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111 Comments
- alanspach, on 10/12/2007, -3/+45i just shove my whole ipod into the cassette player and it works just fine
- swanny89, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31Why wouldn't they? I think this qualifies as stating the friggin' obvious.
- mastercheif, on 10/12/2007, -5/+25Why do they have to have iPod intergration? Why cant they just put in a 1/4 jack and let people use whatever MP3 player they have?
- KanosWRX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I don't think it should be proprietary to Ipods, they should just have aux in's. What if something better comes out in two years, all those people stuck with Ipod only inputs in cars would be screwed. This is why I hate Apple always making things proprietary. Personally if a car only came with an Ipod input and not an aux-in 1/4 jack I wouldn't buy it.
- wicketr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12"why dont we have every companies device built into the dashboard. "
What needs to be done is to have a universal interface with the car. That way if you get a new media player, all you have to do is by a $10 cable that hooks from your car's univeral plug to your new device. It's all about standards. And until a standard has been made between the "media player companines", the car companies aren't going to provide a built in technology that may only last 5 years.
So, Bob, you need to get with Creative, Philips, Sony, San Disk, Samsung and whoever else and get a friggin standard and then the car companies will follow.
I have a feeling they'll all go to using bluetooth btw. - jeremyczu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Ipod Connectivity doesn't just mean music going through the radio, but integration with the receiver controls, the ability to put the Ipod in the glove box, and on some cars, steering wheel controls. Why not both connections? I'd love to be able to plug in my laptop on a factory radio.
- chumba, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Why can't they just create a bluetooth standard so you don't have to jack ANYTHING in. It can work with whatever player you want, navigate through songs, etc. Just bring it into the car, and blamo - works like a champ. You could even have it do more fancy things like integrate with your phone and the ipod, so when the phone rings, the ipod mutes/pauses.
- stringycheese, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I wish car stereos came standard with the standard 1/4" line in. Then you could plug anything with a line out or a headphone out into your car stereo. Then you could output the sound of practically any device through your car speakers and using a standard cable at that.
Please, please, please do not use the proprietary iPod dock connector! - ridgelawrence, on 10/12/2007, -16/+24or mabye it would be a car that could fly(run OSX) and drive(run windows).
Better than a normal car. - Ottergoose, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Because some people don't want wires running all over the inside of their car. I recently setup an aftermarket stereo in my wife's car that has "real" integration, that is, a wire that has a dock connector on one end, and is hooked up to the stereo on the other. The iPod gets put in a change tray, and gets charged while it is controlled through the stereo. It sounds and looks great.
- dawes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4About a year ago I decided to "iPod" my new car. The best iPod car integration solution I could find (at the time) was Dension's iceLink Plus which can now be found at BestBuy. I thought VW was creating a "common" USB interface in their new vehicles?
http://www.densionusa.com/icelink_info.htm - osc1882, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Good for them, and I want them to drop DRM, how does it feel to want?
- stealthboy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5"It's all about standards. "
The nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from!
/loves the 1/4-inch aux input jack on my car stereo. - humblepatience, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10I think it's messed up that Apple needs to use it's own special connetors and *****, and now they want ipod-specific support in cars.
All new cars should be mp3-ready, and the mp3 players should come with an adapter that goes from generic-mp3-hookup to ipod or whatever. - Tricky, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Also, the air conditioning is always broken. It's a feature.
- stringycheese, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Because Macs never crash or freeze up and use significantly less power than Windows machines?
Get a grip on reality, Apple is not perfect. - AeroSquid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5i think it would be stupid to be tied to an ipod hookup in your car. i want a universal hookup that will work with any player i want to use (including non DRM ones)
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4close, except no portable devices have a 1/4" jack, they all have 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks... 1/4" jacks are what you find on home stereo gear, and studio monitor headphones...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@stringycheese
Most after-market manufacturers are starting to put the 1/8" (1/4" take up too much room) auxilliary input into their CD players. My Alpine deck has one. I love it. I can even plug in my laptop and have it in the passenger seat if I want. The only problem is it only allows in analog audio information over the wire... so you can't display MP3 song/disc info on the stereo's faceplate, or control the MP3 player from the stereo. I'd like to see them do this with USB 2.
BMW's on the right page, but they only offer iPod integration over that proprietary plug (BOOOO!!!). There's no reason they couldn't do this with USB and a standard API on the player. - spindrift, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4In other news, Creative wants more Zen-ready cars, Nintendo wants a DS connected to the back of every seat, and Microsoft would like every vehicle to run on an embedded Windows Mobile license. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, is quoted: "You see, cars, no matter who manufactures them - are mobile. Our Windows has 'mobile' in the name. We believe that our products would be a perfect fit for each other."
