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Apple Partners with Ford
conq writes "BusinessWeek reports on Apple's latest partnership with Ford. This new accessory will be available in all Ford, GM and Mazda 2007 models allowing users to control thei iPod through the car's stereo controls. From the article:
'Currently, most MP3 players connect to vehicles via tape-deck or FM radio adapters. The devices are relatively cheap, ranging from $20 to $90, but are often difficult to operate while driving and can distort sound quality. But the iPod jacks, situated in glove compartments, let drivers easily operate players with existing stereo controls and charge a device's battery without an additional adapter.'"
About freaking time!!!!
Useless sig.
These things look nice. I would love one in my van. I tried 3 or 4 different FM transmitters before I finally got a CD-changer interface so the iPod plugs directly into the back of the stereo (which took a long time to find because of my car). That said, there is one thing that worries me.
What happens when Apple changes the interface? You don't expect them to keep the same dock connector forever. Does the system have an alternate input (standard line-in, for example)? Is there a cable that can be changed so you can use dock-connector 2.0 (or whatever)?
Just something to think about.
Really, I wish some kind of audio input bus would be put into cars to simplify all this stuff. You either have to get a special (and expensive) adaptor to fake being a CD-changer, or use the FM transmitter. Now let's say I have an XM receiver and a iPod and I want both plugged into my car stereo? I can't do it (without hacking a dock interface connector for the XM). Or what if I want to add HD radio? Or plug in a tape player (which my car lacks). Just a simple line-in jack would be fine with me. I don't need the rest of the fancy stuff (although it's nice).
My guess is this is just vendor lock in since there was basically no demand for it before iPods (and their ilk) and you could always use a tape adapter (although more and more cars lack cassette drives).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I'd be happy with a simple mini jack standard on car head units. Then we wouldn't have to play around with those terrible FM tuners. My Sirius sounds worse than AM through the FM tuner.
Is this going to be able to work as a universal adapter or will it be for Ipods only? Steve Jobs already tells us enough what we can and can't use. Damn the man and his DMR's
It is often ironic that those that define others as lemmings are often themselves lemmings dancing to the latest fad.
I don't want to have to remember to lug my ipod out to the car, I want my car to be an iTunes client. It should have wifi and 100GB, and should sync whenever I pull into the garage (or within range of my home wifi network).
I'll leave the interface on the radio as an excercise for product developers, but neither the iPod interface nor the 'pretend it's a big CD changer' is the right approach.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
Does that scare anyone else? I will put money on it that some idiot is going to want to start listening to their ipod while driving, reach over to the glove box and try to plug it in. I bet that will be the cause of more than one accident...
Why can't they put a USB port in the cars instead, or even AUX inputs or stereo minijacks? If Ipods ever phase out of the mainstream, we're going to have a mountain of proprietary crap just because Apple refuses to use a standard, widely accepted connector.
Being the owner of other brands of players (superior sounding, at that), I find how everyone only supports Ipod very frustrating.
A USB port could have other potential uses, too. For instance, adding a hard drive unit that could interface with the audio controls, that would enable you to truly bring your music collection wherever you go. Or, quickly charging other devices via USB. The possibilities would be endless.
This mod I bought for our 2005 Prius allows control through the steering wheel and touch-screen:
http://www.vaistech.com/sli.html
They even have a video-in unit.
All that said, I am just as happy with the line-in for our 2006 Prius (any audio source works, and I can control almost as easily with the iPod in the cupholder.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
This is nothing new. My CD player came iPod-ready, though I have to purchase an extra extension seperately to make it work (for some reason, they decided to put the attachment on the back of the unit). The only interesting thing I see here is some conjecture about how the other auto giants will respond.
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
Now is the perfect time to partner with Ford! Seriously though, it's good news and I look forward to such a feature being available on all cars. Using an FM transmitter isn't viable in a metropolitan center with a clogged FM band and a cassette adaptor is becoming less and less useful as many new cars lack cassette players. While a simple input jack that connects to the output jack of any electronic device (rather than just iPods) may be cheaper and more flexible, it doesn't allow for integration with the iPod's interface. The day is approaching when all cars will have LCD displays built into the dashboard/console and being able to browse through songs on your iPod as well as display information about the current song would be ideal.
