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Music Businesses Media Portables (Apple) Apple Hardware

iPod Mini Custom Installation In A Ford Explorer 344

Posted by timothy from the all-the-trimmings dept.
Johnny Mozzarella writes "MacWorld has a nice write-up on Jesse Melchior, an amateur special effects artist and filmmaker, who used his skills to create a custom installation that is worthy of an iPod mini. The article outlines the materials he used such as latex, plaster and dental acrylic to create an integrated dock complete with blue LEDs and Apple logo in his Ford Explorer."
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iPod Mini Custom Installation In A Ford Explorer More

iPod Mini Custom Installation In A Ford Explorer

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  • Battery problem (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:27AM (#8860163)
    Once this is done, the Explorer becomes like the iPod. When the car's battery runs down, you replace the whole car.

    • Re:Battery problem (Score:5, Funny)

      by oscast ( 653817 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:30PM (#8860852) Homepage
      If we're going to follow this analogy, we might as well get it right.

      In the rare occurance that the battery go, then Apple will replace the whole truck in less than 3 days for the price ($59.00) of an iPod extended warrenty [apple.com].

  • Why not go all out? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Drooling_Sheep ( 683079 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:28AM (#8860168)
    If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

    • Re:Why not go all out? (Score:5, Funny)

      by PretzelBat ( 770907 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:38AM (#8860289)
      If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

      Even more, if you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with a Ford Explorer?

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:43AM (#8860333)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re:Why not go all out? (Score:5, Funny)

        by AKnightCowboy ( 608632 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:55AM (#8860477)
        very simple.... whens the last car trip you have taken where you get even remotely close to playing 1000 songs? I sure havent come close with my 5gig 1st gen

        Geez, I could never imagine filling up 4 gigabytes of space with music. Don't forget to figure in the $1000 for buying 1000 songs off the Apple iTunes store! That stuff adds up quick. I just don't understand how people can afford to have huge collections with 10,000+ songs in them. They must spend every penny on music, no wonder they hate the RIAA!!

        • 99.9% of my 20gig collections comes from ripping CD's that I (or my friends) already own. When spread out over 15 years and multiple people, the idea of collecting 1000 songs is not as painfull on the pocket book.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re:Why not go all out? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by baudilus ( 665036 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:30PM (#8860851)
          Why not indeed. I had a 6GB Creative Nomad Jukebox, and filled that up QUICK. I now have a 40GB iPod and love it.

          It's easy to gather up 10,000 songs when you have a CD collection from two generations of people; not to mention the downloads (purchased *and* free). Ripping CDs and stuff, I currently have 1760 songs, and that's without all the comedy routines and prank calls that i've downloaded, and I'm not even doen ripping CDs. 1000 songs? bah.

          The question "How often do you have a car trip where you can play 1000 songs?" is simply missing the point - the point is not playing that much music, the point is, when I want to listen to Disturbed, I can. If I want to hear Tribal Tech, I can. If I want to hear Black Eyed Peas, I can. And I don't have to fumble through 100 CDs while driving to do it. The point is choice, not volume.

          Think about it.

      • Ummmm (Score:5, Insightful)

        by metalhed77 ( 250273 ) <`andrewvc' `at' `gmail.com'> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:58AM (#8860497) Homepage
        The point isn't how much you listen to, but giving you how choice as to how much to listen to. I have 3000 songs in my library. I listen to several repeatedly over the course of the day. I skip over many of them too. Some people don't listen this way, but i'd rather have my whole library at my fingertips. I never know which song i'll want to listen to next.
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re:Ummmm (Score:3, Insightful)

            by plumby ( 179557 )
            So it's more sensible to have to decide in advance what you fancy listening to, than to be able to decide at any point? How does that work then?

            I sometimes go away from home for 2 weeks at a time. It's great to be able to decide "ooh, I just fancy a bit of mellow jazz to calm me down 'cos the plane's been delayed again"

            The other week, I had an 18hr trip back home, and got through probably 14 hrs of music (which is getting on for 250-300 different tracks on that one day alone).

