ive been considering this also so i can store all my music in an ipod so i can eliminate my massive cd colection. how is the clarity and such? is it worth buying one for this application?

 

had a friend use the radio frequency adaptor on his ipod and it sounded fine. and i think tom (hyperite) uses his ipod, but not sure how he has it set up.

 

I suggest staying away from the "iPod ready" head units, you know the ones you control your iPod through the unit because every time you wanna switch songs you've got to press the 'Next' button a couple thousand times till you get to your song.

If your in a larger city I'd stray away from FM transmitters...I've yet to have any decent experiences with them.

Look for a head unit with a Aux input, that way you can still use the click-wheel on the iPod to search through your songs.

 

Or maybe something with a harddisk???

 

really? my buddy brought his FM transmitter to chicago and i didn't notice any huge difference.

 

Agreed, got a friend that has the FM transmitter, it sux and has alot of statics. Not good. But she said the direct hug that connects to the ipod? to the header will be good and very good quality.

 

agreed.
im using my 40gb ipod with my pioneer deh-p6800mp3. i have it hooked up using the direct link that aloows you to control the ipod from the head unit. the 2 biggest things i dislike about the set-up is 1. limited amount of characters on display(only 1 line of less tha 10 characters compared to 2 lines of 30 characters normally) 2. the fact mentioned above about having to skip thru songs 1 at a time. although ive learned to deal with these,i wish it was more user friendly. if i had known this i wouldnt have bought the interface and used the aux input on the radio.the sound quality is excellent on the interface and the line input. i would suggest staying away from the fm mod even tho others havent had any problems with that doesnt mean you wont.
1 thing i do like about the direct interface is the convienance. everything is done from the headunit and the ipod is tucked away out of site(the interface comes with enough cable to put ipod under the back seat if you wanted).

 

very nice!! thanks for the response. i think ill ask santa for an ipod with the cable and get a kenwood compatible for the cable input. i just think its smarter and easier than lugging around 100 cd's!

 

my FM transmitter doesn't work to well in my car, but it seems to work better in other people's cars. when we were in LA though, the thing was worthless. there are just too many radio stations out there to find an 'empty' frequency. just getting a $6 cable from radioshack and plugging it into the back of the headunit is the best way to go imo. i wouldn't want to control the ipod from a deck. that's the reason you buy an ipod is because the interface is good!

 

Sounds like my wishlist, I really need something more than the sketchy stock radio.

 

I've got mine directly wired...sounds as good as i'd expect (ie- perfect)

 

i live in southern cali. i own the monster cable radio frequency ipod adaptor( the one thats 75 dollars). so does my roommate andniether of us have had problems. i have a kenwood headunit and i believe his is a pioneer. i also use this adaptor in my mazda 3 and it works fine. i think it depends on which adaptor you buy.

 

i have an alpine headunit with the ipod interface unit. better quality sound. connects in the back of the unit and has a cable that plugs into the ipod. you control the playlists and song from the headunit and not the ipod. and it charges it while its connected and the car is on

 

Alpine headunit with iPod interface. Works awesome.

 

why dont you just buy a monster cable aux hook up. yoou just hook it into your decks aux ports, u change songs from from the ipod. the only draw back from doing this is that you dont get to charge your ipod while your playing but i dont think thats much of a draw back. how long will you actually be in the car driving and listening to music for?

Germ

 

Yeah I have the Premier 860mp and I just used the AUX port to plug in my iPod. I took out my ash tray and put the iPod there. It sounds pretty good but it is a pain in the *** trying to change the songs but I havent seen enough good reviews of the CD-IB100 (iPod interface) to go spend the 100$ on it.

 

I use the AUX function on my Clarion 645. Works just fine for me, sounds great. At work we do all sorts of Ipod hook-ups and the interfaces for the Alpines seem to do the job the best. The higher end models have a larger field for text, whereas the Pioneers display up to maybe 8 characters. FM modulators seem to get a TON of bleeding from other frequencies on nearby stations, satellite radios also suffer the same. FM mods which plug into the radio and interupt the radio reception work the best, but still don't match the AUX input. If you want to retain the factory radio, the FM modulator with the actual antenna plug would work the best.