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Pods Unite 381

Posted by pudge from the so-i-can-be-doubly-cute-to-all-the-fly-honeys dept.
burgburgburg writes "Apple has released the QuickTime video of the new commercial they made in conjunction with Volkswagen. The connection between the two? Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod. Take a look at video. It's the 15 GB iPod and all the accessories needed to hook it up to the new Volkswagen." It uses a casette adapter, which is really lame. Of course, I use a casette adapter with my iPod, but I am not a German engineer.
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Pods Unite

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  • My iPod is super! (Score:5, Funny)

    by computerme ( 655703 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:22AM (#6484670)
    Oh wait. this is the part where i am supposed to whine that it does not have Ogg Vorbis support right...?!

    • Re:My iPod is super! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:29AM (#6484717)
      Yeah. I bet if you rolled up next to women with the windows down and told them that your car has support for Ogg Vorbis, they'd be really impressed.

      Moreso if you're driving a Volkswagon Beetle.
      • Is there an in-dash MP3/Ogg player for 6 volt ignition?

      • Re:My iPod is super! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by dasmegabyte ( 267018 ) <das@OHNOWHATSTHISdasmegabyte.org> on Sunday July 20, 2003 @02:23PM (#6485807) Homepage Journal
        It is a male fallacy that girls are impressed by long, sleek rocket cars.

        The girls I know like clean cars with luxurious acoutrements. Past a certain point, they don't care about how fast or loud or covered with chrome and decals it is. These are people who like SUBTLETY, who obsess over details, safey and cuteness. That's the beetle for you.

        Besides, the volkswagen beetle is a nice car. It's comfortable inside, surprisingly roomy despite its apparent size, and there are lots of really nice editions out there. My personal favorite is the 1.8 turbo with the two tone leather interior, sunroof, sport suspension, rims painted to match the paint job...I've got a friend who drives one of these in jet black, and he gets more bumper than a body shop (to quote the film Airheads). In fact, of all the members of his rockabilly band (with their requisite 1960s chevrolets), his car gets the most attention. Could also be the drumming. Chicks dig a drummer.

        • Re:My iPod is super! (Score:5, Funny)

          by Golias ( 176380 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @03:14PM (#6486133)
          It is a male fallacy that girls are impressed by long, sleek rocket cars.

          Most girls are not impressed, true. However, girls that want to have casual sex know that a guy in a Mustang or Porche is driving it because he's horny, lonely, and wants lots of sex, and acting as if they are impressed is an easy way to open conversation.

          Girls who don't want to have casual sex do not interest guys who drive Mustangs. They will drive Astro vans or Volkswagons if and when they are ready to settle down and get married.

          By the way, according to Car Talk, [cars.com] the Beetle is the second-gayest car in America.

          Not that there's anything wrong with that.

          • Those car talk guys don't know wtf they're talking about.

            For one thing, the Geo Tracker isn't even on the list. Here's a car that was WHITE with PINK AND PURPLE lettering down one side.

            For another, the Jeep Wrangler is the ULTIMATE car of blondes out for a good time, and with the proper tire aspect, of frat guys looking for trouble. It is by no means gay.

            (FYI, I drive the only volkswagen not on the list. SCORE 1 FOR DAS' SEXUALITY!)

    • Re:My iPod is super! (Score:5, Funny)

      by zephc ( 225327 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @12:12PM (#6484994)
      glad you like your iPod, but I'm also glad you aren't this guy [mac.com]

  • calling clueful car manufacturers (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hedley ( 8715 ) <hedley@pacbell.net> on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:25AM (#6484683) Homepage Journal

    Would it kill these guys to put a mini-jack on the dash (or somewhere) and an AUX setting on the stereo.

    Bueller? Anyone?

    Hedley
    • Well, like some morons said in the Toshiba laptop article, it might cost them $0.15 and ruin the profit margin.

      Including bicylces and mp3 jukeboxes makes sense though.

    • Re:calling clueful car manufacturers (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ProfKyne ( 149971 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:32AM (#6484742)

      There are also the FM senders that you can attach to the iPod, which then are received by the car's FM stereo -- a wireless connection -- but I have heard mixed reviews of the sound quality.

      Speaking of sound quality, the song that plays in this commercial is horrible.

      • FWIW, the quality through the cassette adapter and a local FM transmitter will be about equal, assuming you choose an FM frequency that will be uninterfered with.

