iPod Integration Module?

go to Miata.net forums, incredible amount of advice there on this device. Bottom line, buyer beware. It may not do ALL you want it to.

My kids bought a device that plugs into the headphone jack. It is actually an FM Stereo transmitter. You select a frequency on the device then tune your radio to the same frequency. You use the iPod in the normal manner. It seems to work just fine.

Ken

snipped-for-privacy@s> Has anyone tried the iPod Integration Module. It's available from > Rosenthal Mozda? >

Nope. But if you have an early Miata it's a fairly easy job to wire in a connection to the OEM head unit. I connected a 1/8 stereo plug in the side of the console to the DIN connector at the back of the head unit where the OEM CD player plugs in. I've used it with a digital player and even my cellphone for handsfree calls.

I sit mine in one of the cup holders, in the passanger seat, or even in the little glovebox in the center console. It could even be wired so that the player is in the glovebox.

Volume, balance, etc, work as normal on the head unit, but you can't control the player from the headunit. I believe only a head unit designed to work with an iPod would allow control of the iPod from the headunit.

If your interested in how to do this, send me an email and I'll send you a wiring diagram. I sent one to someone several years ago who said they would post it on a website, but I never saw it appear anywhere.

Gus

Thanks Gus, but I'm looking at something for my '05 MSM w/Bose. I'm not particularly inteested in replacing the head unit and all the speakers. I just want something that will allow me to connect my iPod, be usable and not look like a mess of wires coming out of my center console.

Thanks for those who pointed me to miata.net. It appears the DICE unit is the adaptor of choice, but still has it's limitations.

-Bob

I just ordered the Harman Kardon Drive+Play for my wife. We tried another one when she got the ipod but was one of those FM radio models and the sound was awful. This one can be wired into your stereo's aux input. It ought to sound a lot better. I don't have it yet so I don't know how painful it's going to be to install. I got it on Amazon for around $70.

Yes, I just had one installed on my '07 Miata. It works well, but it has close to the world's worst user interface ever.

In your glove compartment.

I don't know -- I had my Mazda dealer install it.

Not that I know of, but I could be wrong. The manual that came with mine claims that it is made by Mazda.

With the world's worst user interface. The interface is saved only by the fact that iPods have the "On-The-Go" playlist feature. The only reasonable way to use the iPod Integration Module is to have very few or zero playlists on your iPod. Before you start driving, or while stopped at a light, detach the iPod from the dock connector, decide what albums you want to listen to by making an On-The-Go playlist, plug the iPod back into the dock cable, and you're ready to go. Listening to anything other than the On-The-Go playlist is way too much trouble to be worth it.

Oh, yeah, you can also put the iPod into random shuffle mode pretty easily, but this option doesn't sit well for me, as I find it unbearable to not be able to see any track information for the song that is currently playing.

Yes, the Miata built-in CD controls will let you you adjust the iPod volume, skip forward and back tracks in your playlist, go into random track order mode, and fast-forward and rewind within a track.

Yes.

Yes, but it's difficult to select among playlists if you have more than just a few of them. Likewise for selecting by album or artist. These things *can* be done, but doing so is unbearably cumbersome, unless you just wish to play through all of your albums in alphabetical order.

|>oug

I should clarify the above. You are shown the track number within a playlist, but that's all. There is no way to see the artist, album, or track name. Not even by looking at the iPod, since when the iPod is connected to the iPod Integration Module, all it shows on the display screen is a Mazda logo.

|>oug