I decided today where I wanted to place the iPod. After a long night of thinking about the alternatives, I decided on the glove compartment.
There's a couple of reasons for this:
- Having it hooked up into the Pioneer iPod cable locks out the functionality for the Click Wheel controls.
- You really don't want the iPod baking in the front seat when your car sits out in the parking lot.
- Passing through a cable from the console to the glove compartment is easy. No messy holes, cutting or drilling.
- If it's good enough for BMW, it's good enough for me.
The Pioneer CD-IB100 iPod Adapter is a nice component to add if you already have a Pioneer head unit. However, there are other more economical alternatives, which I've already listed in Part I.
Features I like about the CD-IB100:
- It's small and compact, allowing you to install it anywhere.
- Installation is fairly easy and straightforward.
- Acts as an iPod charger.
- Allows iPod to be controlled through the stereo.
- Sound Quality is phenomenal.
Features that need improvement on the CD-IB100:
- Headunit compatibility an issue. For most Pioneer Players, it will act as an external unit and only display 8 characters.
- Documentation could be more in-depth.
- Headunit controls need a lot of work to be as fast and intuitive as the Apple iPod controls.
- Because Adapter acts like an external CD changer, one cannot browse the music list -- moving up or down songs will stop the playing of the music and go to the next track selected.
- iPod Click Wheel controls should not be locked while plugged in.
- Cost is an issue. At a retail price of $140, it really ought to do more.
If you can live with the problems of the Pioneer, and you already own a Pioneer headunit then it might be for you. If you can't, wait around for a better solution, because someone will design a better solution (if they haven't already).
Hey Mike, I was just curios if you could tell me more about the term 'external unit'. I have a pioneer deh-p7200 head unit and i'm trying figure out how well it will work with the cd-ib100. Mail me anytime, thanks.
Thanks for your comment and question. 'External Unit' means your head unit will recognize your iPod as an sound source (but not specifically an iPod), so if you've ever had an external CD changer hooked up to your head unit before, it is something very similar to that. Your head unit is not aware of the multple functions your iPod has (for instance, rating your songs is not possible through the adapter).