I remember driving down a deserted country highway, drunk and stoned, from one get-together to another in the cottage country where I spend my summer days. I was in a late model american full-sized family car. Being used to a modest '97 civic, I was tripping out - there were so many dials, knobs, leds and displays, it felt like I was in one of the Culture ships from an Iain M. Banks novel. I can't wait until I do the same, playing my ipod through the car stereo with tracknames scrolling by on the display...
Why are these in the glove compartment? In the dashboard, as a slot, or instead of the ash tray, etc... Why do I have to reach into the glove box each time I want to put my iPod in there? Does anyone do any usability studies anymore?
One Token Ring to Rule them All, One Search Engine to Find Them, One WAN to bring them in, and TCP/IP Bind them...
Ford - The ultimate iPod case?
GM is not part of Ford Motor Company.
But...it's pretty obvious why auto manufacturers don't want you to use your audio hardware in their cars. They'd like you to spend lots of money on buying their crappy audio systems. In particular, they exploit a kind of 'bug' in human reasoning. If you're buying a $20,000 car many people will think little of wasting $1000, say, on a stereo worth $500 because the $500 seems insignificant compared to the total price of the car and the expense slides under many people's radars, even though under normal circumstances those people would balk at being ripped off so badly.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
If Ford had waited for Zune, their customers would be reasonably happy and building up their music collections until one day their players stopped working. Then the MS support people would give them the news: "The version that you have is lacking in robustness. You need to upgrade to the current version of Bronco."
Make the car look like USB speakers. Make the radio controls look like a joystick with lots of buttons. Make the radio receiver look like a USB tuner.
When no computer is connected, it's all like a normal car. Add a computer (iPod, Mac Mini, Linux SBC, etc.) and the computer gets to operate everything.
But does it run UBUNTU ?
Does it run UBUNTU ?
No, not everyone will buy iPods. Instead, it will open up the market for adapters for other devices to iPod dock connectors, possibly with translating command signals.
My other first post is car post.
Nothing better then grooving to the iPod while you're waiting by the side of the road for your tow.
Even the summary says "Ford, GM, and Mazda"...
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
I have a 2006 Honda CR-V. I bought the Honda iLink. It sucks. Stay away. It comes with a crappy software prg that goes and makes a talking name/artist for each song. It is an AppleScript (compiled I think) that does not even really work! I tried it on a library of 2000 tunes and it errors out half way thru. There are no updates and the company that wrote the code does not support it - call Honda they say. Did I say that the 2000 tunes takes about 40 mins to run? Wonder how it is going to work on my full collection of 38K.
www.beastproject.org
Judging from the numerous articles (in this particular discussion) praising the fun of using an iPod within an automobile, I suspect that "adjusting radio/cassette/CD/iPod" will soon rise to become the 2nd most common cause of distraction, leading to even more automobile crashes.
If using an iPod causes a fatal automobile accident, will some victim of such an accident eventually try to sue Apple?
I saw "Apple Partners with Fnord"
Am I the only one here reading Ford as in Prefect?
Are the people that find me strange actually right?
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
To get in the 2007 model year vehicles, this had to be planned years ago. The announcement just comes out right before product launch.
Honda already did this in 2006 models. It's called the iPod Music Link and you control the music from the steering wheel or the audio system. Read their official announcement at Honda.com
Other words, this is not news. Ford is just playing catch up as always. Honda owns the auto industry and is always one step ahead of the others.
\
http://staticfree.info/graphics/fnord_1024x768.jpg
But...it's pretty obvious why auto manufacturers don't want you to use your audio hardware in their cars.
Not quite. Many auto manufacturers are sympathetic to the people who put aftermarket devices in their vehicles. In fact many design their systems to include extra circuitry and possibly connectors such that it makes it much easier for aftermarket devices to be installed.
The extra feature in this case is a line in jack consisting of 2 pairs of twisted and shielded wires (possibly just twisted). Note that this is not the extent of the extra features I talk about, but just what the article is about.