            Of course, I could cope with
    • Some football player named Lawyer Milloy has a custom Hummer that was shown on TLC's Rides, and the car has a dock for a regular iPod. Sorry, but I can't find any pictures to show it....

  • What next? (Score:5, Funny)

    by WoodenRobot ( 726910 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:28AM (#8860173) Homepage
    What next - an iPod Mini?

    • Re:What next? (Score:3, Informative)

      by kalemba ( 549251 )
      smart will be introducing a iPod integration option (complete with charger) in their cars in europe next model year

    • Re:What next? (Score:2, Informative)

      by GuyinVA ( 707456 )
      Didn't VW have a recent campaign with the iPod? I seem to recall you could get an iPod with the purchase of a Beetle, included a cupholder mount, and Belkin charger...

  • Mini Sales Explained (Score:5, Informative)

    by swordboy ( 472941 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:29AM (#8860174) Journal
    It has been expressed here previously that the iPod mini has much less bang-for-buck than the regular iPod, which is only a few bucks more but comes with an extra 16GB.

    However, if you simply want to buy a Hitachi 4GB mini hard drive, you'll save as much as $150 if you buy the mini and take the drive out over buying the boxed hard drive product.

    • Re:Mini Sales Explained (Score:4, Interesting)

      by afidel ( 530433 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:32AM (#8860226)
      You won't save anything because the mini-iPod edition of the drive doesn't work outside the iPod. There is however another player out there based on the Hitachi drive which has full functioning electronics, and it's cheap to boot! Btw I'm not sure why you would use a mini if you are just going to put it in a huge custom enclosure, the full sized iPod would work just as well.

    • Re:Mini Sales Explained (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You get more bang per buck by using the 4GB drive out of the Creative Nomad - I use one in my Canon Digital Rebel. The 512MB CF card is now in my Nomad and both perform just fine. Two working products rather than a drive and a mangled iPod mini.

      Incidentally, I was under the impression that the iPod mini drive doesn't work out of the iPod. I've never heard of people getting it to function successfully in anything else.
    • Supposedly many of the commonly used drive access modes have been disabled because Apple DIDN'T want people canabalizing them for cheap Compact Flash microdrives.

  • shouldnt this be installed in a honda civic... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:29AM (#8860182)
    with a shitty tin spoiler bondo'ed onto the body?

  • All that equipment... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:30AM (#8860186)
    latex, plaster and dental acrylic

    This guy uses all that stuff intimately with his car and gets on the front page of slashdot.

    I mention using the same stuff intimately with my girlfriend and she runs away.

    pfft.

  • Too Bad You Can't Get One (Score:4, Informative)

    by USAPatriot ( 730422 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:30AM (#8860188) Homepage
    Due to a design flaw that causes nasty static noises, iPod Mini shipments have stopped cold. [appleinsider.com]

    Might as well just get a the full sized iPod or another MP3 player unless you don't mind waiting till July.

    • Just thought I'd mention that Apple Insider (who parent poster quotes) is considered a rumors site and as such, it may not give accurate or complete information.

      So though, people are experiencing problems with iPod Mini this does not necessarily correlate with ipod mini shortage. Not unless Apple came out and said so. Though it is likely that the two are related, there might be a possibility they are not.

      I would mark parent post as interesting not informative myself.

  • If you think this is cool... (Score:5, Funny)

    by C10H14N2 ( 640033 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:30AM (#8860193)
    You should see my custom cupholder/cellphone mount.

    Really, guys, is it THAT slow of a news day?

  • Ford Explorer (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:31AM (#8860215)
    Cool. Now you can grove to some cool tunes while you're waiting for the tow truck.

  • that still won't get me to buy a ford (Score:5, Funny)

    by MoFoQ ( 584566 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:32AM (#8860220)
    Between the faulty mini ipod's (as /.'ed a few days ago) and the ford's faulty fuel system and steering column, I think I have been odds with a two bullet russian roulette.

