Pods Unite

burgburgburg writes "Apple has released the QuickTime video of the new commercial they made in conjunction with Volkswagen. The connection between the two? Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod. Take a look at video. It's the 15 GB iPod and all the accessories needed to hook it up to the new Volkswagen." It uses a casette adapter, which is really lame. Of course, I use a casette adapter with my iPod, but I am not a German engineer.

Comments

calling clueful car manufacturers

[hedley]

Would it kill these guys to put a mini-jack on the dash (or somewhere) and an AUX setting on the stereo.

Bueller? Anyone?

Hedley

Re:calling clueful car manufacturers

[clifyt]

Kinda depends on the car.

For instance, I've tried 3 FM transmitters -- a generic one, the Griffen iTrip and another one I found from the Apple Store. None of them worked in my stereo.

I ended up picking up a new stereo JUST so I could run my iPod through it. On a larf, I decided to again try to solutions. Not a one worked any better. Only way to get it to work was to go outside and hold the transmitted next to the antenna. This REALLY sucks...

Well, it kinda worked on trips outside the city...doesn't help when there is a station, ever so weak it may be, on any channel you try.

I'm happy with the new AuxIn on mine...now I have to figure out how not to make all those wires look so ugly as they wind around the car...

In Car Firewire or USB ?

[vlad30]

So Is there a car with Firewire or USB connectivity from the manufacturer ?? If not how long before we see it ?

BTW I think this will be better than those in car removable hard drive solutions from 2-3 years ago

A good thing...

[suso]

This is a good thing. Many companies are indirectly promoting mp3 music, etc.

Integration

[morcheeba]

The holster is a bit hokey... would it kill apple/vw to design the ipod so that it can go inside a slot fairly deep such that only the lcd screen is showing? I'm thinking on top of the dash, kinda like a toaster. If necessary, the ipod should be able to rotate the image on its screen accordingly (for upside-down or sideways installations).

I wonder if the car can control the ipod - i.e. fast forward, rewind, etc. The older-style remote protocol is documented here so that you can build an interface to anything you want. It includes nice pictures & working source code!

iTrip

[JojoLinkyBob]

Anybody know when the iTrip FM Transmitter for the iPod is coming out?

The website has been stating "shipping soon" for a very long time now. At any rate, this could be an easier connection than a tape cassette, except for the possible trade-off of sound quality.

Just a crappy cassette adapter?

[phillymjs]

Damn, that sucks. Especially when the commercial kinda makes it look (to my unfamiliar-with-VW eye) like the iPod is a little better integrated with the stereo than that. Oh well.

Depending on what kind of stereo you've got, you may be able to get an auxiliary input cable adapter. I got one from XMFanstore for the OEM stereo in my car, which has an unused aux connector for a CD changer-- the adapter I bought just ends in female RCA jacks, so you can hook up pretty much any audio input to it. Maybe one of these days I'll be in the mood to take the center console apart and pull the stereo out to connect that cable. Until then, I'm using a crappy cassette adapter. :-(

Another product I'll be getting when it's available is this RF iPod remote control. I plan to run the cable to a storage compartment in the console, so the iPod will be out of sight/the way but I'll still be able to control it.

I agree with the "Why aren't they putting God damned input jacks on car stereos yet?" sentiment. What we really need are car stereos and MP3 players with Bluetooth, so they can connect that way. Of course, then you'd have short battery life without plugging the MP3 player into an auto power adapter-- but at least pretty much every car has someplace to plug one of those in.

~Philly

Why doesn't apple make...

[v1]

a car stereo that has a "docking bay" slot in it where you can just plug in your iPod? That would be ideal, just stuff it into the dash to play your tunes in the vehicle, while charging the iPod, then take the iPod with you when you go. No need to pull the stereo out of the dash to load new music onto it either. And having an important component removable should make it less prone to theft also, as the MP3 stereos seem to be very high risk right now.

Re:My iPod is super!

[dasmegabyte]

It is a male fallacy that girls are impressed by long, sleek rocket cars.

The girls I know like clean cars with luxurious acoutrements. Past a certain point, they don't care about how fast or loud or covered with chrome and decals it is. These are people who like SUBTLETY, who obsess over details, safey and cuteness. That's the beetle for you.

Besides, the volkswagen beetle is a nice car. It's comfortable inside, surprisingly roomy despite its apparent size, and there are lots of really nice editions out there. My personal favorite is the 1.8 turbo with the two tone leather interior, sunroof, sport suspension, rims painted to match the paint job...I've got a friend who drives one of these in jet black, and he gets more bumper than a body shop (to quote the film Airheads). In fact, of all the members of his rockabilly band (with their requisite 1960s chevrolets), his car gets the most attention. Could also be the drumming. Chicks dig a drummer.