My Scion Xa has an iPod link and it's awesome. I can scroll through the artists and tracks right on the car stereo's screen using my steering wheel controls. These reporters are idiots if they think iPods in cars is something new.
Maker of exploding music players joins forces with maker of exploding cars.
Depending on the set of numbers that you use from this study, "adjusting radio/cassette/CD" causes between 1.5% and 3% of all automobile crashes.
I hooked my ipod into my mr2 (manual, natch) by way of the tape deck and left the iwred remote thing between the shifter and P-brake. With its known position and four buttons, it was easier than changing channels on my radio.
If using an iPod causes a fatal automobile accident, will some victim of such an accident eventually try to sue Apple?
Well, duhh, what country do you live in?
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
"Because of Apple's product I had an auto accident"
"Specifically, because you used it in your car, when you weren't capable of doing that and driving"
"Well..Apple made the product"
"And they held a gun to your head and said, use your iPod, don't drive"
"No, but they made something dangerous, and sold it to me"
"So, if I beat you nearly to death with my briefcase, you sue its manufacturer."
"No, I sue you. But that isn't fair"
"No it isn't. If you beat yourself nearly to death with your briefcase, you sue its manufacturer?"
"No, I sue, um, me, uh, I don't sue anyone cause it's my fault"
"So how is it Apple's fault when you use iPod in the car when you shouldn't
"I'M NOT GONNA STAND AROUND AND LET YOU SUPPORT EVIL/COMMUNISM/FASCISM/MURDER/TERRORISM/etc."
Stupidity is like nuclear power, it can be used for good or evil. And you don't want to get any on you.
So... why does the headline read FORD??? Who is getting the indecent pay check here?
I won't argue that point. Doing ANYTHING other than driving is distracting. That said, which do you think is worse? Reaching over for the radio or iPod and then trying to use it (worse if you have to do the menus on the iPod as opposed to a single button press to switch radio stations); or pressing a button on your steering wheel that will control your iPod?
Added convenience, better sound quality, costs less, slightly less dangerous.
I don't see a down side.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I think Honda do on some lines of vehicles.
But...it's pretty obvious why auto manufacturers don't want you to use your audio hardware in their cars. They'd like you to spend lots of money on buying their crappy audio systems.
Stock stereos have a tendancy of being half way decent. While I personly don't care if my buttons match my car, there are those who go out of their way to get factory radios specificly cause it looks right. They do raise the value of your car and should be kept if at all possible, even if it's just a radio.
I can't speak for ford, but i've been quite impressed with the stock stereos offered by the likes of Toyota and Nissan. I would have kept mine except for the fact that it was a tape deck, and I wanted a CD. However I know now it was equpped for a CD changer, I likely would have gone that way, that way I could have my tape and cd too.
What I don't understand is this shouldn't be a big deal. If you have a factory stereo with cd changer support it shouldn't be much trouble at all for apple to offer a changer adapter to use the existing controls on the CD player, and use them on the IPOD. In fact I just googled it and poof here we are.
But in regards to the grandparent, line out / line in are not uncommon at all. Line in is most common for the use of CD changers, line out / line in are more often used for equalizers and such. The tweeky bit is the fact that they often don't use rca jacks, nor headphone jacks.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Apple needs to hook up with either SIRI or XMSR. A potent combination of data and storage if ever there was one.
Ford (Dodge too) needs to stop over engineering thier vehicles. For some reason neither can make a vehicle that doesn't have problems before I pay it off. Warranty my ass.
There is a specific reason (multiple ones), I'm replacing my wifes Grand Caravan with a Toyota/Honda/Nissan.
American auto makers Suck, no matter how many gadgets (gimmicks) they throw in.
Enjoy,
It's just the normal noises in here.
If I say yes, will you shut the fuck up about UBUNTU?
I trust Ford and Apple products about as far as I can throw them without breaking them...so not at all.
The companies with the two most problem-plagued products in their industries are joining hands. The results will not be good. Any one remember the iRockr? or the Nano? or the Shuffle? Or the Macbook? Or the Pinto? Or the tire problem that's still affecting new models? Or the recall from last week? Or...