    Maybe they should've coupled the mini ipod with the OTHER mini; the mini cooper.

  • All that work... (Score:2, Informative)

    by blackmonday ( 607916 )
    All that work and he still has cables to connect (he doesn't seem to think they're photogenic). I use this FM transmitter called the iTrip that snaps to the top of the iPod 10 gigger and I can hide the whole thing, zero wires. Amazingly (to me), the iTrip uses less battery power than the backlight on the iPod. Appetite For Destruction all night on repeat!

    • All that work and he still has cables to connect (he doesn't seem to think they're photogenic).

      Huh? I must not be reading this right:

      Using the Belkin car charger, I connected it to the iPod mini and placed the iPod into the acrylic piece at the angle I wanted, then flipped the whole piece over and poured another layer of dental acrylic over the protruding edge of the iPod mini and the car charger, creating a perfectly snug fit for the iPod to rest into and connect to the charger.

      It sounds like h

    • Re:All that work... (Score:5, Informative)

      by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:39AM (#8860291)
      If you RTFA, you will note the dock manages all the connections:

      connected the iPod mini to my Pioneer car stereo using the CD-RB10 adapter, which connects to the L+R audio output RCAs from the iPod mini using the line-out from the Belkin car charger. I added two extra cigarette lighter adapters to plug in the car charger and the LEDs. Everything was nicely hidden below the center console.
    • I have the same cable setup as the guy in the story, and it is trivial to hide those cables underneath existing panels and direct wire the power into the fusebox. I would guess that his cabling is inside that custom mold and then runs to the back of his radio.

      The line in to CD changer cables are really good for this, a bit on the expensive side, around sixty bucks.

      I've used the iTrip and the Belkin FM thing, and even in a car and with lossy MP3's the sound is remarkably worse than a direct line to the hea

      • I've used the iTrip and the Belkin FM thing, and even in a car and with lossy MP3's the sound is remarkably worse than a direct line to the head unit.

        The SoundFeeder SF100 has worked well for me...used an iRock 300W before that, but it transmits on only four frequencies that are all in use in some places I've visited. I have no complaints about the sound quality from either of them.

        If you're using an RF modulator, make sure you don't have the input signal turned up too high. If you do, the signal wi

    • The iTrip doesn't deliver the quality that you get over the direct lines. It's like the difference between a radio station and a CD. There is a quality difference.
    • He doesn't have to connect cables - he's clearly using a built-in dock (or equivalent) line-out connected directly to stereo, giving superb sound quality and no wires showing in his installation.

      In my experience FM transmitters sound horrendous anyway. I have doubts that the iTrip is any better. Most (all?) such transmitters are monophonic only, but that's just the beginning of the dreadful sound quality coming from these things, even with a clear channel available.
      • Nope, the iTrip uses a full stereo synthetic tuned signal, it sounds great as long as the channel is free and your stereo doesn't pick up sideband interference from adjacent channels. Here in Cleveland there is only one channel that meets all of the above conditions with my factory stereo (I would replace it but the Taurus doesn't do standard DIN due to the way the stereo is integrated into the central dash).
    • It may use less power than the backlight but it still sucks power. I had an iTrip but have replaced it with a Dension ICE>link [densionusa.com]. This solves the problems I had with the iTrip:
      • Power drain. Okay, it's less drain than the backlight but have a couple of 3+ hour journies a week and using the iTrip would make it a gamble as to whether the battery would last.
      • Retuning. In the UK the FM band is pretty saturated. I've not been able to find a frequency that was absolutely clear, just a couple that were almost cle

    • Re:All that work... (Score:3, Informative)

      by croddy ( 659025 )
      my Neuros [neurosaudio.com] has a built-in FM transmitter and goes for much less than an iPod.

      and YES, it plays ogg vorbis!

