V50 - ipod connectivity.

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simon

I notice that on the new Volvo V50 there is an option to add in an adapter
to make an ipod compatible with the head unit in the car. This adapter gives
ipod control via the head unit controls.
The dealer tells me that this option is about £380. Which is a lot of cash
for some cables and a plug...

Does anyone know if any thing similar can be bought from a 3rd party and
retrofitted to the vehicle?

--


www.srsteel.co.uk
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Panorama
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/landscape
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Peru
 
Why just ipod's for these type of connections ? ..... Why can't
we just plug into the output jack (in the volvo player/in dash
tunner)
and plug into the volvo factory stereo system to play our portable
tunes .... I looked into it on my 00 s80t6 and was tols the best
quality
to expect is the wireless fm band connection .... no thanx ... I
fig'ed
it would be best to go/w hard wire or some sort of direct
connection....

I have a little sasa 6gig "ipon wanna be" mp3 player .... It has the
standard headphone jack for output...tips and/or ideas always
appreciated...thanx !!!!
 
Simon...to answer your question...I would contact crutchfield.com and
chat w/the tec folks...If there is a adapter or converter...they would
prob know about it.....The $$ sure does seem high.....
 
simon said:
I notice that on the new Volvo V50 there is an option to add in an adapter
to make an ipod compatible with the head unit in the car. This adapter gives
ipod control via the head unit controls.
The dealer tells me that this option is about £380. Which is a lot of cash
for some cables and a plug...

Does anyone know if any thing similar can be bought from a 3rd party and
retrofitted to the vehicle?
Click to expand...

There are plenty of third-party adapters that will let you use your ipod
in *any* car. Most of them are microwatt FM transmitters that rely on
you setting the car's radio to a certain frequency. You plug the ipod
into the transmitter dealie, plug the dealie into the 12v power, turn on
the radio and go. Same type things were available for personal CD
players, for cellphones, and probably for other small personal electronics.

My used 2003 Volvo has an ipod adapter, which I won't be using. The
dealer can't assure me that attaching an ipod with a newer firmware rev.
than specified in the manaul won't b0rk the car's firmware, and also
says Volvo has no firmware updates for the car that will ensure
compatibility with an ipod newer than those specified in the (grossly
non-technical) ipod connector user manual.
 
Simon...have you expierenced the fm band system? does it sound ok?
 
I should have made clearer.
I'm expressly not interested in FM transmitters for this function.

I'm curently using a Griffin iTrip FM transmitter with my Ipod Video. (In my
Alfa 156. I've yet to take ownership of the V50)
Quality of sound is acceptable, however interference is a pain as is
operation of the device on the go.

I'm expressly interested in devices that attach to the head unit, give
control function via the HU/steering wheel, and charge the device too.

SS

--


www.srsteel.co.uk
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Panorama
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/landscape
http://www.srsteel.co.uk/Peru
Simon...have you expierenced the fm band system? does it sound ok?
 
Simon...have you expierenced the fm band system? does it sound ok?
Click to expand...

I have finally lost patience with wires and cables floating around my
car, casette adapters and jury-rigged wire routing, the ridiculous
amounts charged for wired adapters from Crutchfield/Volvo/IPD and the
silly price the FM transmitting adapters add to the cost of a player
(crappy ones w/3 frequencies for $20, better ones starting around
$55)!!

After extensive research to find the best and most practical in-car
MP3 solution I have discovered this: the 4Gb version of the Netac A210
(reviewed here: http://tinyurl.com/2vk2cm).

There was no distributor so I contacted the company directly and now
I'M A DISTRIBUTOR!

So the feature run-down that got my attention was:

- Built-in FM Transmitter (with digital tuning, just pick your
channel, powerful enough to transmit from another room!)
- INCLUDED in-car adapter/charger (haven't really needed it yet,
battery runs for hours off one charge)
- 4Gb of storage (I uploaded 280 songs and it's less than half full)
- big colour screen (well 2x that of an ipod nano)
- same overall size as an ipod nano but sleek and black and
unobtrusive (i.e. not as much of an invitation to window smashers)
- simple USB interface (no iTunes needed), just plug it in and it's
like another hard drive, no installation drivers needed
- you could watch video or read e-books on it but the screen is too
small for that IMHO

If you're interested in this cool little solution let me know as I can
certainly get it to you in North America for better than the commonly
posted Australian price!

blurp
 
Ford, Microsoft Create
Car System That Lets
You Ask for a Song
November 8, 2007; Page B1
Under the hood, modern cars are packed with computers. But in the
passenger cabin, they remain analog islands in a digital world. For
some, this may be a blessed relief. But others want to bring their
digital music and digital messaging into the place where they spend
hours every week. Unfortunately, that's still too clumsy a process.