You get the point.
The problem is that the CD adaptors or FM adaptors pretty much suck. Most people dont like having to deal with those things and they often lower the quality of the sound.
Heck forget Apple, it would make sense for manufaturers to make a standard plug in port on the radio face that can be used by any Ipod or MP3 player. At worst you might have to use a tiny plug adaptor which you can leave in your keychain.
It is often ironic that those that define others as lemmings are often themselves lemmings dancing to the latest fad.
USASpec makes a great iPod control unit that works through your car stereo, and you can get them for about 100-150 bux. The units work with most Fords, GM's, Chryslers, BMW, etc, that have CD Changer controls. I had one in my SRT-4 before I totaled it and it was great! Clear as a bell, and you could choose to control the unit via playlists (the playlists are treated like CD's), or via the ipod, and you can still use your car stereo to skip tracks. No need to rush and get a new car ;)
The article clearly mentions a partnership with "Mazda, Ford, and GM."
They're 3 different companies. (Though Mazda is 1/3 owned by Ford.)
And besides, as we all remember from several years ago, Ford really sucks.
BMW was one of the first. VW's were around the same time. Then Prius owners got the same thing. Lots of companies brought back "mp3 player" jacks for their stereos.
My mother has had a changer-plug interface in her volvo for 2-3 years now, from Blitzsafe.
How is this johnny-come-last press release even remotely worthy of front-page status? How much did Ford's PR firm pay to get this put there?
Please help metamoderate.
DAMN IT! I just bought a Mazda 6GT Hatchback!
The article title seems misleading. It's not just Ford, it's GM (and Mazda).
:(
But this has been Ford's, and American auto manufacturer's problem. They're behind the times.
I bought a Ford Escape 2005 (in 2004) a few years ago. Asked if their stereos could handle the iPod (I already had an iTtrip). The sales guy says "a what". Ended up talking to the sales manager, discussed it with him. He bluffed that he knew what I was talking about.
While this is great news, in that it can only help sales, they should eat the cost and build it into every single auto they manufacture. The iPods are that prevalent that the small cost (and write-off) to them is relatively insignificant, compared to the positive sales and attitude towards the American manufacturer.
And yes, I come from a long line of family who's worked for Ford. It's depressing to see them doing so poorly. But that's another topic in and of itself.
http://slashdot.org/~tf23/journal
Hmm...
Let's see here.
You buy a car from Ford, GM, or Mazda containing one of these iPod thingies... say... $25,000 for a decent model... Then, you load up your iPod with music that the RIAA sues you for having... say... whatever you had left and indentured servitude for the rest of your life... You know, it costs so MUCH to be broke and destitute nowadays.
I work for a major vendor of mobile phones. Maybe I'm not supporting my industry, but daily I want to scream "Shut up and drive!". I swear to GOD that every other damned car has someone on the phone - not handsfree, not a headset, but holding the damned thing to their head and waving their other hand in the air. A man in a Porsche Boxter driving 50 in the fast lane yammering on his RAZR and waving BOTH hands in the air and all I can do is pray - pray! - that he'll hit a pothole and scrape that car against the guardrail as an object lesson.
In the end, all I can do is HOPE that maybe these ass-wipes will get iPods and DROWN OUT the sound of their handset ringing.
Thinking outside my Head
Alpine has this already for anybody who mods their car audio. Their 2006 head units have full support for most IPods (3rd gen and up). All you need is a compatible head unit and this $30 cable and all controls are through the head unit. Charges the battery as well. I have it, its great. Works just as well, if not better, some of these factory units.
Stripes: Because stars are overrated
I want my car to be an iTunes client. It should have wifi and 100GB, and should sync whenever I pull into the garage
Not a bad start, but I'd rather have Amarok. Why not? Amarok is free after all. The iTunes does not do as much and will cost them money to license. Oh yeah, they could throw in a satellite network so you can sync from anywhere, games, a browser, Noatun and touch screens for the rear seats so your passengers can watch get their web fix, watch movies or play games on the way to work. One modern computer should be able to handle all of that or smaller devices could simply be networked. The hardware should be cheap enough by now and all of the software is just as free as Amarok. 100GB would be nice for movies, but you don't really need all of that if your sync works right. A firewire hook up should fix the storage problem at zero cost to the manufacturer and most people would plant a 250 GB drive.
