Finally, a usable though non-ideal iPod solution

Glad you finally found a workable solution, Evan! I used to use one of these in the previous vehicle that only had an AM/FM/cassette deck to interface to a portable CD player. You can at least get better audio from these than with an FM modulator.

It's too bad Toyota didn't have a simple line-in jack on the 04/05 stereo. :angry::noidea:

 

I used a cassette adapter + 12VDC charger on my old iPod for years -- almost three years, actually -- and was content.

I'm trying out a DICE unit now, and while it's more than occasionally frustrating, I'm doing lots of long (multi-hour) drives, and once I beat it into submission, it behaves quite nicely.

Still halfway think I should've gone with the VAIS unit to get a backup camera, but can't quite stomach the ~1k USD for a full rig at this point. And I've gone three years without the backup camera, so what's another few years?

One thing I did notice with the cassette adapter was a bass emphasis, which I blamed on the inductive coupling. The DICE at least gives me line-in capability, and titles when it's not being temperamental.

 

hopefully toyota is listening and ipod will be integrated in upcoming models

 

i wanted to post this cassette adapter haha remarkable that someone beat me to the same idea

i only read about the expensive solutions and then i found a really cheap en good solution and wanted to post it and.... haha then this topic

well soon i get one to

 

i never remember to plug in my ipod for short drives anyway. our ipod adapter is typically only used on longer trips too.

 

Evan, if you scan my comment a few posts back, you'll see that I mentioned exactly the same things (extra bass when coming in through the cassette adaptor). I just used the audio settings to compensate for it, -2 Bass made it reasonable.

(I'm guessing it's simply due to the physics of the situation, with a coil of some sort being used to generate the magnetic field, I wonder if it imposes some sort of unwanted filtering on the signal...)

But anyway, I don't think it's just you.

 

Evan,

I followed your odyssey trying to find a fully operational, easy to use, reliable iPod integration with the greatest interest. It seems that of all the posters on all the threads, you had tried most if not all of the currently available units. I had great hope that you would find The One. Thanks for your work on this, I know that it has been a frustrating experience

I used a cheap generic cassette adapter in an earlier car. In that car the player had to be running for the signal to cross over from the adapter to the player. In time the wheels in the adapter started making swishing sounds which gradually got louder, and finally intrusively loud. It had to go.

This is the $40 Belkin unit that I then bought:

Belkin : Auto Kit for iPod w/ Dock Connector

Not only does it charge the iPod, but it has a headphone jack. Radio shack sells a male-to-male connecting cable that is only 6 or 8 inches long. It makes a relatively neat setup in the center console. I've not had any humming problems, so perhaps it has the ground loop protection built in. I am very happy with this arrangement.

Although I don't have one, this $30 Belkin item looks like a neat, secure way to hold an iPod in a convenient location so that the controls fall readily to hand.

Belkin : TuneDok™ for iPod®

I listen mostly to recorded books, so once I get started I don't much fiddle with the iPod controls. I usually keep the Ipod in the little shelf in the center console. If not there, then in the box below the radio.

 

My first post was a litle vague -- hadn't had my AM cafein fix yet.

For other seekers of truth and wisdom, the beauty of the Belkin unit is its simplicity. The single wire from it to the docking port keeps the iPod charged and also routs an audio signal back to the charger. From the headphone jack on the charger a short male-to male connector gets the signal into the AUX jack. Neat, clean, and out of sight. (Right arm an' out of state! Dude, that's way cool.)

Until a stand alone, plug-and-play iPod integrator comes along that has simple, intuitive controls, the Belkin unit offers an inexpensive, though far less than perfect, iPod hook up.

 

I also have this unit and just so you know Belkin customer service is also very good. My connector broke where it plugs into the ipod and they sent me another whole unit for free. I had to send my old one back at my expense within 20 days. It basically has a lifetime warranty.

 

This one looks like a nice solution:
ULTIMATE IPOD

Together with:
LOCKPICK 3

I have no idea if it is hard to install. Maybe someone else know?
Would be nice to navigate the Ipod with the buttons on the wheel and to see the songs in the prius multidisplay.

 

Oops! Never mind, newbie error. But you did get the sauna didn't you?