      • "my Neuros has a built-in FM transmitter and goes for much less than an iPod. and YES, it plays ogg vorbis!"

        Neuros: 5.3" x 3.1" x 1.3", 9.4 oz.
        iPod: 4.1" x 2.4" x 0.62", 5.6 oz.

        You forgot the BIG and HONKIN' option.

    • The iTrip is a convenient little piece of equipment, but have you ever critically listened to FM-quality music vs. a CD of the same song? Haven't you noticed how the FM is noticably more muffled, with especially the high notes clipped?

      A human with good hearing (i.e. a child) can often hear notes between 20Hz and 20kHz. CDs reproduce sounds in this same range. A well-encoded mp3 has a low-pass filter around 19.3Hz and can more or less reproduce sounds above 16kHz which is more than most of us can likely

  • As these things go... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rjstanford ( 69735 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:32AM (#8860227) Homepage Journal
    Not all that impressive. I mean, its obtrusive while not being terribly convenient to use while driving. If you want to see some truly ingenious fabrication though, a truly topline car show is the place to see it. And you can usually find a regional one closer to you than SEMA, which is where the best toys are. Adding the mini to a car? Neat idea. But just like the recent running gadget thread, this just proves that the average /. geek isn't that up to date on what's available, and gets impressed easily - kind of like the way that non-geeks get impressed by what /. considers "trivial" product modifications or improvements.

    Don't get me wrong, its not bad - just not all that newsworthy. Now, if it included things like tying the existing steering wheel radio controls into the iPod when it was plugged in, and rerouting them back to the radio when it wasn't, then I'd start getting interested. Systems integration can be a lot of work, and a lot of fun - and when you do it right, nobody even thinks about it. That's cool.
    • I don't know. And by the end of this I may or may not wind up agreeing with you.

      I've been to plenty of custom car shows with truely top line participants. And their work is pretty good. I remember a Hurtz in the dB drag racing competition that had a better custom integrated G4 than the one shown on slashdot here a few months ago. The workmanship was pretty nice, for the $30,000 price tag.

      But even then you could tell it was "custom". Wavey plastic that didn't meet the seems well, etc... All to often shoddy
    • I was thinking the same thing. This install isn't that clean and looks pretty bad. A nice first try though!

      The good stuff is in formed Lexan, Fiberglass, or sheet metal and looks factory perfect.

      The type of install done in this article is one of a million others just like it. Nothing special or newsworthy.

  • Great... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jin Wicked ( 317953 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:33AM (#8860232) Homepage Journal

    (joke)Just what we need, another jackass in an SUV with a blinky detachable electronic gadget to operate while driving and try to get everyone else killed.(/joke)

    Seriously though... that seems like a lot of wasted space. It also looks like it would be too easy to accidentally bump it out of the little holder while driving.

  • MIME (Score:4, Informative)

    by phillk6751 ( 654352 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:34AM (#8860239)
    I Can't See half of the full sized pics in Mozilla due to wrong MIME types. When will these web developers ever learn?
    • I Can't See half of the full sized pics in Mozilla due to wrong MIME types.

      I don't think it's that so much as that the files aren't named properly. The pix that don't show are missing the ".jpg" extension. Since the server needs that to know to send it as image/jpeg instead of application/octet-stream (or whatever it's using), a simple "mv foo foo.jpg" would fix it.

  • latex? (Score:5, Funny)

    by sulli ( 195030 ) * on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:34AM (#8860240) Journal
    he's a mac user. shouldn't he use BBEdit?

  • SIZE!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by theLOUDroom ( 556455 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:34AM (#8860244)
    Could this guy have bought a smaller MP3 player to put into a bigger vehicle?

    Let's put an MP3 player the size of a chicklet in an army tank! That way I hav to take my eyes of the road for 10 mintues (potentially destroying several small villages) just to figure out it's doing!


    Seriously, am I they only one who find the whole "tricked out SUV" fad retarded?

