Internal iPod dock for car stereo
Problem: Currently the two ways of playing an iPod (or similar type of thing) in a car are either to purchase a car with an inbuild iPod dock, or to have wires dangling all over the place connecting stereo equipment and/or power sources.
Solution: A car stereo with an internal iPod dock. You put the iPod in a slot on the front of the stereo, just like you would have ten years ago with a cassette tape. The iPod slides into the stereo, and a nice door closes behind it. The stereo then charges the iPod and gives you buttons from which you can control it (the usual sort of remote iPod control stuff). You can leave it all in the car without worrying about it being stolen; you don’t have a tangle of wires everywhere and when iPods eventually go out of date you don’t have to buy a new car.
Complicated. Proprietary. Need to buy iPod (will not). Need to buy new stereo when iPod phases out. Need to give up built-in car stereo and do surgery on dashboard.
Solution: Wireless. Any kind of short range wireless digital audio. FM works today but is analog, crappy sound, and will not give you controls. Improve on this theme – go digital (BT?), open standard to send control commands over the thing as well as audio itself. The thing actually exists today with wireless hands-free phone kits that also play music from your phone and give you controls, all over BT. Just integrate it into the car and the MP3 players.
A solution to this issue now exists. It is called the CA-IP500 and it is made by Fusion Car Audio. It is a single DIN car stereo that has an internal iPod dock. The unit comes with several “sleeves” that hold most current models of iPods, excluding iPhones. The sleeves plug into the front of the unit, behind the faceplate, and are easily removable for multiple iPod use. I bought two of these units, they work great.
See the below manufacturer website for details:
http://www.fusioncaraudio.com/north-and-south-america/car-audio-1/headunits-6/caip500-68-product.aspx
Forgot to mention, the MSRP is $399 US, however I bought both of mine from Best Buy on sale for $129 US each. Also, the deck is very easy to install. I installed mine in 20 minutes.