ipod interfaces

[jc]

I want to be able to listen to my iPod in my car. I have no cassette,
so I've
been using one of those FM modulators. The fidelity is OK, but I live
in a crowded
area, so there really aren't any totally unused bands. This means that
as
I drive around, I'm constantly switching bands to avoid interference,
which gets old
pretty quickly.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide between just getting a new stereo with a
front auxilliary
plug, and still using the iPod to control the music, or getting a
stereo
with built-in iPod support. This sounds attractive, but I have about
8000 songs,
so I only want to do it if the control interface is VERY good, ie fast
and
easy navigation by artist, title, album, or playlist.

Does anyone have any recommendations (or anti-recommendations)? In
particular, the only one that I've found that seems to get universally
rave
reviews is the Alpine KCE-422i that works with most (all?) of their
new
decks.

I'd appreciate any input.

-jc

[dubbin it up]

I just bought a clarion dxz765mp and i just use the aux input from the rear
and plug it into the ipod and use the ipod as my changer. Now you can buy
the ipod connector for it and control it from the actual HU itself but i'm
poor and couldn't afford it. I like it. Really it's your own personal
preference but i hope this helps.


--
2 10" mtx thunder 8000
rockford amp 501bd
clarion dxz765mp
"jc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> I want to be able to listen to my iPod in my car. I have no cassette,
> so I've
> been using one of those FM modulators. The fidelity is OK, but I live
> in a crowded
> area, so there really aren't any totally unused bands. This means that
> as
> I drive around, I'm constantly switching bands to avoid interference,
> which gets old
> pretty quickly.
>
> Anyway, I'm trying to decide between just getting a new stereo with a
> front auxilliary
> plug, and still using the iPod to control the music, or getting a
> stereo
> with built-in iPod support. This sounds attractive, but I have about
> 8000 songs,
> so I only want to do it if the control interface is VERY good, ie fast
> and
> easy navigation by artist, title, album, or playlist.
>
> Does anyone have any recommendations (or anti-recommendations)? In
> particular, the only one that I've found that seems to get universally
> rave
> reviews is the Alpine KCE-422i that works with most (all?) of their
> new
> decks.
>
> I'd appreciate any input.
>
> -jc
>

[James]

I bought an AIWA cdc-x204 last year with a front aux input and it was
great(esp for $79.00)... until it got stolen... so now i'm looking for
a new head unit with a front aux... Before that I had a really
expensive kenwood head unit. It had a fold down face to put in cds...
but the wires broke... so I had something nice to compare the AIWA
to...

If you can find a new AIWA I would get it... Some comparables out there
that i've read good reviews on are:

JVC: KD-g420
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-hYnSajZ8ZnR/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=257KDG420
JVC: KD-g510
http://www.dealtime.com/xPR-KD_G510
Sony: CDX-GT400
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-hYnSajZ8ZnR/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=300&I=158GT400

I'm interested in those three b/c they have a sub output... other ones
in the KD and CDX lines have aux inputs on the front.


dubbin it up wrote:
> I just bought a clarion dxz765mp and i just use the aux input from the rear
> and plug it into the ipod and use the ipod as my changer. Now you can buy
> the ipod connector for it and control it from the actual HU itself but i'm
> poor and couldn't afford it. I like it. Really it's your own personal
> preference but i hope this helps.
>
>
> --
> 2 10" mtx thunder 8000
> rockford amp 501bd
> clarion dxz765mp
> "jc" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >
> > I want to be able to listen to my iPod in my car. I have no cassette,
> > so I've
> > been using one of those FM modulators. The fidelity is OK, but I live
> > in a crowded
> > area, so there really aren't any totally unused bands. This means that
> > as
> > I drive around, I'm constantly switching bands to avoid interference,
> > which gets old
> > pretty quickly.
> >
> > Anyway, I'm trying to decide between just getting a new stereo with a
> > front auxilliary
> > plug, and still using the iPod to control the music, or getting a
> > stereo
> > with built-in iPod support. This sounds attractive, but I have about
> > 8000 songs,
> > so I only want to do it if the control interface is VERY good, ie fast
> > and
> > easy navigation by artist, title, album, or playlist.
> >
> > Does anyone have any recommendations (or anti-recommendations)? In
> > particular, the only one that I've found that seems to get universally
> > rave
> > reviews is the Alpine KCE-422i that works with most (all?) of their
> > new
> > decks.
> >
> > I'd appreciate any input.
> >
> > -jc
> >

[Grimmis1027]

jc wrote:

> Anyway, I'm trying to decide between just getting a new stereo with a
> front auxilliary plug, and still using the iPod to control the music, or getting a
> stereo with built-in iPod support. This sounds attractive, but I have about

Eclipse has an inferface unit for their decks that connects the
iPod's dock connection.....

Alan

[jc]

Thanks for the feedback.

For the record, googling around convinced me that
Alpine had the best iPod interface, so I finally managed to try one.
The
snob appeal stereo store couldn't be bothered to connect the iPod
cable,
so I had to go to Best Buy to actually test one.

It was *almost* there. The menus were very intuitive and operated
pretty much like the iPod. It had two problems:
- even though it is reportedly the fastest interface out there, it
was still
pretty slow to scroll through all the artists on my iPod, and
searching
by song would have been out of the question. The frustrating thing
was
that simple firmware fix that made the scroll speed nonlinear
like the iPod would have taken care of this. Maybe next year...
- Except on the high end decks, you only get one line at a time as
you scroll. This means you'll often overshoot things and have to
backtrack.

Bottom line. IMHO, unless you have a small collection and/or restrict
yourself to playlists, iPod interfaces aren't quite there yet.

I'll go for a unit with an aux input.

-jc