Alpine / iPod integration kit

Anybody else noticed this? Of course, it ain't an empeg, but it makes for an interesting design point.

Kinda like this?

The Alpine one definitely looks cooler, but the Dension one will hook to more people's standard HU's. But the Apline one allows browsing with the standard HU, which is the killer feature to me. Not that any of us will ever need it. You're right, it's still not even close to the Empeg.

Argh. I can't stop thinking about this thing. Now that it's fairly evident that a 60gb iPod will hit before year end, i'm edging more and more towards this setup. I rarely do anything more than play the empeg on random, and occasionally pick an album or two to play. The portability of the iPod is the killer for me. Though i've been carrying around the empeg for nearly 4 years everywhere i go, the possibility of just slipping an iPod into my pocket is insanely appealing.

So someone talk me out of my wandering ways! I know i know... empeg, linux, extensible, blah blah, but i'm never going to use my empeg as a GPS or anything else at this point. I just want stuff to work and work well. I think i just need to borrow someone's iPod for a few days and i'll probably figure out why i hate it pretty quick. If i have to use iTunes to load stuff on it, there's strike one right there! =]

Have you ever tried a Karma?

In any case, I wonder what else might hit by year's end... Perhaps 3.0... 100GB drives to make your player 200GB... And then, Rob and Hugo have been awfully quiet lately...

If i have to use iTunes to load stuff on it, there's strike one right there! =]


I think you can use music match too

have you ever used a karma

yes, actually more than i've used an ipod. The integration with the alpine is the key in that decision.

I think you can use music match too

kill me now

I'm pretty sure ephpod is still an option with the newer units.

If playlists don't navigate as easily as they do on the empeg then it's all over. Of course what the iPod does have is soup-type views. I'm still eagerly awaiting this to be built into a new player version.

The strikes for me are iTunes (which can be gotten around), the Alpine head unit (not attractive and can't do anything about its appearance, including the layout of the display) and the fact that mounting the ipod isn't necessarily a very slick proposition.

The new icelink looks like a MUCH better docking solution. However, the ultimate would be a fold-down face on a head unit that just allowed you to slip the iPod into it. I'll state it again. This is THE killer product for car audio that is not yet widely available (Dension have something along these lines to be fair - but the iPod just happens to be the defacto portable standard).

Additional concerns about the Alpine are centered around its display of track ID info as well as its navigation interface.

Bruno

Agreed about the head unit ipod dock product. I've been saying the same for a while myself. Definitely a killer product. Thanks for the tips about Ephpod... gotta check into that. Gotta check the new icelink too. I can't wait to see the whole thing hooked up or when they get some more info on their site so we can see how the track info is displayed. I too have always hated the alpine look but it's slowly growing on me after using Rob Vreeland's for a week earlier in the year. It's super usable. They have some stripped down models that are really simple. Their top of the line is over the top on buttons though.

As for an iPod car dock, that would be half the fun, designing something that could the iPod could just slot into. =]

I don't know that dealing with new generation iPods using iTunes for Windows is the same as dealing with a first generation iPod using iTunes under MacOS, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't. Anyway, assuming it works similarly, you can use iTunes simply as the interface to the iPod. That is, you can just drag and drop stuff directly to the iPod without having to deal with iTunes's library.

One thought. If you are mostly doing randomized mixes, why not just run an aux in cable from your head unit of choice to somewhere you can get to and plug a karma (or other audio source) in there? Does the alpine head unit give you full UI control of the ipod?

I guess one of the biggest reasons is because the Karma doesn't have a decent car/dash holder, and the ICElink does. I my book that's a huge plus, because it's not easy fiddling around with the Karma whilst driving.

I believe you can also control the iPod via the Alpine controls, which is great too, especially if those controls are extended so you can use steering wheel controls. This also adds to the safety while driving.

You know, that would be a great "wish list" item for anyone designing future portable MP3 players - make an adapter or converter so that it could be plugged into one of these and work...

Agreed. But I don't think it's very easy to do, with all those different headunits (stock or aftermarket) and used protocols out there.

That's why I think that Dension has done a pretty good effort at that with their IceLink. Now, if only some company would partner up with them, that could have very nice results!

Actually I was just thinking of an adapter to a Nitrus or Karma that would convert to the "ipod standard" so that the existing head units and tools could be used...

Very cool idea! Maybe the Rio guys have something in store for us like that with Karma 2 ? I sure hope so!

Yeah, as mentioned before the main benefit of that Alpine unit is that the ipod is completely controllable through the head unit. You could plug the ipod in your glovebox and never look at it.

Cool! But if I were to put it in the glove box, I would miss the Artist/track info. Or does that then too scroll on the Alpine's display ?