The only think keeping the above from working right now is the greedy ball that is music and movie publishing. They want everything locked down and that's why you are seeing expensive commercial junk being installed when free stuff has been available for ages. At the very least, they could give you a freaking wire! Feel the full price of exclusive franchise multiplied by the government protected and union dominated auto industry. Markets without competition truly suck life.
While those idiot continue to fight about who's going to be the first to sell you a $250 jack, I'll keep plugging my Zaurus and my cheap mp3 player into the audio in jack of the $200 stereo I bought at WalMart.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
The problem is that the CD adaptors or FM adaptors pretty much suck. Most people dont like having to deal with those things and they often lower the quality of the sound.
While I agree FM adapters suck.... i'm not understanding why a deck to rca adapter would suck. They tend to be proprietary, spendy, and akward to jack in. But suck? Why would they suck in contrast to a straight RCA or 1/8 inch inch jack?
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
I've had the Alpine iPod interface since 2004. I hope scrolling speed has improved. I don't know whether the interface is slow, or if it is the head unit (CDA-9820XM) but scrolling is torture-slow. That is my only complaint about it though.
Hmm. Yea, an iPod connector in your car would be pretty nifty. I'd love to have one -- happily, I drive a MINI Cooper, and Mini's offered a glove-compartment iPod connector as an option for years.
GM committed to putting line-in jacks on all their affordable cars standard. Some high end ones too.
n -aux-in-jack-to-their-cars/
http://www.engadget.com/2005/03/18/gm-adds-line-i
They started this a couple years ago, so the Cobalt, Sky, Vue, Ion, Solstice, HHR, G6, Impala, Monte Carlo and many others already have it.
It baffles me why it took so long and why other companies like VW who claim they are in touch with America's youth still don't have them.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
The new age of white overpriced cars that only have 2 seats and can only go 40 MPH, but it will have a good sound system (that only works with Itunes) and the air condition controls will look uber hip.
:P)
(ps: "funny" not "troll"...
Great Intellect...
Dension already makes this:
http://www.dension.com/icelinkplus.php
And VW sells something similar for their vehicles as well.
I think you totally missed the point of what i saying. To get to the glove box, people will need to bend over across the car to do that. That is what will cause the accidents...
Besides that, I am glad you made a sweeping generalization about me that is completely wrong...
mod parent up, he's got a point. Why do we have to use iTrips and why did we have to use cd-player to cassete tapes adapters? Merchandising... /'May the Schwartz be with ya'
Dang it. The title led me to believe we'd have a car made by Apple and Ford. Imagine, a car controlled soley with a one button mouse ( thus rendering irreponsible right hand turns impossible)... The advertising possibilities... 1.) iDriveGood 2.) please don't DRiNK&DRiVE. 3.) We also sell cars... any color... as long as it's white. :)
4.) $1.99 per gallon at iTuneUp! Beat that, Exxon!
5.) iCars can go 10 HOURS between charges. Beat that, Honda!
6.) one word. Jobs... yes, jobs... American jobs.
boycott Apple?
Both have expiriences with massive recalls.
twitter, the last time you tried this "iTunes suxxorz and Amarok is teh bestest" argument someone very thoroughly handed your ass back to you. You are clearly ignorant as to how the software you "hate" works so it's really impossible for you to make any sort of informed judgement related to the topic at hand. Please stop trolling Slashdot
The RIAA sues 1000s in car parking song swapping scheme
The RIAA claims that it has identified over 1000 people involved in what it terms a "car parking song swapping scheme". According to the legal papers filed, the RIAA claims that the subjects were involved in a scheme whereby they would occasionally park their car in the proximity of other subject's residence, ostensibly with the excuse of running errands. It is alleged that then their Ipods - especially modified for the purpose - proceeded to illegally download songs from the residences.
