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fishguy · Sep 10, 2003, 01:16 PM

Does anyone make a dock that can be mounted in a car? If not is it possible to modify an apple iPod dock to run a line out to the back of a car stereo and tie a line into an existing power source such as the one leading to the cigarette lighter?

SeSawaya · Sep 10, 2003, 03:03 PM

DO you mean THIS?

::maroma:: · Sep 10, 2003, 04:55 PM

The TransPod is OK, but it's for the older iPods (is there one for the newer iPods?). I too am on the lookout for an iPod dock for the car. One that has the dock connection on the bottom. I have one in my head that would be perfect for me, but I have yet to see anyone produce what I'm thinking of.

ph0ust · Sep 10, 2003, 05:12 PM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
The TransPod is OK, but it's for the older iPods (is there one for the newer iPods?). I too am on the lookout for an iPod dock for the car. One that has the dock connection on the bottom. I have one in my head that would be perfect for me, but I have yet to see anyone produce what I'm thinking of.

you can use a cigarrete lighter adaptor that provides power through the doc connector and then get a seperate holder/mount. this way you have a ton of options for both, instead of the limited number of options that do both simultaneously (and not any better mind you). this is what i am going to do.

::maroma:: · Sep 10, 2003, 07:13 PM

Originally posted by ph0ust:
you can use a cigarrete lighter adaptor that provides power through the doc connector and then get a seperate holder/mount. this way you have a ton of options for both, instead of the limited number of options that do both simultaneously (and not any better mind you). this is what i am going to do.

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea too. But the one "in my head" is a bit more customized. It's I've got a setup in my car that allows me to plug my iPod directly to the stereo through the headphone jack (via the empty CD Changer in the trunk). I'd like to have an iPod "holder" that allows me to just plop it in (like the "Dock" that is included with the iPod), and then it would both charge and play through my stereo. This would eliminate the cable coming from the top of the iPod (the headphone jack).

My main concern is cable clutter in my car. I want to have the least amount of cable clutter possible. I think I can do this by having a holder that would only require me to plug in the necessary cable(s) once. That way, I can hide them and never have to deal with them again, and the only thing really visible is the iPod holder.

Someday I'll get around to making a mockup of what I'm looking for. Because trying to explain it is a bit difficult without visual aids.

thePurpleGiant · Sep 10, 2003, 08:11 PM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea too. But the one "in my head" is a bit more customized. It's I've got a setup in my car that allows me to plug my iPod directly to the stereo through the headphone jack (via the empty CD Changer in the trunk). I'd like to have an iPod "holder" that allows me to just plop it in (like the "Dock" that is included with the iPod), and then it would both charge and play through my stereo. This would eliminate the cable coming from the top of the iPod (the headphone jack).

My main concern is cable clutter in my car. I want to have the least amount of cable clutter possible. I think I can do this by having a holder that would only require me to plug in the necessary cable(s) once. That way, I can hide them and never have to deal with them again, and the only thing really visible is the iPod holder.

Someday I'll get around to making a mockup of what I'm looking for. Because trying to explain it is a bit difficult without visual aids.

I know whatcha talkin about

CIA · Sep 10, 2003, 08:49 PM

I ended up getting a (pardon my bad spelling) neoprene case for my 3G iPod. It had one of those belt clip things you see on cell phone cases. (The round peg that slides into a belt clip and locks into place..) Anyway, found a cell dash mount that accepts the same style peg. So I just clip the iPod in place. I picked up one of those Griffin Cig lighter chargers that have line out (it was cheaper from Apple then from Griffin's site, rare). Hooked it into my line in on the back of my Alpine and installed a new cig receptacle behind the dash. Only the small white cable sticks out from under the console. Yes, I have to unhook the iPod manually from the cable, but if you are too lazy to do that you shouldn't be driving in the first place.
Anyway, I ended up sticking the cell mount next to the E-Brake in my Subaru. I left enough cable to pick it up out of the mount, either myself or my passenger can fiddle with it. Looks clean with only the one cable and sounds MUCH better then the iTrip I was using before.

mac-at-kearsarge · Sep 10, 2003, 09:05 PM

I'm curious, does the "Pods Unite" Beetles have a special setuo that allows this? it happens kinda fst in the commercial, but it looks like, what you want is whats happening: she drops her iPod into a stand, presses a button on the head unit in the car, adn away they go. Anone have any details on this? perhaps I should go check out vw.com and see if I can get any info there.

