I've been wanting an iPod installation in my RX ever since the day I bought my car. My last car (CLK) had an auxiliary input which I had connected to my iPod at all times. I was extremely disappointed to find that the RX did not come with one built in, but always planned to get one installed when I had the time.
Finally, almost two years later, I had the time and opportunity. It was mostly prompted by my impulse decision to give into my constantly-changing wish list and buy a new iPod. I'd been wanting a new 120GB or 160GB iPod to house ALL of my music but wasn't willing to break my free iPod streak. Then one weekend I realized I had a gift certificate lying around that I could use towards the iPod Classic so I bought one online right away.
I already have dedicated uses for each of my current iPods, so this one was definitely going to be for my car. I gave the Lexus dealership a call to get an estimate... after being ping-ponged between service reps, I finally got a number: $595. Really??? I mean add that to the actual retail price of the iPod plus maybe a case and that's $1,000 just to listen to music in the car? No way.
I was pretty annoyed at the ridiculous estimate. I decided to focus my negative energy on finding a slim, sturdy case for the iPod at Best Buy. I browsed the iPod accessories and found nothing -- they had a couple of armbands and a bunch of colorful Liz Claiborne and Steve Madden "fashion" cases. What the? You would think that Best Buy would be even more complete than the Apple store, and carry every third-party accessory possible. Wait -- in this case would those companies be referred to as "third-party" or "aftermarket"? :P
Anyways I didn't find a case so I started wandering around the store. I ended up in the mobile area (cars, not cell phones) and asked a Geek about what options they had for iPod installations. He recommended that I go down to Al & Ed's and buy the USA Spec unit and bring it back there to install for $70. Not a bad idea. Off to Al & Ed's.
So I went to the Al & Ed's on Sepulveda and asked for an estimate to get an auxiliary jack installed. They said they only recommend doing the OEM iPod install and it would cost me $489 for the full NAV-screen interface version or $370 for the USA Spec, manually controlled iPod version. I opted for plan C -- how much to get just the part and install at Best Buy? 30 seconds of awesome negotiating skills later, he agreed to install the unit immediately (30-minute wait) for $250. Not bad, saves me an additional trip and the hassle of making an appointment at Best Buy. Instant gratification is everything. I agreed and they got started.
So 30 minutes later, the guy was done as promised. He asked me for my iPod to test it. Well, it literally came in the mail the day before and I hadn't had a chance to set it up or sync any music so they did a quick demo with my iPod nano, which worked perfect.
That afternoon, I synced up all of my music and brought my iPod (with newly added playlists) to the car to test. As soon as I plugged it in, I knew something was wrong. It docked my iPod so that I wasn't able to control my iPod at all and played my music in order. After about 5 minutes of Aaliyah I gave up. The whole reason I chose the 120GB Classic iPod over the 160GB was to take advantage of the 2.0 firmware which had the Genius playlists.
I stormed back into my apartment and started to do a little research. I found out the exact version installed in my car had the ability to toggle between settings. I just needed some way to get into the dash and flip a switch. I went back outside (it was about midnight at this point) and tried to access the unit. Wow, dashes are built in such a way that if you don't know what you're doing, you definitely cannot get past the plastic. I gave up 5 minutes later and went to sleep defeated.
Yesterday I drove back to Al & Ed's, planning to ask them to make the quick switch to the "direct mode" so that I can happily play my playlists and browse through my music while driving. (Which, of course, is safer than talking on your cell phone while driving) They are closed on Sundays. :( Super-frustrating.
Today I finally got the chance to go back and get it fixed. It took about 15 minutes of tinkering, but I can finally control everything through my iPod and still even use the track buttons on my car to move forward and backward. I lost the ability to display the song title and artist on my screen but oh well, one can't have everything right?
Now finally, a working iPod installation:
Finally, almost two years later, I had the time and opportunity. It was mostly prompted by my impulse decision to give into my constantly-changing wish list and buy a new iPod. I'd been wanting a new 120GB or 160GB iPod to house ALL of my music but wasn't willing to break my free iPod streak. Then one weekend I realized I had a gift certificate lying around that I could use towards the iPod Classic so I bought one online right away.
I already have dedicated uses for each of my current iPods, so this one was definitely going to be for my car. I gave the Lexus dealership a call to get an estimate... after being ping-ponged between service reps, I finally got a number: $595. Really??? I mean add that to the actual retail price of the iPod plus maybe a case and that's $1,000 just to listen to music in the car? No way.
I was pretty annoyed at the ridiculous estimate. I decided to focus my negative energy on finding a slim, sturdy case for the iPod at Best Buy. I browsed the iPod accessories and found nothing -- they had a couple of armbands and a bunch of colorful Liz Claiborne and Steve Madden "fashion" cases. What the? You would think that Best Buy would be even more complete than the Apple store, and carry every third-party accessory possible. Wait -- in this case would those companies be referred to as "third-party" or "aftermarket"? :P
Anyways I didn't find a case so I started wandering around the store. I ended up in the mobile area (cars, not cell phones) and asked a Geek about what options they had for iPod installations. He recommended that I go down to Al & Ed's and buy the USA Spec unit and bring it back there to install for $70. Not a bad idea. Off to Al & Ed's.
So I went to the Al & Ed's on Sepulveda and asked for an estimate to get an auxiliary jack installed. They said they only recommend doing the OEM iPod install and it would cost me $489 for the full NAV-screen interface version or $370 for the USA Spec, manually controlled iPod version. I opted for plan C -- how much to get just the part and install at Best Buy? 30 seconds of awesome negotiating skills later, he agreed to install the unit immediately (30-minute wait) for $250. Not bad, saves me an additional trip and the hassle of making an appointment at Best Buy. Instant gratification is everything. I agreed and they got started.
So 30 minutes later, the guy was done as promised. He asked me for my iPod to test it. Well, it literally came in the mail the day before and I hadn't had a chance to set it up or sync any music so they did a quick demo with my iPod nano, which worked perfect.
That afternoon, I synced up all of my music and brought my iPod (with newly added playlists) to the car to test. As soon as I plugged it in, I knew something was wrong. It docked my iPod so that I wasn't able to control my iPod at all and played my music in order. After about 5 minutes of Aaliyah I gave up. The whole reason I chose the 120GB Classic iPod over the 160GB was to take advantage of the 2.0 firmware which had the Genius playlists.
I stormed back into my apartment and started to do a little research. I found out the exact version installed in my car had the ability to toggle between settings. I just needed some way to get into the dash and flip a switch. I went back outside (it was about midnight at this point) and tried to access the unit. Wow, dashes are built in such a way that if you don't know what you're doing, you definitely cannot get past the plastic. I gave up 5 minutes later and went to sleep defeated.
Yesterday I drove back to Al & Ed's, planning to ask them to make the quick switch to the "direct mode" so that I can happily play my playlists and browse through my music while driving. (Which, of course, is safer than talking on your cell phone while driving) They are closed on Sundays. :( Super-frustrating.
Today I finally got the chance to go back and get it fixed. It took about 15 minutes of tinkering, but I can finally control everything through my iPod and still even use the track buttons on my car to move forward and backward. I lost the ability to display the song title and artist on my screen but oh well, one can't have everything right?
Now finally, a working iPod installation:
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