beware ipod

I love my ipod. However, repeated attempts to have it make coffee have failed. Despite numerous demonstrations, it fails to learn these simple tasks.
I've completely given up. I'm only using the ipod for music. Yes, in that regard, it has performed flawlessly, but I still have to make my own coffee,
walk my own dog, and program my own Tivo.

From Alpine's press release ---

With a simple one-cable connection, iPod users will be able to operate key playback features from the Alpine receiver's buttons and have display of playlists, album, artist and songs on the head unit. The iPod can then be safely stored in the glove box or console because it acts like a portable hard drive connected to the head unit through Alpine's powerful Ai-Net system bus. The Alpine connectivity solution also provides charging of the iPod's internal battery.

For the rest --

http://www.alpine-usa.com/company_info/press_release/010804_ipad.html

It's a shame you got a lemon -- they are fabulous devices when they work.

There are ways to get your ipod to play through your car's system. Consult a car stereo installer in your area. Many car stereos have an auxilary input that isn't being used. Your installer can connect a jack to that into which you can
plug your ipod using your headphone out. There is another solution which
involves a small transmitter that connects to your ipod and allows you to play it through your car's radio. You can also get an attachment which will allow
you to plug the ipod into either a car lighter or or a similar DC input in an
airplane so you can keep your ipod (or laptop computer) charged. Most of the larger jets have these inputs in their first class seats.

Also, Alpine Car Stereo company is coming out with car stereos that will connect to your ipod, take over its functions and keep it charged so you can
use your ipod as a portable hard drive and play it through your car stereo. If you have bought an Alpine car stereo recently, it may have this capability, but you will need to purchase an interface that will allow you to take advantage of it. Check with your local Alpine dealer.

Right now, I have a jack installed which connects to my Alpine car stereo through an auxilary input so I can play my ipod directly through my car's audio system -- and it sounds great. The interface which will allow my head unit to take over the ipods functions and keep it charged was introduced at CES and I am eagerly awaiting its release so I can get that puppy installed. The solution I am using now works beautifully, but it could be a little more elegant if I didn't have to have the wire to the cigarrette lighter to keep the ipod charged and it would be cool to have a Head Unit that would display the songs and artists from the ipod.

Currently, there are several companies that make hard drive units for Car Audio systems. The largest of these hold 15 Gigs and costs more than a 40 Gig ipod -- and it is dedicated to the car. The 40 Gig ipod has more than twice the storage, is less expensive, and is portable.

No -- I don't work for either Apple or Alpine.

IMO, the ideal situation is to manage all of one's music files on an external hard drive. These days, you can get a lot of storage for relatively little $$. This way, you don't take up your computer's hard drive with music files. Then, you circulate your music through your ipod from your external hard drive. You burn CD's with your computer using your external hard drive. To me, asking your ipod to manage all of that, or being disappointed because you can't do all of that from your ipod is a little unrealistic. Before the 40 Gig ipod, I was carrying around a notebook computer so I could carry that much music. The ipod conveniently separates the portable music capability so I
don't have to carry around a full fledged computer. For me, a portable hard dive player like the ipod is the Holy Grail -- it is THE solution. To have THAT much music THAT portable, to be able to plug my ipod into my home stereo,
take it with me and plug it into my car stereo, then take it out of the car and listen to it at the beach or on an airplane makes the ipod THE answer. Carrying around a notebook computer, which was the alternative, was way more costly, way less convenient. As I said in an earlier post, there *are* hard drive solutions for the home -- like the Escient Fireball -- which cost far more than an ipod -- and are not portable. There are hard drive solutions for the car -- Sony makes one -- which cost a lot more than an ipod and have a lot less storage -- and are not portable. And, neither of those solutions are nearly as easy to load as the ipod. Then, you've got car stereo manufacturers like Alpine coming up with products that will let you plug your ipod directly into your car's audio system. And a 40 Gig ipod only costs around $500. To me, that's a hell of a deal. Of course, if you get a lemon, that's not a deal at any price, but my guess is that Apple will replace it and then, like others have said, for people to avoid the ipod with all of it's convenience, portability, and efficiency at such a reasonable price, because of one bad experience, would be a shame.

The ipod, at less than $500, is certainly not an audiophile level player, but
for a casual player if offers incredible convenience and if you load it with uncompressed CD's, it can sound amazingly good considering its price and convenience. How much compression one uses is a factor of how much quality degradation one is willing to suffer during casual listening. When I play my ipod through my reference system using the headphone out, it sounds better than CD's played on my $400 Denon DVD player.