According to sources that asked not to be named, the RIAA is about to crack down on similar activity occurring at traffic lights and jams all over the nation. The source quoted, "This vehicular promiscuity is one of the greatest threats to the free enjoyment of copyright protection in our country".
With as concerned as Apple is with their product image and industrial design, why are they partnering with Ford of all possible companies?
This is nothing new. BMW has been doing this since 2004, when they were the first to partner with Apple. Since then, Apple has partnered with other manufacturers, including Honda, Audi, Volkswagen, Chrysler, Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, Jaguar, Jeep, Nissan, Daihatsu, Renault, Suzuki and Volvo. http://www.apple.com/ipod/ipodyourcar/
The car should be the computer, not the peripheral. Make the car stereo mp3 capable and let it read from USB storage. If you plug in a USB memory stick, or a USB hard drive, or an MP3 player that acts like USB storage, the car steroe can play the music.
Radios that play CDs of mp3s are pretty good and you can get them now. If
they only played DVDs full of mp3s, it'd be all I'd really need. I just don't drive
around that much. Obviously an mp3 player built into a standard radio
form factor is the easiest solution: why do I want to have to hook up my
ipod every time I get in the damn car? That's just annoying. I guess synching
is the only downside. Wifi?
Maxim
I have an iPod shuffle, so this thing won't do me any good. My wife's iPod is a 2G or 3G -- I can't remember which -- so it'd probably work. But I'm the one that drives my car. I use a cassette adapter, 'cos FM modulators frankly suck. I don't know what car I'll ever replace my 01 Continental with, though -- no more V8's and no more cassettes! Really, though, all I ever need is the aux. input and I'd be happy.
Look, by having the iPod interface on the car stereo, you're just treating the iPod like an external hard disk. Then what the hell do you need the iPod for? Just make it work with with a SATA hard drive or something, or just a plain vanilla USB thumb drive.
Yeah, yeah, the iPod's probably providing the analogue signal and the stereo's only controlling the iPod, but it's not too much to re-purpose the CD player's DA circuitry to eliminate the third party.
--Jim (me)
I have a CDE-9850Ri (Just looked at front) and a 60gb ipod color and it works great, but the scroll speed are (still? my first Alpine so I cant complate) slow. I mostly start with artist search and then album, and it takes forever. (I just have 300 CDs with about 100 artists)
The scroll speed really needs to follow the speed at which you turn the dial.
On a final note, the iPod does not IMPOSE DRM, it only MAINTAINS them. If it bothers you, do as I do: buy the CD and rip it into iTunes, which iTunes supports beautifully. Then you are free do keep it in iTunes or move it to any other device, iPod or not, you choose.
On you're first point, it IS possible to patent a connector if it provides new functionality, but the wiring is not patentable. The likely result of this is that other manufacturers of devices will adopt the signal lines used by the iPod.
and honestly I would not want it built in. Mine is buried in my center console (Murano) and its not easy to find. You would have to know its there; it sleeps under a bunch of water bottles and whatever else fits into that console on a paticular day.
First, built in means it would probably never be upgradeable. It also means that it would probably be in some inaccessible location should it ever need service (try changing the cabin air filter in a G35 Coupe). Got a friend going along for a trip? Plug their iPod in for a change in taste.
I also do not want my car listening to any wi-fi, let alone being able to transmit on one. What next, that handy little harddrive and electronics would be used to record my driving habits, maybe even flight recorder style my last half hour. Combine with GPS and suddenly we all find our cars can be tattletales to the police or worse, insurance companies.
I also like the idea of MY iPod. If rental cars have these connectors built in then on any vacation I am set.
Let a dashboard indicator remind me the iPod is connected, hell a little lite on the stereo like some CD players had.
Now I would take the integration further. Let me access even more information off the iPod for my navigation system, keeping it more up to date. Find a way to store local radio station information so I can ask my iPod through the car's connection what stations and what types are available where I am. There are all sorts of integration options available that don't require it to be built in.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Got my Creative MP3 player plugged in the "Audio Auxiliary Input Jack" of my 2007 Camry already./ wo/Home.Vehicles.Camry-jo7y77vgUV7jGr6WkQdxCw/8.15 ?v103035e.html
http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WWW.woa/7
"Software is a tool, and as a toolbuilder I must struggle with the uses to which the tools I make are put." - Bil
Three brands I would NEVER buy. Make that four (Apple).