Yes, more cars are making it easy to connect wirelessly with Bluetooth-
equipped cellphones so drivers can make hands-free phone calls -- but
not hands-free text messaging. And that results in the dangerous
practice of texting while behind the wheel.

And, yes, you can pipe the sound from your portable music player into
the car's speakers. But you usually have to control the song selection
and skipping by handling the player itself, and that's another
dangerous distraction.


SYNC, a new system jointly developed by Ford and Microsoft, allows
drivers to use the most modern digital conveniences while driving.
Some car makers solve this music problem with integration kits that
transfer control of the music player to the dashboard or steering-
wheel controls and display song information on a dashboard screen. But
this option is most common in luxury cars and is typically designed
only for Apple's iPods.

Now, Ford Motor, working with Microsoft, has come up with a system
that's a big step forward in integrating cellphones and portable music
players into cars. It's highly versatile and works with numerous
devices on a wide range of Ford models.

I've been testing the $395 option, called SYNC, with multiple
cellphones and music players. It's quite good and indicates that the
digitally backward auto industry finally may be getting it.

SYNC combines the often separate cellphone and music-player functions
into one unified interface that can be controlled by a voice-
recognition system that works well. You can command it by voice to
play a single song out of thousands on your iPod or other music
player. With some phones, it will even read your incoming cellphone
text messages to you, and properly pronounce text-message shortcuts
such as LOL (Laughing Out Loud.)

Ford isn't limiting this system to luxury cars. It's available on a
dozen models -- including the company's least-expensive car, the Ford
Focus. I tested SYNC on a Focus.

SYNC simultaneously handles multiple cellphones and music players from
a variety of companies. It imports and remembers the address books and
song information for up to 12 phones and four players, so that as you
connect and reconnect a remembered device, wired or wirelessly, it is
ready to go. It doesn't have a hard disk and doesn't store your music.

Unlike other approaches, the Ford system doesn't require a special
cable or proprietary connector. It uses a standard USB port and the
cable that came with your player. SYNC will even play music directly
from a USB thumb drive. There's also an audio-in jack for players that
don't support USB, or which require both.

VIDEO ARCHIVE


See all of Walt Mossberg's Personal Technology videos, including his
reviews of the new iPod Touch and the latest version of Yahoo
Mail.SYNC can even stream music wirelessly, over Bluetooth, from the
cellphones that support this feature. However, due to limitations in
Bluetooth, it doesn't transfer song selection controls, or the song
information display, to the dashboard in this scenario. The same
limitation applies if your player can be connected only with the audio-
in jack.

I tested SYNC with two music players and four cellphones and the
system handled them all effortlessly. I used a year-old iPod and a new
Samsung P2 as my test music players, and SYNC quickly transferred
their song information and allowed me to select playlists, artists,
albums, genres and individual songs by voice command.

I tried the cellphone functions with an Apple iPhone, a Motorola RAZR,
a RIM BlackBerry and a new HTC Shadow phone and, again, all worked
properly. While phone calls and address-book imports were handled
easily on all the phones, some of SYNC's advanced functions, like the
reading of text messages and the streaming of music, aren't widely
supported on all phones. For example, only the RAZR worked with the
text-message feature.

The iPhone test was especially interesting because it is both a
Bluetooth-equipped phone and a full-fledged iPod. The SYNC treated it
as both, simultaneously.

I found the voice-command system surprisingly reliable. In four days
of testing, I encountered only a few instances in which my commands
were misunderstood.

SYNC has some limitations. While it can read text messages on
compatible phones, Ford didn't build in the ability to dictate and
send text messages. You can send only canned messages, like "Be there
in 20 minutes."

But there are a lot of advanced features -- too many to list here. And
Ford plans to add others, which owners will be able to install at
home. Detailed information on the system is available at
syncmyride.com.

Alas, I did discover one glitch. Twice during my testing, SYNC
mistakenly declared that a music player had been unplugged when it
hadn't been. The system recovered with a little fiddling, but Ford
needs to fix this.

Still, SYNC is a very well done method for integrating digital devices
into a car, and in a model that most people can afford.
 
I think he is charging you more. i don't think you have to pay so much for an adapter and a plug. why don't you buy that cables from out. and get it connected by a mechanic. it should cost you less.
 
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