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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.'"
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Does that scare anyone else?
Yes, people who scare easily and are generally scared of everything. It scares them.
I bet that will be the cause of more than one accident...
Adjusting your iPod while driving is already probably causing accidents. That's a selling point for this feature. It makes it easier to change songs without looking away from the road.
iPods are about music, not about avoiding car accidents. Everything in the world doesn't have to be about avoiding car accidents.
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?
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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."
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?
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.
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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.
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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.
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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/