You say the car should play MP3, but what about: wav, ogg, flac, aac, and unknown future formats?
I may keep a car for more than 10 years. Can you tell me what sort of tech we'll be using then? It's bad enough to take a bet on USB, but it's either that or Ethernet.
One could offer both connections of course. If both are used, the added USB storage is visible to the added computer.
Minijacks would fail for this purpose. Using a headphone-level source to drive a car stereo always has and always will sound bad. Unless your audio player does line-level output around 3000 mV, you're gonna have some nasty distortion by the time you've amplified the signal. Until most portable audio players themselves have coaxial or optical digital output, both of which are well-defined standard interfaces, USB or firewire would be a much smarter interface. I was under the impression that the reason to carry around mp3/flac/digital audio players was to have superior quality to tape dubs.
I'll be your candy shop of infinite deliciousity if you'll be my discotheque of endless rump-shaking.
some JVC head units, along with other brands, have USB jacks on the front for MP3 players that work via USB (that also read as a thumb drive). I know this applies to the ipod shuffle, and other units.
However, the stereo controls the iPod. Any half-smart person would plug the iPod in beforehand and control it through the stereo system. If a person is dumb enough to try to plug an iPod into the glove box while driving, they don't deserve to drive.
That don't befund me none when I have an Archos Jukebox Recorder v2. I hope GM forms a similar partnership with Rockbox. Actually, I don't really care because I won't be able to afford a new car anytime in the foreseeable future. :P
-Rich
Oops. I misread the title at first; I saw, "Apple Partners with Freud". Imagine:
*tooltip window appears on iPod*
"Did you know... the letters that constitute the name of the song you are playing closely resemble a penis?! You may require immediate psychotherapy."
Gotta get me one of those.
"If using an iPod causes a fatal automobile accident, will some victim of such an accident eventually try to sue Apple?"
Victims of fatal accidents are dead. Even in the US, they won't be suing anyone.
Thank you!
My last car stereo had an AUX jack in the back.
A $3 patch-cord from RadioHack and now there's an external headphone jack to plug ANY portable audio source!
Switch to AUX mode on the tuner, hit PLAY on the tape deck, cd player, mp3 player, or anything that has aheadphone out jack, and you're in business.
Screw getting a $50 player-specific cable from a dealer that'll only work on THAT car with THAT brand player.
$3 RCA-to-Headphone patch-cord and ANY stereo (equipped with an aux-in RCA socket) can play your MP3's!
My current car stereo is an AM/FM/MP3/CD/XM stereo, 4 150Watt 6x9's, a pair of 200Watt 12's in the "trunk", with a 1K Watt amp to drive them all.
The whole thing probably cost me less than the iPod, and is a HELL of a lot more functional.
I can drop in 700Megs of mp3's on a cd, plug in my 20Gb Creative Zen Jukebox via the headphone jack, or set-up an "in the trunk" computer system to handle a couple of 300Gb HD's full of every mp3, ogg, flac, midi, mod, s3m, stm, wav, or freakin SID file I can get my grubby hands on!
iPods... *meh* =)P
Let's ban sunglassess because some people store them in the glove box.
They might reach at them while driving and cause accidents.
While we are at it, let's ban maps, soft drinks, gloves and everything else that a person could be reaching for while driving, because the reason why it is unsafe is the what the person reaches FOR instead of the action.
Yeesh.
Does that sound stupid to you?
I understand your point, but I think that what you're asking for doesn't really exist yet. It would be nice if there were some standardized connector that combined analog audio plus some form of control I/O (and it would not surprise me if there were, somewhere, interfaces and connectors designed for this purpose, for other applications). However there isn't one right now.
