What are the options for connecting an iPod to the tC's stereo? I've heard of icelink and the alpine system, anyone have any experience with these? any pros and cons? i'd really like to be able to see the id3 tag for the mp3 (song, artist, album info) on the stereo display, are there any systems out there that will let me do this?

thanks alot.

 

An Alpine radio with the Ipod adapter is the only option available if you want to see the info on the radio. It's a really cool idea, but its extremely slow to navigate folders using the radio controls, if you have a large mp3 collection it would take a long time to get to artists farther down the alphabet. But if you like to use playlists it's great.

 

I use an AUX-POD - while there is no info display, you can use the headunit to change tracks/ff/rw on the IPOD. I think the new Monster Cable system shows ID3 info on certain headunits - not sure when it is coming out.

 

Monster's iCruze comes out 1/1/2005---can't wait! Retails at $199 and from what I understand it connects to the AUX or Satellite radio input on most factory stereos...I read somewhere that it's fully compatible with the tC's receiver.

http://www.monstercable.com/icruze

http://www.monstercable.com/press/pr..._11_icruze.asp

 

I'm looking for the same and the iCruze looks great but my problem is compounded by the fact that i want to be able to hook my XM kit into the receiver too. Anyone know if i could be able to splice/adapter a PIE adapter with the icruze? or if the iCruze has an aux port? Outside of my XM problems the icruze is the perfect solution for me

 

January 1st? aww, but i want it now!

the iCruze sounds sweet, i just hope it's easy to manage the music from the stereo controls.

 

i signed up for more info on the icruze but they told me that it was not compatable with the scion's reciever and that they would send me an email when it was available.

 

You're going to wind up spending more than if you had just bought a source unit with a hard drive in it.

 

Any stereo with a Line in will work, my buddy uses a cheap ($150) Aiwa that has a line in, plugs the ipod in works like a champ, just gotta use ipod to change tracks, etc.

 

I still want to use the stock deck, So i'm looking at buying the icelink adapter. You can control through the deck and the ipod, as where the iCruise you can only go through the deck, I'd like to have the option. I'll probably pick one up in a month, if it works I'll let you know.

 

The thing about iCruze that I don't like is you can only access your music through playlists. You cannot access your entire music library, unless of course you create a playlist of your entire library and scroll through it. I would like to just control through the iPod, so ya, I think I'm gonna go with the Icelink, comes with a dock too, which is handy.

 

Check out the SiK imp. It's a dock connector that breaks out into a power plug and a 1/8" stereo plug. If you prefer to control the iPod on the iPod, this is a cool solution, providing power and a nice line-level audio output. I won't have my tC for another week or so, so I can't comment on exactly how you'd connect the audio signal to the head unit.

http://www.sik.com/

Right now in my Civic I have a 2G iPod (with a normal firewire port). I use a Monster power adapter along with a 1/8"-to-RCA cord hooked into the back of my Alpine deck. I was planning on getting the new Alpine interface until I heard how much it sucks. Now I'm waiting to see how Clarion and Pioneer's upcoming iPod interfaces turn out to decide how to set up my tC.

On these forums I've seen mentioned a wire harness/adapter that can be obtained from the dealer that is needed to hook up and extra audio source... Is this just an adapter between a satellite radio input to some RCA inputs or something?

 

If controlling the iPod through the radio isn't a big deal (and really, what IS the big deal about that?), IMO the best solution is the PIE TOY03-AUX kits. It plugs into the 6 CD changer port on the back of the radio and gives you RCA outs. From there it's trivial to find a cable that does RCA to headphone jack. The PIE runs from $60-$80 online and the RCA cable is about $15.

Sure, it doesn't have a cool name like iCruze but you don't have to give any money to the thieves at Monster. They're a disreputable, overpriced, and overhyped company. Gold cables my ___. Just go to any reputable audio website and ask about Monster on the forums.

And oh yeah the PIE will save you $120-$140.

If I didn't know aboslutely nothing about cars and how to work on them I would've already done this.

 

See my big yank with using a line out into RCA's is that you have wires coming out the top and then charging out the bottom. With the icelink you just slide it right into the dock and it charges and moves the data with no ugly wires all over the place.

 

use the auxpod.

Aux-Pod > Icelink (on the TC)

 

Have you ran this on the stock deck? Where did you hide the box? I see theres a scion harness already,

 

The Sik imp gets it's line-out through the dock connector. It's only $30, so if controlling the iPod with the head unit is not a big deal to you, you can save about $100 versus the icelink or Aux-pod. (You would still need a PIE TOY03-AUX to get line-in into the stock deck.) The line-out it provides is of higher quality than the headphone jack and has fixed volume.

Personally, I'm going to keep my 2G iPod running into the stock deck through RCAs until someone brings out a good iPod-compatible head unit that displays tags. Like the Alpine solution only good. Then I'll replace my head unit and my iPod.

 

I'm still gonna have to say the Aux-Pod is looking much more attractive than the icelink, but can you control songs/playlists via the ipod as well as the deck, this is vital.

 

Looks like the name of the AUX-POD has been changed to IPOD2CAR. Nothing like creating customer confusion to help drive sales! Here is the manufacturer's website:

http://www.pac-audio.com/products/aai.htm

Scroll all the way to the bottom to see the IPOD2CAR. It never states yes or no as to whether you can still control with the iPod. Their phone number is on that page, you could call them and find out.

It does look like a cool solution, if I had a 3G or newer 'Pod I would probably get it.

 

Yeah I'm gonna give them a call, if it can't pull that off then it's back to the icelink idea.