        • Re:calling clueful car manufacturers (Score:4, Insightful)

          by tomstdenis ( 446163 ) <tomstdenis@gmai l . com> on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:56AM (#6484905) Homepage
          Two problems.

          1. Analogue freq dial thingies. Those radioshack 20$ FM transmitters are useless to get on an odd frequency [recall FM is on odd freqs, e.g 93.9, 94.1, etc...].

          2. Most populated cities have one useless station after another throughout the bands. All either discussing the rhetoric of the day [newsradio] or playing the teeny-bopper-I-wish-upon-a-pair-of-nice-melons musak. Oh yeah,and don't forget that even if you find a relatively unused band the thing only has a 2 foot range so you better tape it to the hood of your car beside the attenna!

          As another poster asked it "would it hurt to put a aux jack 1/8" in the front?". It makes sense and would allow people to plug in new shit much easier than via casettes [which can jam] and FM transmitters [which suck ass anyways].

          Or just better yet, build mp3 pod players into cars all together. E.g. like a removable harddrive tray. Just remove it, take it inside, program it, boom.

          Tom
          • 1. Analogue freq dial thingies. Those radioshack 20$ FM transmitters are useless to get on an odd frequency [recall FM is on odd freqs, e.g 93.9, 94.1, etc...].

            True, but I've become a big fan of the Griffen iTrip [griffentechnologies.com] (mentioned here elsewhere, as well, i believe) - the thing can transmit on any public FM frequency, so it's easy to find an odd-numbered station that isn't already covered (or whose coverage is weak).

            They're about to ship the new iTrip with support for the new iPods. They're sleek, they use n
          • I remember looking at head units a few years ago, and Aiwa made one (apparently they still do [aiwa.com]) that had a 1/8" input on the front. They're not very expensive. Probably not the loudest thing in the world, but I don't like waking up the neighborhood, I just like listening to my music...

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:57AM (#6484909)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Maybe your just in a city with too many radio stations. Though, I live in San Francisco, which I think has a fair number of stations, and I use the iTrip with no problem. I'm not a radio listener, in general, so I can't say how many radio stations there are in San Francisco, but I started with the low end of the dial, and ended up on channel 89.7FM, which works like a charm for me.

          This has also worked in two of my friends car, but admittedly they were just local trips, so I can't say how well it would trav

          • Maybe your just in a city with too many radio stations. Though, I live in San Francisco, which I think has a fair number of stations, and I use the iTrip with no problem. I'm not a radio listener, in general, so I can't say how many radio stations there are in San Francisco, but I started with the low end of the dial, and ended up on channel 89.7FM, which works like a charm for me.

            I noticed that problem with an iRock transmitter on a trip to Phoenix...the four frequencies on which it transmits are all i

      • I have the Griffin iTrip, and it blows. I can't hear a damn thing in my car stereo with it. Apparently it works better in cities with few radio stations (I'm in LA; the airwaves are a little crowded). There are ways to slightly improve reception but it still is a waste of my 30 bucks. I can't find a car stereo with an aux in at my local car stereo dealer. Can anyone suggest one?
        • There are a few head units that have AUX in. The best I've seen so far (price, features, etc.) is the Blaupunkt San Jose. Right around $200, plays MP3 CDs, has a nice interface, and sounds pretty good. I'd offer up a link, but the last time I went to Blaupunkt's site, I couldn't find info on this particular model. Go down to your local Fry's (where I found mine). Other than the Blaupunkt, I seem to remember that most of the Aiwa decks I looked at had AUX in, as well.

      • Re:calling clueful car manufacturers (Score:4, Informative)

        by batobin ( 10158 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @03:40PM (#6486302) Homepage
        MacWhispers [macwhispers.com] did a review [envestco2.com] of four different iPod FM transmitters. They liked a product called "AudiaX".

        Their conclusion, however, was that FM transmitters kinda suck in general. Much better to simply get a line-in.
    • I've seen exactly one make and model of car that had this exact feature: weirdly, the VW Golf had it. The standard factory cassette player for that car had a line-in minijack right on the corner of the faceplate.

      I remember very specifically, for when I saw it, I went off on a giant geek tirade at the dealer, asking why this hasn't been as standard as the AC plug on every single car in the world for many years. (Conspiracy for 3rd party decks?)

