I had been thinking of buying a new CD player for my truck, but the money just was not there. However, my sister gave me her old 4GB iPod Mini after her boyfriend gave her a better iPod for Christmas and I really wanted to use it in the car. That way, there is no longer a need for me to carry CD's in my truck where they usually get scratched and damaged. There are those FM transmitters that send signals through the air to the deck, but it is an imperfect solution since FM signals are compressed and lack the full range of digital audio. Anyhow, my deck is a 2004 or 05 JVC KD-LH300 and was not iPod ready, but did have an input for a CD changer or Sirius tuner that could also be configured for a line in input by using a drop down menu on the deck. So, I went on E Bay and found a cable that had the JVC output jack plug on it (It is the same as an Alpine and maybe a Pioneer) on one side and an iPod jack at the other end with around 3 feet of cable in between. I plugged it in to the back of the deck and ran the cable out to the iPod. It would not read it at this point, so I had to set the input to "Line In", and it works! I set the iPod to flat equalization and use the JVC's built in 7 band EQ and sub pre-outs to control sound quality. The volume function on the iPod does nothing in this setup and you just control that through the deck. File changes are done on the iPod and all the deck does is control sound quality and output. I actually like this better than some of the newer decks that put all of the file controls on the deck because the iPod is easier to use. It is important to note that this deck was a middle of the line model with lots of features and as such, also has the ability to run MP3 and WMA file formats in addition to normal CD encoded media. I also only use MP3 files on the iPod and do not use Apple's proprietary file format which I do not believe the deck would read (some newer decks do support more formats, however). Also, unlike using a headphone jack, this configuration even charges the iPod so you never have to worry about a dead battery either.
If you have another brand of MP3 player or CD player, there may be a solution available for you too. I also found a cable set that makes the input jack into a plain RCA style set of input cables which could allow more possibilities. Some newer decks also come with USB ports in front or back which would allow you to run cheap flash drives for your music instead of needing an MP3 player.
I forget the actual price for this cable, but I believe it was around $30 with shipping, Buy-It-Now price. The RCA cable I didn't buy was around $10, but I didn't have a cable that would work for connecting it to the iPod.
One more thing: I am looking for a broken iPod to mess with and may rebuild one with a bigger drive, better battery and hacked firmware so that I am free of Apple and it's proprietary software etc. If I succeed in "hot rodding" one, I'll post my findings here...
If you have another brand of MP3 player or CD player, there may be a solution available for you too. I also found a cable set that makes the input jack into a plain RCA style set of input cables which could allow more possibilities. Some newer decks also come with USB ports in front or back which would allow you to run cheap flash drives for your music instead of needing an MP3 player.
I forget the actual price for this cable, but I believe it was around $30 with shipping, Buy-It-Now price. The RCA cable I didn't buy was around $10, but I didn't have a cable that would work for connecting it to the iPod.
One more thing: I am looking for a broken iPod to mess with and may rebuild one with a bigger drive, better battery and hacked firmware so that I am free of Apple and it's proprietary software etc. If I succeed in "hot rodding" one, I'll post my findings here...