Yeap, that's on the display also. Here's a press release from earlier this year.

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/industry_news/article_650.shtml

Very cool! Thanks for the info!

Damn Jobs.... he had to go and say something else....

"Jobs alluded to a new product when he was setting context prior to announcing the Airport Express. He said people also want the iPod to work better in their car, and to expect some announcements later in the year. He had an image on the screen of the inside of a BMW, with the BMW logo Photoshop'd out."

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=484

Make sure to keep your eyes and ears open during the week of WWDC. I don't see them producing a DIN chasis for the iPod, but maybe something along the lines of the IceLink at twice the price.

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want their new Airport Express after reading about it in depth. I suppose if you don't already have a wireless hub or router - or you really want a wireless music patch device without a display (maybe it will get the SLimDevices' SqueezeBox down in price).

I definitely think the direct support for wireless audio is the best part of the device, however not having a display means you still need to see your computer's screen. Using an ATI RF remote you can control iTunes on your Mac in another room, but you still don't see any info about the track nor can you search or know how many additional tracks are available in that list, etc..

Bruno

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want their new Airport Express after reading about it in depth. I suppose if you don't already have a wireless hub or router - or you really want a wireless music patch device without a display (maybe it will get the SLimDevices' SqueezeBox down in price).

Having this at the hotel while I was at E3 would have been handy. It's tiny, uses the same plug kits as the other Apple power adaptors (thus easier world travel), and still offers USB printer sharing. The music link is interesting, but probably only useful for the party shuffle mode of iTunes. Though, combine it with a bluetooth phone and Clicker, and you have a decent remote control, though not at uber far distances.

It's also much cheeper then the normal Airport. Still expensive compaired to other 802.11g access points, but the added features could make up for it.

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want their new Airport Express after reading about it in depth.

I'm inclined to agree with you. By itself, the Airport Express is not really geared towards someone who wants to stream music. Lacking any kind of display, there's no way around that. And regardless of how Jobs creatively spun the little device, it's apparent from the form factor and ports on it that it's really geared towards someone who wants to put their wireless-less office (workstation/printer/powered speakers) online.

I hope that this isn't Apple's answer to streaming home audio. I would think Jobs has something else in the works that would use AirTunes and be geared for just streaming audio.

Do you think this thing would work to stream your music through the Rio Receiver?

You should see all the misconceptions on the apple boards... people really don't get what it WON'T do. The port on it is WAN only, despite it saying it'll work as a bridge, and it'll only work to extend networks that have Airports... not compatible with other devices.

The port on it is WAN only, despite it saying it'll work as a bridge

Wow, I didn't notice in the tech specs that the port was WAN only... that really limits the use of that thing. I bet a lot of people are going to buy that thing only to find out they can't use it at all.

and it'll only work to extend networks that have Airports... not compatible with other devices.

Yeah, just as a Linksys range extender only works with the Linksys base station. Seems range extension was not part of 802.11, so every company has their own implementation.

The WAN only port is news to me, and is a shame to see. Though, this tends to indicate it works either way:

In reply to:

---

Actually I was just thinking of an adapter to a Nitrus or Karma that would convert to the "ipod standard" so that the existing head units and tools could be used...

---

I'd really like that. It would bug me immensely if they did something like that but only for the Karma 2 or something stupid like that. As it is, I'm planning on running RCA cabled through my dash to a small compartment with a DC jack and putting my dock there with my Karma on it.....but if I could not only see the display of it on the HU, but I could control it too, to hell with that idea..

Yeah, there's some conflicting info there. From the tech specs:

10/100BASE-T Ethernet WAN port Yes
10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN port No

I don't get it. The only difference I can think of between a LAN and WAN port is that a WAN port would do NAT? (I wish they'd spell it out instead of implying it.) So even if that's the case, it can just do NAT against an already NATted address. Inefficient, but it ought to work.

And what's the deal with this extender-only talk? I thought one of its features was that you could take it with you because it's so small. If you also need an Airport to make it do anything useful, that seems like false advertising.

Basicially it's like the old Graphite Airport I had. It has one ethernet port. That port can do local ethernet bridging, or talk to a cable modem and NAT the connection. It however can't do both at the same time, since it only had one ethernet port. The advantage of the Airport Express in theory is that with the range extension, it could be used to do wired-wireless-wired if you have an Airport elsewhere in the house. The old Airport stations would never talk to another base station, just clients.

Newer Airports began shipping with "LAN" and "WAN" ports. Thus, cable modem if in use always goes into WAN, and local devices if used always go into LAN.

Bitt. It can do Airport range extension OR be it's own base station on the go. That way, it sees use at home on existing Airport networks, and is useful on the road.