    • Aftermarket radios have front panel input jacks (I believe the AIWA MP3 CD player had one... )

      The other option is if you aren't using a trunk CD player and the head unit has RCA inputs, have an RCA to Mini adpater hanging out of your dash- then just plug and play.
    • damn straigt... considering how many things have a line-out...
    • I've also been asking for years why car companies dont create an interface (most likely in the stereo) that would allow you to connect your cellphone to a mic built into your sunvisor or rearview mirror, and your car speakers?

      All it would take would be for manufacturers to decide on the jack type, and walla, no more need for fools getting in car wrecks because they are driving one handed and/or looking down at their phones, trying to dial a number.

      add in a cellphone with voice dialing, and some features t

    • Re:calling clueful car manufacturers (Score:5, Informative)

      by BWJones ( 18351 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @01:58PM (#6485666) Homepage Journal
      Would it kill these guys to put a mini-jack on the dash (or somewhere) and an AUX setting on the stereo.

      I have been using the cassette adapter option in my 4Runner, but recently I started looking into the option of having a direct plug in to the stereo from my iPod. A little poking around lead to this [rcainput.com] company. The short of it is that I can plug one of these adapters into the CD-changer input on the back of my factory stereo and then run a mini-jack from the iPod directly into it. My local Toyota dealer tells me they can install it with a factory appearance for $40 making this a must have option.

  • Cassette Adapters (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:25AM (#6484689)
    Why, oh why, can't they just start giving us a 1/8th input jack on car stereos?? I've been wanting this for years, before mp3 players even, becuase I had a car that didn't have a tape player in the stereo and at the time I wanted to plug one in.

    You'd think that designing and implementing such a thing would cost a fraction of what it costs to make and run this advertisent.

    I would like to see some kind of poll of which is more useful to people.. a tape player or a 1/8th inch stereo input jack. After all, you can plug an external tape player into a jack easier, with more elegance, and for about the same cost as you can plug an external mp3 player into the tape player.. and I don't have any tapes anymore...
    • I know honda has this sort of setup standard on the Element, and I know its an option on most other Honda cars.

    • Re:Cassette Adapters (Score:3, Informative)

      by interiot ( 50685 )
      If you're in the market for a third-party head, some support various forms of aux-in. Some blaupunkts support this adapter [crutchfield.com] which hooks in to the CD-changer function of head units.

      Some people figure out ways to hack an aux-in from the cd-changer interface, but it seems so trivial for manufacturers to provide this, I don't know why all of them don't.

    • Re:Cassette Adapters (Score:5, Informative)

      by bryanp ( 160522 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:36AM (#6484787)
      Why, oh why, can't they just start giving us a 1/8th input jack on car stereos?? I've been wanting this for years,

      There are plenty of them out there. I've never seen one on a stock auto-stereo, but take a trip to your local Best Buy / Circuit City etc.. and you'll see them available.
      [bestbuy.com]
      The very first model to pop up on Best Buy's page has one. I'm sure you can find more.
      • I've never seen one on a stock auto-stereo

        I think this is the source of confusion here. The original poster gave us:

        Why, oh why, can't they just start giving us a 1/8th input jack on car stereos?

        The "they" has no antecedent, really, but presumably applies to the article, in which case "they" is presumably car designers.

        I think what he was really asking is why there are no stock car stereos that have a 1/8th input jack - why car manufactorers don't start including them as standard equipment. This

    • They used to... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by morcheeba ( 260908 )
      When CDs started becoming more popular, the tape-players had aux inputs meant for discman-type players. Then they switched to in-dash CD players and dropped the inputs... now they're being caught behind the MP3-player curve again and are trying to re-add the input. With a car lifespan so long, you'd think that car manufacturers should give up trying to predict what personal electronic trends will be 15 years in the future, and just add the jack to all radios.

    • Even better, they could build in a docking port into the dash somehow. On apple's dock, the firewire line supplies power which could come from the car's system, and it also has a line-out jack which could run to the amplifier. There is a connector on the top of the iPod for remote control which could also be wired to the car's audio controls.

      I don't know why someone doesn't make a docking station for cars, it wouldn't be that difficult.

