The MSRP is about $43k and change. Rockville is in Maryland and I urge you to contact a local dealer for more firm pricing.
Late January/early February sounds about right in terms of arrival. There was a shortage of Mark Levinson cars, but Lexus has stepped up to the plate and it appears they will be here next month.
Good luck.

 

That'll be the last of that language in our forum, yes?

Yes.

Thanks for your inevitable cooperation.

 

Wait, are you saying ML won't play MP3 discs??

 

Go to this link www.marklevinsonlexus.com this should answer your question hope this helps.

 

Yes this is correct.
I special ordered a IS350 Sport BLK/BLK/ML/NAV/HW from Lexus of Portland on 12/14 dealer said 3-4 Months. Dealer called back next day said I could get my car in late January or early feb, but without the H/W. I said awesome doit. The factory was all ready building IS350 sports with the Mark Levinson/nav system I was lucky. In Oregon first 350 sports arrivals with ML. They will go fast. Talk them down 1,700 they matched a dealers price in Eugene Oregon go DUCKS!
MSRP 35,440
Destination 590
ST package 3,695
VN package 3,990
cargo net/trunk mat/wheel locks 194.00
Total 43,909
discount -1,700
paid 42,209

 

The ML will play MP3 CD's but not MP3 DVD's.

 

Is this from personal experience or published information?

 

I think it's from people's experiences. I find it hard to believe, technically, that it's not possible. I think people just haven't hit the right combination of disc type, file system, file format. At least I keep telling myself that.

 

Cool, let's prove this theory wrong!

 

Well, I have ML in my IS350 and can play MP3 CD's just fine, but I've tried burning MP3 DVD's a couple different times and it won't play anything. It shows the disk is in there, you can click on it, it sounds like it's reading it but then nothing, it will just sit there and not do anything.

 

Who needs CDs, use an IPOD

 

DVD-ROMs use a completely different file system from the standard ISO9660 and Joliet formats on CD-ROMs, so it would make sense that the ML system might not support them (though it's a shame, since the software work would not have been a significantly difficult addition).

But for the most part, I second NINEZeRO's approach -- the sound quality loss over the auxilliary analog link with a high-quality cable isn't significant compared to the loss from the compression, so you may as well just use a portable MP3 player instead of hassling with the rather poor nav system file browser.

 

i agree, cd and dvd+r dvd-r are very different technologies, just coz' they look teh same doesn't mean they are the same inside. i personally think it's possible if it can play mp3 on cd but not dvd. it's a shame though imho, i wish it could do that as well (if it can't now)

 

as I haven't had a Mark Levinson IS to test yet. This is good news as it was supposed to play MP3 files on the GS ML but didn't fly. Thanks all.

 

Believe it or not there are SOME of who haven't conformed yet to the DARK side...