    What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?
    Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....
    • sorry, but that is already happening...

      Mostly Old farts right now... they buy a reefer truck with a sleeper cab and modify it to have a larger sleeper and a modified tiny 5th wheel to pull their camper. They are ALL over the campsites in the upper midwest..

      but it is coming... the only blessing is that they are usually out of reach in proce even for the person that can go buy a Hummer on a whim... which should slow it down quite a bit.

    • Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....


      I take it you've never been to Georgia...
    • 36" chrome rims too...

      Don't forget the spinners.

    • What's the next fad going to be? Big rigs?
      Are we going to se idiots driving around 1000hp diesel trucks with 15 speed gearboxes and no trailer? Of course it will have 36" chrome rims too....

      Don't give'em ideas.
  • but when i saw it was a .mac homepage i expexted it to be slashdotted, luckily only 20000 of us hit that site. Kudos to the owner for doing it, it looks nice and nobody should really knock the effort he has gone through.

  • Bone Thugs? (Score:5, Funny)

    by nearlygod ( 641860 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:45AM (#8860366) Homepage
    All of that just to listen to Bone Thugs? What a waste.

  • But it's still cumbersome to use (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Seekerofknowledge ( 134616 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:46AM (#8860368)
    Ever since I got my iPod, I've dreamt and drooled over the possibility of using it in my car. But I just have never thought up a good way to really integrate it, and I mean fully, like having an easy way to choose songs to play, hit play/pause, change the volume, etc, that is just as easy to use an in dash player that supports mp3's.

    Having it sit somewhere mounted is a good start, but you still would have to reach down there and twiddle the buttons. And in an big vehicle like an Explorer? That would get old, quick.

    By the looks of the pictures, he is using the line out connector on the bottom. You can't change the volume that's coming out of that right? I mean not from the iPod, therefore you'd have to use the main stereo for that. So you would have two places to reach now, for different activities. You would have reach down to the iPod to change songs and pause, and reach to the stereo to change the volume. That little extra step of deciding where need to reach would be a huge burden when you're going down the interstate at 70mph.

    If anybody has thought of a good way to integrate the iPod into a car, I want to know. Right now my setup is using the headphone jack to connect to the aux input of my stereo, and using the inline remote that came with it. I can at least do all functions from one place (the headphone jack can have it's volume adjusted), but I can't really charge it well, because then I'd have a connector sticking out of the bottom *and* top. What I would like is for the iPod to have a docking place like in the article, but still be able to do everything easily, from one place, without needing to look too much. Maybe I need a wireless remote? Maybe I'm asking too much. :)

    • Alpine has it - Control through the head unit (Score:4, Informative)

      by niusj ( 698196 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:42PM (#8860995)
      Visit Here [vwvortex.com] for a press release. The unit will be available later this year. It integrates all control through the head unit, via the dock connector. You can tuck the iPod away inside the glove box. Still requires you to take your eyes off the road and look at the display of the receiver, however. Until Alpine comes out with an easy-to-install aftermarket heads-up-display...

    • you're absolutely right (Score:4, Funny)

      by SuperBanana ( 662181 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:52PM (#8861079)
      That little extra step of deciding where need to reach would be a huge burden when you're going down the interstate at 70mph

      You're absolutely right. I had to stop driving manual transmission cars because I couldn't deal with the complexity...having to press a pedal AND move a lever? All while braking or tapping the gas?

      But then, I didn't find automatics much better. One pedal for stopping, one for going? Aaaaa! What insane trickery!

  • That iPod mini will sound great while he's flipping over in the inherently unsafe vehicle that is the Ford Explorer.

  • Waste of space (Score:2, Interesting)

    by vurg ( 639307 )
    Not really impressive in my point of view. Specifically, there is too much wasted space around the docking point.