    • Blaupunkt with aux (Score:2, Informative)

      by OhCrap ( 652572 )
      I bought a 92 Honda Accord from a friend, and she had installed a Blaupunkt CD stereo. The cool thing about this stereo is that it has an aux in cable that is connected to the stero and ends up in the glove box. I have a 2nd generation 10gig iPod and I connect it to the stero using this cable- and leave the iPod in the glove box playing away. There is a button on the stereo that lets you choose the source of the music, aux, cd, or stero. It's a nice set up. You might want to check out the Blaupunkts t
    • You'd think that designing and implementing such a thing would cost a fraction of what it costs to make and run this advertisent.


      Perhaps, but that would pale in comparison to the cost of fielding thousands of questions from customers asking why their headphones didn't work when plugged into that jack.

  • New Acronym (Score:5, Funny)

    by LightStruk ( 228264 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:26AM (#6484695)
    IANAGE.

  • damn (Score:3, Funny)

    by b17bmbr ( 608864 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:28AM (#6484705)
    i just bought an ipod. do i get a new beetle?

  • In Car Firewire or USB ? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by vlad30 ( 44644 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:28AM (#6484708)
    So Is there a car with Firewire or USB connectivity from the manufacturer ?? If not how long before we see it ?

    BTW I think this will be better than those in car removable hard drive solutions from 2-3 years ago

  • Is it really an incentive? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:28AM (#6484709)
    If someone can afford to lay down the money for a new VW, couldn't they afford to get a new ipod if they really wanted to? I wonder then whether this is more of a promotion for apple than VW.
    • You're at the VW dealership, and you climb inside the brand new Beetle. And you see this little white thing near the stereo. You ask the dealer what that's all about, he encourages you to play with it. You see that it's filed with literally thousands of songs that you can play in the car's stereo instantly. You ask. He says it's yours with the car. You go across the street to anotehr car dealer. Inside the car you find the usual CD player with some lame CD they stuck in there. Just one CD at a time.
    • Well, a new 15 GB iPod is $400. If you can, instead of spending this money directly on the iPod, spend it as part of a downpayment on a new car, and STILL get the iPod, you might be likely to do that.

      It's a tie in deal. VW has done this in the past with Trek cycles (you buy a Jetta, you get a $200 Trek 800), K2 Snowboards (you buy a Jetta, you get this snowboard and no damn boots or bindings), and if i'm not mistaken they had an e-edition golf with a MS PocketPC.

      A tie-in doesn't really save anybody any
  • I use a cassette adapter to use my Rio in my Jetta because of no usable AUX audio input. It can be less than fun putting in an aftermarket system because the stock stereo is part of the in-car network. Many dealers won't work on a car that has a different stereo even if the k-line (network link) has been severed because they have damaged expensive code scanners in the past. Seems that VW would make a standard DIN or RCA input to ease this problem.

    My old 1990 Eclipse is the new home for my pioneer hu and

  • A good thing... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by suso ( 153703 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:29AM (#6484722) Journal
    This is a good thing. Many companies are indirectly promoting mp3 music, etc.

  • In other news... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Buy a house, get the landscaping FREE.

    Get a hotel room, and get the coffee FREE.

    Buy a computer, and get a FREE floppy disk.

    Buy Windows, and get wordpad FREE.

    --
    1-800-759-0700

  • VW *used* to provide a 1/8" input jack (Score:5, Informative)

    by beavis88 ( 25983 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:31AM (#6484736)
    This would have been back around the '94 model year or so (on a friend's car, not mine). As I remember, the sound was not great, but certainly better than any of the tape adaptors available at the time. No idea why they ditched it...probably so they could sell you their $349 single-CD player, or $699 changer...
    • VW Bug's also used to power the windshield washer using your spare tire pressure so if you didn't fill the air in the spare tire you would be screwed when you actually experienced a flat tire!

      VW Bug engines used to be so easy to remove that people would go grocery shopping, come back to their car and drive away then wonder why their engine suddenly sucked monkey balls. Take it to the mechanic only to find out somebody swapped their new engine with an old one! Kids were taking these engines and putting th
      • You're thinking of the old bugs. Everyone knew they were shitty cars, but that's pretty much WHY people drove them. Also, because the engine was so easy to remove, repairs cost less. I'm not saying they're the best car ever, but if you were a college student in the 60s, it beats the hell out of mom and dad's old station wagon.
    • Yes, the stock radio in the MK3 cars (3rd generation) had the 1/8" input. Golf, Jetta and the corrado had these from '93 to '98 in north america. A feature i rather liked. Too bad they took it away along with the DIN sized deck too. Such a pitty.

