iPod Car Connector

Nowadays, more and more cars are coming equipped with an iPod car connector making it easier and easier to just plug and play when you are on the road. With the increasing popularity of Apple’s iPod & iPhone, car buyers expect to be able to connect easily, but in some cases it is not as easy as it perhaps should be. Different manufacturers differ greatly in their iPod car connector capabilities (or lack thereof). This site is designed to give you a few pointers if you are looking for an iPod car connector and discusses some of the many options available to you so that you can make an informed buying decision.

My last car was a ‘99 Jeep Cherokee which had an AUX input on the main console of the Alpine stereo system which worked fine as an iPod car connector. For my mp3 player that was fine. I could easily connect various devices, including the mp3 player, MD player and iPod to the Jeep’s audio system with a simple iPod car connector cable and play my music directly through through the speakers. The sound quality was decent enough but there were problems.

The biggest problem was that selecting songs was difficult. I could just select shuffle on the iPod and let it randomly play for hours on end while being securely stashed in the glove compartment, but if I wanted to select particular songs, albums or play-lists I needed to actually pick up and manipulate the iPod. Since the cable on the iPod car connector was not very long this was neither safe nor convenient while driving so I wound up purchasing an iPod mount which the iPod car connector could connect directly to. This made controlling the iPod much easier but I didn’t really like the way the iPod car connector hung over the dashboard to connect to the iPod which was sitting in its mount.

My current car is a Toyota Prius and the factory fitted audio system has a built in iPod car connector for seamless integration. A car fitted with this option will either have a USB iPod car connector or a proprietary iPod car connector fitted either in the central console or, in the case of the Prius, in the glove compartment. Depending on the manufacturer you will then be able to use either your standard USB iPod car connector cable or the specific iPod car connector cable provided by the manufacturer to connect your iPod.

This type of system offers a really superior iPod experience since they are designed from the start to work directly with all the other audio, navigation and phone functions of the sound system. With this type of iPod car connector you’ll be able to search and select music using steering wheel controls or even voice control making playback both fun and easy.

Some car companies don’t offer an iPod car connector option but the dealer or auto repair shops can install any of numerous aftermarket iPod car connector kits, or if you are so inclined you can install one yourself. Be warned though, there are many different iPod car connector kits and they are not all created equal. Some brands offer very good connectivity and complete integration with installed systems while other iPod car connector kits do not even come close, so it is really important to shop around, not only for finding an iPod car connector that does exactly what you want it to do, but also locating the best price on that model. Online or off, dealers are always offering sales and discounts, so the only way to find them is to look for them and check out as many as possible so that you are sure to find the right one for you.

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