Hack18.Control Your iPod with Your Car Stereo Knobs

Hack 18. Control Your iPod with Your Car Stereo Knobs

Apple's iPod can now integrate directly with a number of factory and aftermarket head units.

Apple's iPod portable audio player is quickly becoming the de facto jukebox standard for cars. Until just recently, however, the state of the art for iPod/vehicle integration was cigarette lighter power and a tape adapter. Give some points for style, thoughthe plastic and wires of these adapters were white.

This situation improved dramatically when Apple released the first interface that allowed iPods to be controlled by the CD changer controls of several BMW models, as well as the Mini (the car, not the iPod). With the iPod BMW adapter, the iPod emulates a CD changer when you plug it into a special adapter stealthily hidden away in the glove compartment. You can create five playlists in iTunes that can be selected by the CD changer buttons 15; button 6 selects additional playlists in sequence. (Visit http://www.apple.com/ipod/bmw/ for more information.)

On the heels of Apple's announcement, everybody got into the game. Pacific Accessory Corporation (http://www.pac-audio.com) released the Swiss Army knife of iPod adapters, the AUX-POD. This device can interface with the factory head units of dozens of different car makes and models. The first generation of adapters are relatively simple in operation; they allow you to click "next song" and possibly to select playlists with the factory controls, and they terminate in a simple wire that you connect to the bottom of your iPod. PAC's newer adapters are designed to use the full text-display capabilities of modern satellite-radio-ready head units.

The major aftermarket vendors have responded and added more features to take advantage of their high-tech head units. Alpine's KCA-420i (http://www.alpine.com) upped the ante by displaying the full song title and album name and adding search features, and Pioneer has announced a unit with comparable features. In fact, just about every major stereo manufacturer is adding iPod integration into some part of their product line.

The beginning of 2005 saw dozens of third-party vendors cashing in on the market dominance of the iPod and releasing iPod adapters for cars. A number of competitive second-generation models with search and track-name-display features are in the works, and the iPod adapter arms race is escalating, with battles underway to make the most sophisticated iPod head unit adapter.