  • ITrip (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    For all the people who do not want a cassette adaptor. Check out the ITrip. I need to order one of these. My brother stated that he has good luck with it. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/itrip/

  • German engineer? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by KamuSan ( 680564 )
    AFAIK the beetle is designed in the US and since this is totally US-specific I guess no German engineers were involved whatsoever. I mean, if they were, then they propably wouldn't have use the casette-adaptor anyway. (Especially since noone uses cassettes in Europe anymore. Boo hiss, old, ancient!)

  • still waiting (Score:2, Funny)

    by pangu ( 322010 )
    still waiitng for the Beetle with an Imac style flat panel popping out the top. 100 inches or so to keep the proportions...
  • If you buy a used car at Al's Super Sales Used Auto Mart, then he'll throw in a family member, but wait that's not all if you get there in the next two hours he'll even throw in a free person all you can eat buffet pass to the sizzler!

    This isn't VW's big pull to align with apple (obviously the thing interacts through a tape deck). This is a gimick. They going to throw in a chop-o-matic too?

  • Integration (Score:5, Interesting)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:35AM (#6484767) Journal
    The holster is a bit hokey... would it kill apple/vw to design the ipod so that it can go inside a slot fairly deep such that only the lcd screen is showing? I'm thinking on top of the dash, kinda like a toaster. If necessary, the ipod should be able to rotate the image on its screen accordingly (for upside-down or sideways installations).

    I wonder if the car can control the ipod - i.e. fast forward, rewind, etc. The older-style remote protocol is documented here [maushammer.com] so that you can build an interface to anything you want. It includes nice pictures & working source code!
    • I dunno - a 'toaster' slot is just asking for a lot of skanky crap to fall down in there. Think of a real toaster. Now think of the nasty stuff you find in a car after a few years. Ew.

      Now if it plugged in upside down (wouldn't work in my car, but up on the ceiling portion above/in front of the rearview in some cars would work), then it would make sense, I think.

    • Re:Integration (Score:3, Informative)

      by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 )
      The holster is a bit hokey... would it kill apple/vw to design the ipod so that it can go inside a slot fairly deep such that only the lcd screen is showing? I'm thinking on top of the dash, kinda like a toaster. If necessary, the ipod should be able to rotate the image on its screen accordingly (for upside-down or sideways installations).

      Good lord man, why would you want that? From the video (which is a wicked commercial, btw) the iPod swivels and is fully exposed so you can, you know, use it. Plus it w

      • I want to control the iPod with the default radio buttons on the steering wheel. With this and the toaster-style mounting, there would be no need to have to reach to use the ipod's buttons. The swivel looks like an add-on that will get caught on things and get knocked about. I'm thinking of the slot being placed on top of the dash, or maybe under the radio. True, the LCD screen to the ipod isn't the greatest in terms of angle-of-view, so a swivel might be helpful... either good placement of the slot from th

  • 8-Track (Score:4, Funny)

    by SN74S181 ( 581549 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:35AM (#6484769)
    Yes, but does the cassette adapter work in one of those 8-track adapters? You know the ones; they plug into the 8-track slot on your dashboard and you can put a cassette in them.
    • I just got mild vertigo thinking of the rotational motion of all of the components in such a setup... :^) I think it would work, as long as you could keep the cables from getting tangled or stuck in the deck.

  • iTrip (Score:4, Interesting)

    by JojoLinkyBob ( 110971 ) <joeycato AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:35AM (#6484775) Homepage
    Anybody know when the iTrip [griffintechnology.com] FM Transmitter for the iPod is coming out?

    The website has been stating "shipping soon" for a very long time now. At any rate, this could be an easier connection than a tape cassette, except for the possible trade-off of sound quality.

    • Anybody know when the iTrip FM Transmitter for the iPod is coming out?

      They are in Apple Stores now. I was in Chicago this past week, and saw them with my own eyes.
    • New iPod or old? The old version has been shipping (have mine, love it :).

    • Re:iTrip (Score:3, Informative)

      by allgood2 ( 226994 )
      Its already out and wonderful. I've been using mine for a few months now, and its wonderful...marvelous (yeah, yeah, and other showtunes). I've used it in friends cars as well, and it works fine. I would assume easier to use than an adapter kit, once you've selected a radio channel, and just overrides the current stream of music with your playlist (of course this works better on stations that you can't get a clear single from, otherwise its battle of the competing radio streams).

