Well, I've been doing the same research. Here is my two cents for what I see the industry doing. I think that the car stereo world is going to head toward the applications phase. The $ will be spent on the quality of the internal parts but most of the features will be applications that you can download to a smart phone. I've looking at systems that are double din and allow for interaction between my phone and the stereo. Pioneer makes some good ones for less than around $600. As an IT guy, I'm seeing the industry turn in this direction. This way the vendors can continue to develop custom applications that their customers can download; there-by making more $. But I think its a great idea.