  • Watch where you put... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Geek_3.3 ( 768699 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:48AM (#8860399)
    ... your Quadruple Venti Mocha Turtle Cappachino... one big bump and BAM--unhappy iPod mini coated in sugary goodness... ;-)

  • Coincidence? (Score:5, Funny)

    by cschmidt ( 89733 ) <cschmidt&xmission,com> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @11:57AM (#8860490) Homepage
    I think he'll regret this whole project when his iPod stops working [slashdot.org], his Firestone tires fail [firestone-...recall.com] and his Explorer rolls [car-accidents.com].
  • OK, this guy does some plastic fabrication that anybody with some time can do, and he gets on the main page.

    So, if I submit my photos of my '04 Grand Marquis, wherein I have not ONLY added a 30G Neo35 MP3 player, but a Kenwood dual-band transciever plus two extra speakers for it, the antenna for the Kenwood, a second battery, extra power points, a battery isolator to charge the secondary battery, a second power distribution panel, would that make the front page?

  • Handheld/Vehicle Interfaces (Score:5, Interesting)

    by unfortunateson ( 527551 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:09PM (#8860594) Journal
    Frankly, the fact that he needed to do this shows that the aftermarket auto industry is not doing its job. My car and my handheld constellation need to talk to each other:
    • Very few audio head units have a front jack for aux input. You can dangle an adapter cable out the back (on most models this means you can't use a CD changer), but that's butt-ugly. Otherwise you're at low-fi FM transmitters or cassette adapters
    • For that matter, why shouldn't it be two-way on the audio link? Record off-the-air onto the MPS, eh?
    • My PDA should be able to get odometer readings from the car easily for expense reports (a GPS may substitute, but it doesn't talk to my PDA well either). [Hmmm... should the Mobil Speedpass let my PDA know what it's spending on gas and McD's?]
    • What kind of communication do I want with the car? I don't know. Perhaps just a USB 2.0 jack on the dash, although that's not peer-to-peer. IEEE 1394? Is Bluetooth good enough for hi-fi audio? Do I want all cars to be wardriving units?
    • I hesitate to mention M$'s AutoPC. Let's just leave it at that.

    There's obviously lots of room for Automobile-Area Networks, but few folks are doing anything about it.

  • iPod Lounge (Score:2, Funny)

    by fsterman ( 519061 )
    The iPod lounge forums has a shitload [ipodlounge.com] of these. Some ranging from hacks to good, professional jobs like this story. Of course you could just get a Smart car, since it has an iPod option [panoramas.dk]. Of course it is only for Europe, which is crap since I really want one, and it is kinda an antithesis to the Explorer.

  • MP3 Decoder board w/802.11 + Hard Drive... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rthille ( 8526 ) <web-slashdot@ran g a t .org> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:12PM (#8860641) Homepage Journal
    I'd love to see someone make a small box that sits in my trunk or under my seat that acts like a CD Changer. Yeah, I know about the PhatBox, but I don't see the need for the removability at such a high cost. Something more like the YAMPP-3 [myplace.nu], but with WI-FI.
    Heck, I'd even be willing to drag an ethernet cable out to the car (hey, a drop in the Garage isn't out of the question) to load up new MP3s over paying ~$800 for the 20GB Phatbox.

  • ipod deck? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ahector ( 656079 ) <[ten.1051] [ta] [ydna]> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:13PM (#8860648) Homepage
    I've got the Belkin charger/line out in my car. It works well and plugs right into the stereo... but it's not that slick. I have to control the ipod to change songs, etc. and then use my cd deck to change volume. I want a deck that I can buy that acts as an ipod dock. You just slide that ipod in like an 8 track and then the deck has normal controls for volume, track selection, etc. and a display that shows song titles, etc. If it had a radio too I could care less about not having a CD player in the car. So you get to listen to the ipod, control it easily.. it gets charged... When you leave the car just eject the ipod, grab it and go! Something like this would be popular, wouldn't you think?