      I mostly use iTrip with my

    • Re:iTrip (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Equuleus42 ( 723 )
      Wait, don't buy that iTrip just yet... MacWhispers recently conducted a review [envestco2.com] of four different FM transmitters, and the iTrip was rated poorly. The other transmitters they tested don't look as cool, and they don't use the iPod as a power source, but they tend to have much greater range and easier configurability.

  • A better way to connect your iPod (Score:5, Informative)

    by myov ( 177946 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:40AM (#6484807)
    If you don't have a CD Changer installed, you use this adapter [k9spud.com]. It will change the CD wiring to a standard RCA plug. It also provides a serial line, which with some hacking can be used to control your iPod from the head unit.

    In 2003 beetles, the CD Changer is prewired to be installed between the seats (remove the insert). In the older models, it's wired to the trunk. There are also adapters that plug in behind the head unit, rather than using the cd cabling.

    This way you don't need to use a FM transmitter or casette adapter, and you don't need to change the stock radio (and run into the K-wire problem)

  • Just a crappy cassette adapter? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by phillymjs ( 234426 ) <slashdotNO@SPAMstango.org> on Sunday July 20, 2003 @11:55AM (#6484902) Homepage Journal
    Damn, that sucks. Especially when the commercial kinda makes it look (to my unfamiliar-with-VW eye) like the iPod is a little better integrated with the stereo than that. Oh well.

    Depending on what kind of stereo you've got, you may be able to get an auxiliary input cable adapter. I got one from XMFanstore [yahoo.com] for the OEM stereo in my car, which has an unused aux connector for a CD changer-- the adapter I bought just ends in female RCA jacks, so you can hook up pretty much any audio input to it. Maybe one of these days I'll be in the mood to take the center console apart and pull the stereo out to connect that cable. Until then, I'm using a crappy cassette adapter. :-(

    Another product I'll be getting when it's available is this RF iPod remote control. [engineeredaudio.com] I plan to run the cable to a storage compartment in the console, so the iPod will be out of sight/the way but I'll still be able to control it.

    I agree with the "Why aren't they putting God damned input jacks on car stereos yet?" sentiment. What we really need are car stereos and MP3 players with Bluetooth, so they can connect that way. Of course, then you'd have short battery life without plugging the MP3 player into an auto power adapter-- but at least pretty much every car has someplace to plug one of those in.

    ~Philly
  • It's not to hard to rig up a custom set up yourself. For most stereos you can at least get an adapter to allow aux inputs. On mine it runs through the cd changer controls to the aux input adapter. Then that runs to my belkin auto charger which has a little amp in it. The auto charger is spliced into the cigarette lighter, but this is all under the dash so all you see coming out is the data cable from the belkin charger. And the vent clip on cell phone holder that they sell at radio shack is a perfect f

  • no thanks (Score:2, Interesting)

    by heXXXen ( 566121 )
    i'm just fine with my setup. my ipod plugs in to the AUX port on the faceplate of my aiwa deck in my toyota corolla.

    cassette adapters are a joke.
  • I've driven pretty much every late model VW that there is, and every single one that had an OEM stereo had incredibly terrible sound, this for a car that is basically bought and marketed towards younger people who DO play music. In a new Jetta for example, the sound was so bad I couldn't even belive that was possible. My 1993 Cherokee puts out better sound, and the two rear speakers don't even work, and to top that I'm using a tape adapter as well. So, I wouldn't even want to put an iPod in there at all...

  • Fish, meet Bait.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mumblestheclown ( 569987 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @12:16PM (#6485017)
    Two companies known for slick marketing along the general lines of "geeky cool" get together through some sort of marketing agreement. Slashdot publishes it, and a bunch of MBAs make some money.

    Oh, I know, maybe you thought they were giving away the ipods.

    For a group that does a lot of whining about generic music a la britney spears every time the music debates come up, slashdot sure has a nice way of playing the marionette whenever some new pseudo-kitsch gadget or anime box set comes out..

    • Are we looking at the same webpage? It seems most of the user comments are about the dissapointing lack of integration between the car and the player. I doubt that will come across in the commercials.

