Looks good and pretty interesting ... one thing though, you won't be able to rip CDs directly to the iPod. The D/A conversion in the iPod only goes one way. Ripping will require a computer, for the forseeable future.
Personally, all I want is an in-dash head unit with an AUX IN plug on the faceplate and something like the mounting system that you posted to open the Topic.
Have been hoping for an in-dash iPod dock for some time... even chatted about it with an audio unit designer but he never came back with anything - the market is primed for it... someone simply needs to execute. Doesn't help that most of the designers in this market space have very little day-to-day experience with something like the Pod - and the ones that do are such audiophiles by definition that they dismiss it once it's hooked up and listened to.
On the design you have posted... it looks like the CD and Pod would essentially be alongside each other - this would exceed width for most OEM console spaces - at least the ones i'm accustomed to. For US manufactured cars bear in mind that you have a TON of vertical space that's generally wasted... may not be a liberty in other cars i.e. German or Japanese, etc. but you have a lot of vertical room to take advantage of in most US OEM Head Unit spaces... would be a place to start refining and miniaturizing a completed unit while you had revenue from the oversized US unit funding things .
While we're all waiting for this all-inclusive head-unit... have been looking at these myself:
It's a separate mount, yes, but the dock attachment integrates directly into a stock Head Unit so that you can control the basic pod functions from car stereo controls and get a clear line-out signal all at once. Not a bad deal considering the standard line-in adapter for a stock head unit (patching into or in addition to CD Changer inputs) is very nearly the same price.
ahh, nm, found their compatability listing. sad that for 150, all you can do is skip tracks from the head unit, oh well, i have a fairly decent setup right now anyway
Very cool. I like the gooseneck thing. Maybe something slender and a little more graceful (doesn't need to be thick like you'd see holding a microphone).
I don't know though: people drive like idiots enough as it is. I'm not so sure I'm nuts about tossing an iPod into the mix of things people can **** with while they're driving (in addition to cell phones, radios, electric shaver, mascara, breakfast burrito, coffee, lipstick, newspaper, etc.)
Sorry to ressurect an aging thread, but this article seems like something for which I've been looking for a long, long time:
"In what the company says is a world first, Alpine Electronics will release a car stereo unit that allows you to connect your iPod to your car stereo and control it from there. They're calling it the iPod Ready Interface kit, and they're building it into selected 2004 Alpine in-dash receivers.
Once you connect your iPod to the stereo with a single cable, you can operate it with the receiver's buttons and view playlists, album, artist, and songs on the unit's display. The solution simultaneously charges the iPod's battery so that it's ready to go when you reach your destination.
Alpine expects to have the iPod Ready Interface kit available later this summer through authorized dealers. You can email ipodready@alpine-usa.com to get on their mailing list and receive more information."
they announce but don't show any pictures, i still like the slide in idea, less dangle and wires. someone needs a mount that you slip in and it shows up on the head unit, no wires
Comments
I guess they read appleinsider over there. ;-)
http://www.everythingipod.com/produc.../w009-2002.jpg
I think my Flexdock has nicer positioning caractheristics and superior IPOD grip.
;-)
Personally, all I want is an in-dash head unit with an AUX IN plug on the faceplate and something like the mounting system that you posted to open the Topic.
On the design you have posted... it looks like the CD and Pod would essentially be alongside each other - this would exceed width for most OEM console spaces - at least the ones i'm accustomed to. For US manufactured cars bear in mind that you have a TON of vertical space that's generally wasted... may not be a liberty in other cars i.e. German or Japanese, etc. but you have a lot of vertical room to take advantage of in most US OEM Head Unit spaces... would be a place to start refining and miniaturizing a completed unit while you had revenue from the oversized US unit funding things
While we're all waiting for this all-inclusive head-unit... have been looking at these myself:
http://icelink.densionusa.com/
It's a separate mount, yes, but the dock attachment integrates directly into a stock Head Unit so that you can control the basic pod functions from car stereo controls and get a clear line-out signal all at once. Not a bad deal considering the standard line-in adapter for a stock head unit (patching into or in addition to CD Changer inputs) is very nearly the same price.
I don't know though: people drive like idiots enough as it is. I'm not so sure I'm nuts about tossing an iPod into the mix of things people can **** with while they're driving (in addition to cell phones, radios, electric shaver, mascara, breakfast burrito, coffee, lipstick, newspaper, etc.)
"In what the company says is a world first, Alpine Electronics will release a car stereo unit that allows you to connect your iPod to your car stereo and control it from there. They're calling it the iPod Ready Interface kit, and they're building it into selected 2004 Alpine in-dash receivers.
Once you connect your iPod to the stereo with a single cable, you can operate it with the receiver's buttons and view playlists, album, artist, and songs on the unit's display. The solution simultaneously charges the iPod's battery so that it's ready to go when you reach your destination.
Alpine expects to have the iPod Ready Interface kit available later this summer through authorized dealers. You can email ipodready@alpine-usa.com to get on their mailing list and receive more information."
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/01/07/alpine/
http://www.alpine-usa.com/company_in...0804_ipad.html
or
Alpine Ipod integration
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publi...icle_650.shtml
BELKIN STOLE MY DESIGN !!
Quick..where are the lawyers...?
TuneBase
Just look at my goose neck dock !!!