Chrysler offers in-dash music downloads

The 20-gigabyte hard drive on Chrysler's new MyGIG system has room for pictures, addresses, 1,600 songs and a navigation system.

Bradford Wernle | | Automotive News / PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Chrysler has launched the latest salvo in the in-car infotainment wars by offering its MyGIG system as a $1,700 option on the 2007 Chrysler Sebring sedan.

The system goes a step beyond iPods and other entertainment devices by putting a 20-gigabyte hard drive in the dashboard.

MyGIG allows drivers to download up to 1,600 songs. Users also can put up to eight photos and an address book into the system. Navigation maps with a three-dimensional appearance also are stored on the hard drive. MyGIG incorporates real-time traffic information from Sirius Satellite Radio.

But the system was not available on the first production Sebrings that rolled off the assembly line at Sterling Heights, Mich., last week. That's because Chrysler is still working out bugs in the software, according to Larry Lyons, vice president of the Chrysler group's front-wheel-drive vehicle team.

Lyons could not say exactly when the system would appear on production Sebrings.

"I expect this fall. It's still under development," said Lyons, speaking at the Sebring product introduction here last week.

The system, developed with Harman Kardon, will be offered first in the Sebring and then soon afterward in the Dodge Nitro SUV and Jeep Wrangler

"I think it's a real step forward," said Stephanie Brinley, analyst for AutoPacific Inc. in Southfield, Mich. Brinley said the navigation system alone on the 2006 Sebring is a $1,795 option. MyGIG is significant because it integrates navigation, music storage capacity and the "UConnect" hands-free Bluetooth connection on the same hard drive.

"The value proposition is really important," Brinley said.

The system allows customers to download songs or pictures by ripping them from a CD or importing them through a USB port on the console.

It also includes a voice activation feature that operates the navigation system, music player and telephone.

Chrysler's offering shows how rapidly the in-car infotainment landscape is changing. Carmakers have been pushing hard to connect devices such as Apple's iPod music player to in-car entertainment systems. Now Chrysler has effectively put the iPod capability right into the dashboard.