      As for generic music, well you can load the iPod with whatever you like. Probably you were just alluding to some more abstract objection, but I don't see it. Apple's online music offering (integrated with the iPod) seems more accepted than most to slashdotters. If it were just up to the RIAA I don't thi

    • SO dissapointing... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by gotr00t ( 563828 )
      I would have expected something much more from a corperate partnership between Apple and Volkswagen, like some sort of dock in the car that you can directly plug the iPod into and leave the headphone port free.

      Instead, its a lame combination of just a generic casette adapter, a generic cigarette lighter slot charger, and a bumper sticker, which they're ALWAYS out of. Instead of buying a beetle with this lame system,

      I think that I can build my own. All I need is a spare iPod dock, that kit that you can

  • I still think the PhatBox is the best thing going (Score:4, Informative)

    by justMichael ( 606509 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @12:28PM (#6485092) Homepage
    PhatBox [phatnoise.com]

    I know, it's not cheap and doesn't support vorbis files and the manager is Windows only.

    But to me the ability to control it through my factory head unit makes that a non-issue.

    It does support mp3, wma, flac and audible.

    If I wasn't leasing my car I would have gotten one as soon as Audi [audiusa.com] officially supported and started installing them.
  • Years ago, I had a portable CD player, a car-mount kit, and a cassette adapter. It was inconvenient and ugly with cables all over. Never again.

    I think the iPod is cool, but it just doesn't work in a car. So I went with an in-trunk HDD player [ssiamerica.com] that has adapters for Alpine, Kenwood, Pioneer, and VW head units to make it appear to be either a Siruis radio or multi-disc CD changer. The only cable is hidden in your car just like an ordinary in-trunk disc changer.

    When I want to sync music, I slide the unit

  • German engineers (Score:5, Funny)

    by AvantLegion ( 595806 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @12:54PM (#6485266) Journal
    It uses a casette adapter, which is really lame. Of course, I use a casette adapter with my iPod, but I am not a German engineer.

    Which just goes to prove my theory: German engineers love cassette adapters.

    And David Hasselhoff.

  • Awesome commercial (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Traa ( 158207 ) * on Sunday July 20, 2003 @12:54PM (#6485268) Homepage Journal
    Wow!

    I can't be the only slashdot poster to see past the technical aspects of hooking up an iPod in a car and see one very very beautifull add. Without looking it up my guess would be that the Volkswagen people put the add together, it's in their style.

    With its style & music I put it on the same level as the recent technically cool Honda [slashdot.org] add.

  • Honda Element has an input jack in the glovebox (Score:3, Informative)

    by KFury ( 19522 ) * on Sunday July 20, 2003 @01:00PM (#6485292) Homepage
    Some manufacturers are getting the right idea. Honda's Element has a power source (cig lighter thing) and a mini-jack input in the glove box. It also has a third power plug in the cargo area for a cooler.

    Of course, the Element is targeted to the surfer wilderness crowd, but hopefully they'll start to see that other people have iPods, too.

  • Just confusing (Score:3, Insightful)

    by whereiswaldo ( 459052 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @01:02PM (#6485306) Journal
    Why do marketing people still insist in talking like this?

    "It was inevitable, really. When two groups of people have so much in common, eventually they find each other. Volkswagen and Apple. Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod. And the kit that brings them together (plus a lot of other cool stuff like free music and a $100 Apple Store coupon). Learn more about this special deal."

    I noticed that if you want to generate a feeling in the reader's mind, lots of short sentence fragments really prevent that from happening.
  • They said it takes two weeks to ship it to you... I didnt even know they were running this promotion until AFTER I decided to buy the car - the salesman just called me up and said 'oh, you get an iPod too', which is cool, ive been wanting one to plug into my Powerbook...

    They refused to ship it to a P.O. Box, which was inconvienent for me, but no big deal, we are just happy to have a nice new Yellow Bug :)

  • Why doesn't apple make... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by v1 ( 525388 ) on Sunday July 20, 2003 @01:23PM (#6485422) Homepage Journal
    a car stereo that has a "docking bay" slot in it where you can just plug in your iPod? That would be ideal, just stuff it into the dash to play your tunes in the vehicle, while charging the iPod, then take the iPod with you when you go. No need to pull the stereo out of the dash to load new music onto it either. And having an important component removable should make it less prone to theft also, as the MP3 stereos seem to be very high risk right now.

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