CIA · Sep 10, 2003, 09:16 PM

Rock on New London! I was sad to see Kings Ridge close....

mac-at-kearsarge · Sep 10, 2003, 09:21 PM

Originally posted by CIA:
Rock on New London! I was sad to see Kings Ridge close....

OMG! Someone actually knows where I live!!!

Well, I checked vw.com, they use the cigerette power/tape adaptor method.

I'm sure someone will come up witha "customized" device.

southtdi · Sep 10, 2003, 09:29 PM

There's a transpod coming out fo rthe 3g shortly that is knd of cool since the ipod just drops in. Only thing I don't like about it is there isn't going to be a line out so I can use that instead of the fm modulator.

Using the dock is cool but I would be afraid it doesn't offer enough support and after while of going over bumps and such would mess up the port on the bottom of the ipod.

CIA · Sep 11, 2003, 05:02 AM

OMG! Someone actually knows where I live!!!

I take i89 when I go home to see my folks. Usually stop at exit 9 for food, which is near you. I heard Ragged is blowin' up these days.

voyageur · Sep 11, 2003, 07:33 AM

Originally posted by mac-at-kearsarge:
I'm curious, does the "Pods Unite" Beetles have a special setuo that allows this? it happens kinda fst in the commercial, but it looks like, what you want is whats happening: she drops her iPod into a stand, presses a button on the head unit in the car, adn away they go. Anone have any details on this? perhaps I should go check out vw.com and see if I can get any info there.

I think the holder used in the VW is the Belkin TuneDok. It's a holder that fits in the cup holder of your car. The product was announced, appeared on Belkin's page for a short while, then disappeared from Belkin's page. When I emailed Bellkin about the product, they answered that it would be coming out in October.

ph0ust · Sep 11, 2003, 12:08 PM

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
Yeah, that sounds like a good idea too. But the one "in my head" is a bit more customized. It's I've got a setup in my car that allows me to plug my iPod directly to the stereo through the headphone jack (via the empty CD Changer in the trunk). I'd like to have an iPod "holder" that allows me to just plop it in (like the "Dock" that is included with the iPod), and then it would both charge and play through my stereo. This would eliminate the cable coming from the top of the iPod (the headphone jack).

My main concern is cable clutter in my car. I want to have the least amount of cable clutter possible. I think I can do this by having a holder that would only require me to plug in the necessary cable(s) once. That way, I can hide them and never have to deal with them again, and the only thing really visible is the iPod holder.

Someday I'll get around to making a mockup of what I'm looking for. Because trying to explain it is a bit difficult without visual aids.

i see what your looking for... and it would be great, so let me know if you ever find it

i am doing something similar, except instead of plugging my ipod into a trunk changer, i am using the autotoys plug to go into the back of my car's headunit. that will in turn go to a splitter that will use the mini plug into the ipod.

in so many regards apple drops the ball with this sort of stuff. they come out with fantastic new consumer technologies that people want to put everywhere (i.e. car, home, etc.) and they essentially do nothing (either themselves or through partners) that facilitate that. it is really too bad.

kentuckyfried · Oct 3, 2003, 05:00 AM

Hey guys, aside from not being a holder/charger, what's wrong with a portable power converter such as this one from xantrex, if you just want to have some way to power your iPod of laptop on the road? It's nice to have one of these babies plugged instead of buying a separate cigarette charger for EVERY single device.

xantrex power invertor

http://www.tomatochip.com/servlet/co...&searchIndex=0

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=32814