  • In-dash iPod dock (Score:5, Interesting)

    by laird ( 2705 ) <lairdp@gmail.TWAINcom minus author> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @12:15PM (#8860674) Journal
    This is a really sweet car mod, but what I really want is to be able to buy an in-dash car stereo into which I can dock the iPod and use the stereo's controls.

    Alpine has announced one that's close, but it has the iPod on an external cable. I'd rather not deal with the iPod and cable floating around inside the car.

  • has been done before (Score:3, Interesting)

    by brocheck ( 59415 ) <brocheckNO@SPAMsatlug.org> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @03:16PM (#8862847) Homepage
    Just saw this on TLC last night.

    Apparantly 310 customs/west side customs (or whatever) basically did something almost exactly like this (but for a regular iPod) on a H2 (hummer) brought in by some NBA star. Slide the iPod into the dock and it played on the stereo. Needless to say thats not all they did to the H2 but I thought I should mention that.

    One thing is it probably cost a LOT more than he spent on his Ford Explorer doing it himself :)

  • I feel sorry... (Score:3, Funny)

    by FurryFeet ( 562847 ) <joudanxNO@SPAMyahoo.com> on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @03:20PM (#8862876)
    Not only has he invalidated his car's warranty (for unauthorized modifications), and he's gonna get sued by Apple for unauthorized use of their logo, but now he's getting slashdotted.

  • Alpine's iPod ready Head Unit (Score:3, Informative)

    by ende ( 154873 ) on Wednesday April 14, 2004 @09:45PM (#8865787)
    Alpine [alpine-usa.com] is coming out with a HU this summer that will allow you to plug your iPod in, and store it in any location (glove box, center console, trunk, etc..) and the HU will display the song info and allow you to control the iPod. Google for more information, here is a quick link to their press release [prnewswire.com].

  • Just want to clear a few things up... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by reelmagik ( 771449 ) on Thursday April 15, 2004 @12:47AM (#8866307)
    It's nice to read all the positive, and not so positive comments people have said about what I did. I want to clear a few things up for all the negative people out there...

    -There are no wires to attach or add because the Belkin car charger I integrated into the design has an audio line-out built into it, which I used to run directly into my car stereo via an adapter. The music plays through the car speakers at perfect quality. Yeah, I still control the volume throught the car stereo but HOW HARD IS THAT? Come on people.

    -The blue LED lights were added ONLY for one reason: TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE DAMN THING IN THE DARK AT NIGHT WHILE PLUGGING IT IN OR CHANGING SONGS.

    -It can not "fly" out of the console because if you had actually read what I wrote you would see that I made it so the iPod fits very snugly into it, making it able to lock it in place and push on the buttons or scroll through songs very easily without it so much as moving. There is no way it would ever wobble around, or even fly out.

    -It is not difficult to use, or awkward in any way...the thing sits right where my hand rests over the console and it takes no effort to press any of the buttons.

    -I am NOT the kind of guy who "tricks out" his car just to look cool, especially not with an explorer. While I do like the car, I only made it because I wanted to use MY iPod in MY car while I was driving, and that was it. It's a hell of a lot better than carrying around 400 cd's. For those of you who remarked about it being unsafe...How safe is it to look through all your cd's trying to find the one that has the one song you want to hear while trying to watch the road at the same time? With the iPod, I can make up song lists I want to hear before I even leave, or while I'm just sitting in the car at a red light or in traffic, or even just let all 1000 songs play in random order. Anyone who actually OWNS an iPod knows how easy it is to use one.

    I personally don't care what any of you negative people think because I didn't make it to please you, I made it for myself. I enjoy using it and that's all that matters. Until I see pictures of your installs that are any better or more practical than mine, maybe you should think twice about bashing it.

    Could this have been done better? Of course! I'm the first to admit that. I started rethinking and redesigning it after I installed it. I made the thing on a whim and didn't take the time to completely think out EVERY practical application, I just wanted to make something to play the thing in my car til I came up with something better.

    I'm glad there are some people out there who did enjoy it and maybe got some ideas of their own. Thanks everybody!

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