using the stock stereo. It has great power and sound. The itouch works perfectly with it and even charges it while the tuner displays the name of the song and artist. The tuner can even be set up to play the songs randomly. I'm looking to see if I can find a great price on the bluetooth adapter for my phone then I'll be adding that.

Now I want to buy one for my husband's truck. I am a little disappointed that it doesn't play my Zune through the USB port but I can attach it to the aux port and still plug it into the USB slot to charge it. Once we've installed the Kenwood KDC-MP342U in my husband's truck I will hand the Zune over to him for all of his music.

The radio works good. My wife is happy, so I am happy. The Amazon site said it fit my car, but it did not inform me of three products I would need to make installing it simpler. I ended up spending $61 more at Best Buy after 1 1/2 weeks for an antenna adapter, dash installation kit, and a wiring adapter kit. Unfortunately, I had already cut harness wires on the car, but did get them reconnected quickly. Kenwood technical help was about 30% efficient in providing accurate advice on wiring problems. I found some guidance on the internet, but it was not complet. The faceplate on the radio had problems, and they wanted me to send it in. I cleaned the contacts and put it back together and it now works great. All in all in took about 3 1/2 weeks to iron out all the problems. What a head ache. I recommended to Amazon that they should list other "needed" items to properly install items such as this on their website. April from Amazon said she would pass that along. Buy it, but beware there are other items to help you greatly with installation

Great for People who have alot of MP3,WMA files on there computers one USB Flash Card is all it takes to drop all the cd you have in to a small flash card.
But You guys with Ipods, Zunes,or other MP3 Player. You are not left in the dark Thank to the AUX port on the front.

I Have To Say IT WAS A GREAT BUY

I found the product and features as expected, and was able install for Corolla-2000 in couple of hours. It needed a harness adapter to connect Kenwood radio to car's audio cables, that has to be bought separately (about 10$). If the car is older, it might need full install kit (around 22$).

Operating was not difficult, but took a while to figure out that, press and hold SRC to switch it off.

Couple of things I didn't like is about the display, it keeps scrolling can become distracting in the night. Another thing about display is, cannot read it when
sun falls at certain angles.

Needless to say, to activate Bluetooth/HD Radio need separate Kenwood devices that are not cheap.

works great, treats any old stock car system well, fixes the bass that most systems cant get out of old crummy stock speakers. Supports my sansa View Mp3/video player. Even works with my blackberry. Watchout if you use any additional amps---when you have the car on accessory, cause your battery will drain.

This stereo was easy to install with the wiring harness and faceplate I purchased for my ford escort. I really like being able to plug in my zip drive and play music directly from it, no more commercials! The folder navigation for the usb is very easy to navigate. It seems louder than the factory default. Being able to play the music randomly is great too. I like that it can display the name of the song too.