An plain-old analog input to the car's audio system would be nice, and in fact a lot of aftermarket stereos have them (my Aiwa headunit in my old car, circa 2000, had one), and I think some Pontiac cars do in the factory system. However, that really doesn't "do it" for a lot of people. Really, it's not much of a step up from a cassette adaptor, except for perhaps an increase in fidelity (which most people won't notice anyway, because they're tone deaf, as evidenced by the fact that they're listening to 128kbps MP3 files). A whole lot of iPod-owning people would get in their cars with their iPods, plug them in to their stereos, and then wonder why the hell they still have to go fishing around in the cup holder to pause/rewind/fast-forward the song. Not much of an improvement over their old car, they'd think -- and that's not good if you're an auto manufacturer, and you're using the $10 Dock Connector as a sales point for a $20,000+ automobile.
In order to get real "integration," you need to have some way of controlling the iPod from the factory head unit. In order to do this, you need to go through the Dock Connector. Since Apple controls the Dock Connector, it's pretty much guaranteed to only work with Apple gear.
Without control functions, even the most brain-dead, consumerist sheeple is going to realize that they're being overcharged for a "feature" that their 1988 Honda Civic provides already, via its cassette deck, and that the only reason this new feature exists, is because the manufacturers have removed the cassettes just as people seem to have found a use for them after a hiatus of 10 years.
I suspect, at some point down the road, some enterprising individual will make a "Dock Connector Breakout Adaptor," a little bricklike box that you can plug into the Dock Connector interface in your car, and then use to connect an 'unsupported' audio device in to your car's system. This is already common practice for the myriad proprietary CD-Changer connectors, so I don't see this as being any different, except that it'll be easier since I'm sure there are already factories in Hong Kong tooled up to make unlicensed, reverse-engineered Dock Connectors.
Would it be better if there were some agreed-upon, open standard for portable MP3 player hardware (audio/power/IO/control) interfaces? Damn straight it would be. But in the absence of that (don't hold your breath), having a single de facto standard is sometimes obnoxious, but as long as the lawyers don't get too much in the way, the market will provide the breakout boxes and other gadgets that an enterprising individual will need to connect whatever they want.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
You know, they make an external RF remote for the iPod now.
h p/products_id/2052 I'm 95% sure this was what I saw.
It's not manufactured by Apple -- I'm not sure who makes it, actually, although when I'm done writing I'll try some Google searches -- but I've seen them in person. It's a little black receiver box that mounts flush to the bottom of the iPod (via the Dock Connector), and then has a pass-thru connection on its bottom, so that the 'pod can still charge.
Then it has a small remote control that you can put anywhere in the vicinity, and adjust the volume and do track skips and FF/REV. The remote isn't exactly ergonomically designed for steering-wheel mounting (if they were smart, they'd make one that was), but you could definitely use a little self-sticking Velcro and mount it on your dash, or on the back of your steering wheel, and achieve almost the same effect.
I can't personally vouch for the product having just come across it recently, but it seems pretty darn slick. I have a 40GB 3G iPod that I use almost exclusively in my car, and I agree that being able to skip forward and backward through tracks would make the whole experience a lot nicer. (Frankly that makes it as good as a CD Changer interface for me, since most of them don't show track names, and that's the next improvement you can make once you have track skip and volume.)
Links:
http://www.thinkdifferentstore.com/product_info.p
http://www.welovemacs.com/p21.html This is an another example, although not as slick.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
In the end, all I can do is HOPE that maybe these ass-wipes will get iPods and DROWN OUT the sound of their handset ringing.
I think the ass-wipes are all waiting for an iPhone, so they can do both at once.
Adding more technology to stupidity never improved anything, it just makes stupid things happen faster.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Based on what I know of the car-stereo manufacturers, they will run a cable from a proprietary connector on the back of the head unit, to the glove compartment, where it will terminate in an entirely different, proprietary connector. Then, you will be able to order short pigtail adaptors, at exorbitant cost, to go from the radio manufacturer's proprietary connector, to Apple's proprietary connector. These adaptors will be available aftermarket if you want an additional one, or one other than what your car came with (for Sirius/XM/Nomad/whatever), but the cost would be slightly more than just replacing your entire head unit with another one from Crutchfield that has an analog audio input.
What, you thought it would be convenient?
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."