input from headphone jack

You can follow one of three basic approaches. In ascending order of sound quality:

1. Wireless FM Modulator. You can get one of these for ~$20 and the sound quality is pretty awful. My cheapness dictated that I try one for a while, but I couldn't take how bad it sounded.

2. Wired FM Modulator. This thing plugs into the antenna wire on the back of the radio and costs ~$50. This supposedly sounds significantly better than choice #1, but I don't have any first-hand experience.

3. Direct Connection. There are two of these often talked about here that plug directly into the iPod: the Dice and the Vais. I have the Dice and, despite some problems in the beginning, I am quite happy with it. These go for ~$100 and the Dice unit also has a headphone jack if you want to plug in something in addition to an iPod.

 

It depends how comfortable you are with plugging stuff in blindly. You can gain access to the back of the radio without pulling the actual radio out (if you do a search for the Vais install directions you'll find two sets, one of which explains how to do it without taking the radio out), but you may decide you just want to bite the bullet and take out the radio.

By they way, you can see one of my early discussions about this (before I knew about the Dice) in this thread.

 

I think DICE has a cheaper unit that just handles an AUX input and not for the iPod.

 

It does, but it's only for cars with a RCA connection on the back, which the Prius does not have. He'd have to use the iPod connection and just use the 3.5mm (headphone) jack on it.

 

The cable that plugs into the radio is not receptive to a headphone jack, unfortunately. It's a digital connection, so that means that you can't just run three wires to the back and get stereo sound into your radio; there has to be some extra signal processing to get the analog signal into a digital signal that the radio knows what to do with (this is what the Dice unit does, among other things). Of course, in the 06+, there is a built-in headphone input port, which is one reason I suspect we don't hear tons of people clamoring for a cheaper solution for simple line-level input.

As Vagabond points out, you can plug your 3.5mm cord into the Dice unit. It just seems like it's a little bit of overkill. However, if you are willing to spend the $100+ to get the Dice unit, that's probably a pretty good solution. As I said, I'm pretty happy with my Dice unit (paired with my iPod), but I don't know if I'd be able to make myself spend the money on it if I didn't have an iPod.

 

Some time ago, NARF discovered that you can put a connector in parallel with the CD. You have to put in a blank CD for it to work and it has to be the model with the JBL system.

 

Hey gang. Sorry it's been a while since I rapped at ya... I'm taking a two week trip from Florida to Pennsylvania and back and want to plug in my mp3 player, but dang it I cheaped out and bought a base model '08. Thus, no input jack. What's my best option? I read this thread but didn't quite understand it all. Can a dealer do something like this so I don't ruin my warranty? Thanks, J Dog

 

The CAR2AUX is what I installed. Here is a link to my experiences...http://priuschat.com/forums/audio-electronics/50727-in-dash-car2aux.html
I think it is working out just fine, and in the end was not that difficult to install. If you search CAR2AUX in the forums you'll find what others think about this item.
Good luck