In Car Entertainment - Click Cars Car Audio Information:

In Car Entertainment terms:

Automatic Volume Control is a useful feature that is found on high end head-units. Some have a microphone that 'listens' to the background noise and some are connected to the car's speedo. This feature prevents the music from becoming inaudible against rising background noise as you speed up.

Detachable Face or referred to as 'Removable Panel' or 'Theft Deterrent Faceplate', or some variation. This is a recent physical method for foiling thieves. The idea is that you take just the front bit with the buttons away with you. A thief cannot buy a new face for a back which he may have pinched unless he has a retail receipt for it. Kenwood makes sets with rotating faces called Mask.

Dolby is the most common shared logo or feature between all brands is the Dolby labs' 'double D' symbol, denoting use of the tape hiss reduction system. Found on good-quality cassette machines.

DVD players for cars can be portable or fixed (into headrests) allowing you to watch movies, your children cartoons or play video games.

Full Logic is the type of cassette deck that doesn't have chunky push-hard buttons. The mechanics of the cassette deck are electronically assisted. Good full-logic cassette decks will have power-load and eject.

Head-Unit is the name given to the car radio unit. In Europe, we use the standard size of car stereo unit known as 'DIN'.

MASH or multi-stage noise shaping. This is the name given to the digital advances that were introduced after the CD specification had been established.

MP3 is just a method of compressing files. Its name is an abbreviation for the much more unwieldy MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 1 Layer 3. Connection options to your i-pod for example.

RDS means Radio Data System. Extra information broadcast on FM along with the music that is displayed with an RDS enabled head-unit. Some will hunt down certain types of programme for you, or even traffic reports. The latter feature is only available on RDS-EON enabled head-units.

The options you now have for your in car entertainment are almost limitless with so many bespoke options integrating multimedia and communications.