Google answer session 10/20/06

Yup, another google answer session!

pioneer ipod controller sucks
Well, I wouldn’t say it sucks, but you do have a point that it could be better.

“you got me”
Boo!!!!!!

how to take off a ipod faceplate
My dear, iPods do not have faceplates, they have….the thing that is the front of the player. Your search should have been “how to open ipod” and the answer would be “guitar pick”, or at least back in the day it was. The mini (and I guess the new nanos) are a bit sketchy to open…so ya. Either way, iPods do not have faceplates. *ahem* IPODS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!!!!111!!

send photo cingular cripple motorola
You might assume that cingular crippled moto phones for this feature, but nay, it is simply a bit cracked out to figure out how to do. Reference your manual, you basically have to use the ‘copy’ function.

iPod Integration for Volkswagen jetta
AVOID!!! It’s all about the aftermarket baby.

Google searches roundup

WordPress tells me what google searches link here, and so far here are my favorites…

stupid cheap lcd monitors
very expensive car audio
sim cards what breaks them
can you exchange sim cards in a verizon (this one made me giggle)
cingular verizon sim cards
missing testicle (this linked to my post about sony missing a testicle because they were opening up formats)

Ahh…I should make this a tuesday tradition.

Pioneer ipod integration

Car:  Saturn ’03 L200
Stereo:  Pioneer DEHP6800MP ($260)
iPod brain:  Pioneer CDIB100II ($50)
iPod: 5G 60GB Black
Wire/Harness:  $30-$50 (depends on your car, and if you have an after market head unit in there now)
Install:  Free at Circuit City (free install with any head unit $99+ sale, generally runs all summer)

With a 45 min commute between home and school and now the possibility of multiple road trips up to Chicago (3 hour drive one way), when I purchased a new car the first thing I did as soon as I got paid that summer was to get a new cd player with some sort of AUX input.  On my previous car I had just a plan aux port with RCA hookups in the rear, when I purchased it I got a Y cable and had them run it out to the front.  Worked well, but it was annoying on the interstate to poke at the ipod and check what song was playing.

The Pioneer head unit that I purchased has 2 AUX ports (one in the front, and the other you can get the optional kit to install in the back), optional bluetooth connection, optional ipod interface, radio tuner, and cd player that can do mp3 cds (it can read AAC files, although not DRMed ones).

Radio:
The channel preset switching process kind of sucks, but nothing else of note about the radio.

CD player:
Nothing of consequence.

MP3 CD feature:
The random function isn’t as…random…as I’d prefer, but not horrible.  You can have the artist and song title display.  You can navigate easily through the folders.

Front aux port:
Ok, this I admit is a bit odd.  First,  you have to ‘activate’ it in the odd sort of start menu thing, until then you’ll spend hours cursing at it wondering why the hell it doesn’t work.  Second, it’s a 2.5mm port, so you’ll have to get a 2.5->3.5 adapter (about $5 a radio shack if you don’t have one for your phone).  Third, it’s a front port, but on the bottom of the faceplate.  As you can see in the picture you have to make the faceplate angle out so that you can actually get to the port.  Works well, you get used to it, but just be careful to not thwack it too hard and break your faceplate mechanism off.

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iPod integration:
It has some quirks, yes, but overall I’m very happy with it.  You can have the iPod cable run where you want, but the glove compartment seems to be the best choice as you don’t need to touch the iPod after connecting it. 

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After connecting the cable, the iPod will display ‘Pioneer’ on it and charge.  It will start playing whatever has been paused, or nothing if nothing has been playing.  The nice thing is that it will resume whatever you’ve been listening to automatically, so it’s a pretty seamless transition from walking around and listening to it with headphones and then listening to it in your car. 

 

If you press the ‘list’ button next to the gigantic main button the regular ipod main screen shows up listing playlists, artists, songs, options, etc.  Select one of those and it takes you to a list of them.  The other problem that I have is in this area.  If you have playlists ready to go, they’re very easy to find.  However, if you want to pick a song out of your entire list it will take forever to spin the big wheel around to find it if you have a lot of music.  I have about 20GBs of music, so you can imagine my artist list.  Horrible.  It’s easier to just find the artist or song you want to listen to on the ipod and then reconnect it.  This integration works well if you assemble a bunch of playlists beforehand.

When you turn off your car the ipod is automatically paused when you turned it off, so I’ve found this to be wonderful when running errands around town. 

As far as the display, this is my only true pet peeve.  I love the mp3 cd display for showing the song/artist, this makes sense right?  Well, for whatever reason (maybe I’m just doing it wrong) the closest I can get is artist/cd, or song/cd name.  I just keep it on song/cd and suck it up.

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Overall, I’ve extremely happy with this unit.  My SO has a new jetta with the VW ipod kit.  Remember what happened to the fax machine at the end of Office Space?  Ya?  Well, that’s exactly what I want to do to this thing.  Horrible.  But that’s another story. 

There is another Pioneer head unit that runs around $200 that still works with the iPod brain.  This is an expensive solution if you don’t have a head unit that supports a preexisting brain.  You can find head units at $100 (sony makes them) with front AUX ports, all you have to pay for are the needed wires/harness and install if you can’t find a free intall deal.  All I’ve heard about FM transmitters is that they all suck.  So, if you’re about to drop the $80 on a decent one, go ahead and take a look at a real solution such as an AUX port or iPod integration.