- flag564, on 10/12/2007, -8/+10I would like my car to have UMD and MiniDisc intergration too. Heck, why dont we have every companies device built into the dashboard.
- Outdoor83, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This is a story? Of course they want more integration. What product manager wouldn't want more companies building support for their product into something?
- dawes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree, Bluetooth would be cool, just throw the iPod (or any other player) in the glove box. The car stereo would discover the device and away you go. The problem I've found with my factory head unit is that the interface is good for playing discs, but terrible for browsing a 20GB+ music collection.
- LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2While universal connectors would be ideal, the fact is that USB isn't exactly the solution. USB doesn't provide as much functionality as the iPod dock connector either.
USB doesn't naturally supply analog stereo audio like the dock connector does. You would have to either find a way to move the audio over the USB digitally, or decode the audio on the head unit side. Either way, it is more complicated than the iPod dock connector which has dedicated pins for audio.
Secondly, USB doesn't inherently carry a protocol for controls like FF/REW/PLAY. Car manufacturers would have to negotiate with EVERY single mp3 player maker out there to come up with a single protocol over USB that handles controls... the same goes for song information.
Thought the iPod connector is proprietary, it provides a lot more features than USB or AUX in alone... compound that with the fact that 80% of all digital music players are iPods, and you can see why they chose that to support. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Or yeah, like wicketr said, bluetooth would be nice over a plug.
- LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Dock Connector has been the same on every iPod since the 3rd generation, from back in 2003.
- LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2stringycheese... why not use the iPod connector? The iPod connector provides a lot more features than the simple AUX in...
It provides audio, you can control the ipod from your head unit or from your steering wheel controls, you can see song information on your head unit or your NAV system, and last but not least, you can charge the iPod too.
None of these things is handled by the AUX in. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2How about bluetooth in the ipod/mp3 player. Bluetooth in the car, I take my Ipod on the car and the car picks it up and knows what it is. Then I just control it thru the stereo interface on my car.
- op12, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I wouldn't let something like an iPod connector sway my decision on a car worth way more. You could always replace the radio with one without a connector if it bothered you that much.
It's not Apple, but the radio/accessories companies that are allowing things to be proprietary. There's a headphone jack on the iPod, but they use the dock connector. Why? Because consumers that own iPods don't want the wires, and others end up getting screwed. So place the blame where it belongs. - c0nsumer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If Apple wants more iPod integration, they should also ensure that it's usable. It should not be like the crap which Honda put out as the Honda Music Link iPod Adapter. My review of it can be found here, if anyone is interested:
http://www.nuxx.net/wiki/Honda_Music_Link_iPod_Adapter_Review - craigtheguru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My Prius has an AUX line in, but I wish it had full iPod integration and displayed album art and track titles on the touch screen while working with my steering wheel controls. Come on Toyota, get on it!
- gweedo767, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why not just go buy yourself an aftermarket headunit with iPod support? I just got my Pioneer DEH-3800MP installed in my 06 Stratus. The iPod hook up is silly simple to install and then you can put the plug wherever you find most convient.
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2True, a redesign would be necessary but I'd think that would be the easy part. Just put a little scroll wheel on the steering wheel or something, or a play list on on a HUD
- LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2AUX in doesn't give you as much functionality as true iPod integration. Car kits for iPods give you FF/REW/PLAY PAUSE, and even song title and navigation information from your car's stereo interface or your steering wheel controls.
Plus, putting an ipod connector on the car charges the iPod too... something you can't do with AUX in.
Instead of a whole mess of wires going to the music player (one for charge, one 1/4inch for audio, one for a remote control) you have one cable that does it all. - v0yeur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2to everyone reading this, several car makers already have iPod integration - funny thing is most are not AMERICAN manufacturers.
Now that said, the interface is terrible, since the common application takes an iPod and replaces the disc changer line in the car - so you can only have one or another. additionally, you need to create custom playlists that will be identified thru the cable as "disc 1, disc 2, etc." meaning that if your car only supports a 6 disc changer, u can only have 6 playlists - you can't actually BROWSE the way you would a normal iPod - nor would you want to while driving, i suppose.
Once more vehicles have nav screens, it would be interesting to actually see a version of iTunes in the car - but that would be far far away, since the interface is so archaic right now. - tdogg241, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"This item has been discontinued in the US."
- tdogg241, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!"
- ElectroBot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The reason they want it to be iPod compatible is so that you can control the iPod from the stereo or buttons on your steering wheel. The more advanced decks also display artist, song and album title as well as time playing/remaining.
- Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So do I. I love my FM trasmitter and iClick, but a dock port and integrated controls on the wheel would make for a greater experience overall. Even if the car companies and mp3 player companies were to get together and agree upon a standard... be it through Bluetooth or a universal port... something to make it easy to hook up any MP3 player to a car and get digital sound and controls. And once this is established, it needs to be available for all makes and models, not just high-end.
- tacom8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Get the Dice module then, its got ipod and aux inputs, and FULL integration with your factory stereo setup.
I don't even own an ipod and I am looking at getting one just for the aux hookup in my car. Its a super clean install (plug factory cd changer cable in, that's it!) i think its ~$150 (cheaper then the ice unit), but why not i mean i would like to own an ipod at some point, would be nice to integrate with the factory setup, but have the aux jack in the meantime. I believe the dice even shows the song tittle info on your radio, but i could be wrong.
if you are sticking with stock HU the dice unit is the way to go - TokenUser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1More than hapy with my Alpine HU - no adapter box in the newer models, just a high speed cable that connects (and charges) the iPod from the HU. All the controls are from the HU - it works just like a CD changer on steroids.
- HewcardPacklet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have a pioneer solution, and there is an undocumented way to control the ipod itself when it is connected:
1. wait for the ipod to shut off (usually takes 90 seconds)
2. plug the ipod in the connector cable
3. press menu
You can now browse your tunes using the ipod with your right hand while driving, and also from the car stereo itself. My gf even watched an episode of lost with the sound in the 6 car speakers and the video on the ipod. very cool.
It took me 3 months using the ipod with my pioneer system to figure this out, it is not documented anywhere. - NicP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Remember, there is no standards for the data being transmitted in an out of MP3 players. Even if they all got BlueTooth or USB, the problem would still be there."
There are standards for bluetooth, A2DP and AVRC. iPods having bluetooth would be great! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just get one of the tapes that plugs into the headphone jack.
- stealthboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Bob Borchers, who is the senior director of iPod worldwide product marketing, told CNET that Apple is interested in making the use of iPods in cars much easier."
Why exactly is this news-worthy? Sure, I own multiple iPods and macs, but i'm not digging this story. I suppose Mr. Borchers should have said that Apple wants the process of integrating their iPods to be MORE DIFFICULT.
gwjc is on my list now. - oyourmom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes and Sony wants to sell there product for 600 bucks. Well guess what, not everything you want is gonna happen.
- XTrek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't want anything proprietary built into my next car. Just put a flash card slot in the dash. I'll never buy music with DRM so just support the standard formats. Wave, mp3, loss-less of some kind, etc
- glafira, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Damn straight, I wanna be able to sit down in my Mini Cooper and get out the adapter and plug it in and then see the songs ID3 tags on a COLOR screen.
- osc1882, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1allofmp3 rules.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"This is why I hate Apple always making things proprietary."
Yeah, like the fact that they are using USB, ATA, PCI, OpenGL, MPEG-4, .h264, xml, UNIX and all the standards it brings, AAC, PDF, Zero-Config (Bonjour), Wi-Fi and many others...
All proprietary Apple technologies? Oh wait, none of them are owned by Apple, and all of them are accessible by other manufacturers. Can't say that about most of the "standards" used by MS.
When Apple did create and use its own proprietary standards, it was because none were existing at the moment, or the existing standard simply couldn't do what Apple needed.
The old proprietary Apple monitor plugs? There was no established standard for monitor plugs that could drive large monitors like the Mac II could.
NuBUS? Please, don't tell me that Apple should have adopted the ISA card standard... Apple adopted NuBUS, that was found on workstations.
Apple Desktop Bus? Again, there was simply nothing like it at the time, ADB is much more close to USB than those PS/2 connectors.
SCSI? Not an Apple standard, but it was certainly better than IDE at the time.
Although Apple was a little slow to abandon some of their standards when more open equivalents surfaced, nowadays they adopt open standards everywhere they can.
As for the iPod connector, could you point out to any standard Apple could have adopted instead? iPods do include a 1/8 headphone jack.
Should Apple license their iPod connector? Maybe, someday, but just like licensing FairPlay, the more they wait, the higher its value become in the eyes of the potential licensees.
If Apple tried to license the iPod connector and Fairplay just after releasing them, no companies would have wanted it, because they couldn't predict the success it would have. People and companies only ask Apple to license because the iPod is popular. And to be sure licensees don't sabotage the whole thing, it has to have a sustainable value. Apple has to show that the iPod is here to stay, which many still doubt despite the 80% market-share.
Let Apple decide when it'll be the right time to open and license, but remember, they are really competing against MS, which holds 95% of the OS market, and that has much more implications, since media players plug and interface with the OS, and MS "standards" are more than often adopted by default.
If they open too soon, the whole thing will fail and will take down the iPod and iTMS with it. -
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