Adding IPOD capability to a 99 Riv

I want to add an IPOD interface that goes directly to the factory radio. I have the standard concert II unit with a single cd slot and cassette in the dash with the steering wheel controls. Both PAC and Peripheral electronics make IPOD adapters supposedly for 95-99 rivs, but there is a disclaimer that they will the disable the cassette and in dash cd. I think it ought to work, since I believe the unit is designed to control a trunk changer. Anyone tried this or know anything about the head unit?

-Gregg

hey how much did that cost???

The iPod is the way to go. I don't play CD's since I got the iPod.

I can't speak for the connection to the stock unit. My daughter uses a battery powered transmitter that connects to the iPod and tunes in to a fuzzy station on the radio. Works OK but doesn't charge.

My recommendation is to save for a new head unit that will connect to an iPod, charge it, and you can hide the iPod somewhere and control it with the head unit.

I bought the peripheral unit... wired it all up (I have a 1996) it doesn't work. It does charge, and it disabled the climate button on the steering wheel... but does not play audio through the stock stereo.

Now I'm trying to figure out a way to get it in there.

I have the stock CD/Cassette/AM/FM with a source button - but no external changer.

Ugh. I miss my iPod.

Hi!

I too would like to know about possibility of iPod installation.

I have '97 Riviera with stock Delco CD/cassette head unit, but no changer. Is it even possible to have iPod installed to this stock player? I hate the idea of changing to horrible (read "hi-tech") looking aftermarket headunit!

I agree with arttu80, no aftermarket head unit for me that doesn't fit the dash properly or otherwise look like it belongs there.

I'd love to hook up an iPod though.

You could try doing something like turtleman did. He either found one like this, or put little gagues under the actual radio unit to show things like volume and db's and such.

That doesn't look too bad - in the dark at least.

I'd still rather keep the interior as stock looking as possible.

IBx1 wrote:

You could try doing something like turtleman did. He either found one like this, or put little gagues under the actual radio unit to show things like volume and db's and such.

LOOK! No steering wheel buttons. How did you remove them??

Natesriv wrote:

IBx1 wrote:

You could try doing something like turtleman did. He either found one like this, or put little gagues under the actual radio unit to show things like volume and db's and such.

LOOK! No steering wheel buttons. How did you remove them??

there are screw on the back take them out the air bag comes out. then unscrew them

sburch23 wrote:

The iPod is the way to go. I don't play CD's since I got the iPod.

No it isn't, it's an overpriced piece of junk. There is entirely no reason why CDs should remain the prevalent form of music playback. For one, I don't need an adapter or anything stupid to play a CD in my car. I don't have to worry about my battery dying while I'm listening to music. I don't have to worry about my hard drive getting screwed up and losing all my music.

They're really just overpriced junk. All my friends had them and when they all started breaking they bought other brands like Creative, SanDisk and Microsoft. I've yet to understand why people are so willing to blow all this money on an MP3 player that can only accept it's own format of music and then pay lots of money putting TV shows, movies, games and everything but music on it. God, I have a PSP and I use that for my music and games. Way cheaper, way more reliable, much easier to see screen and far better graphics.

It's exactly this kind of sheep following that makes mediocre products appear so great. Just because [insert name here] has one, I should too! It can't be bad if everyone is buying them right? Sheesh, bunch of sheep...

LMAO... Shintsu, you're a opinionated f*cker, aren'cha.

I agree though, I'm not a fan of the IPOD.... they ARE useful to people who like their 'mp3' player to be spoonfed easy... I compare them to AOL. They do a good job of categorizing and sorting and they're fairly multifunctional... BUT.. if you're willing to do a little more 'legwork' with your music, any decent MP3 player will do for ya. I use a Rio Cali for the sole fact that it's got a belt clip and I can easily clip it on my side and access it while I ride my motorcycle... the Cali does everything I want an MP3 player to do.

As far as my car stereo goes, I have an Eclipse aftermarket head unit and a sirius satellite interface. For my music collection, it's all ripped and saved to my computer. I just burn off an MP3 disk for my mood and throw it in the car. a Cd will hold .75 gig which is more than what I need for any daily commute.

As far as "connecting" an IPod to the factory stereo, the only two ways to go are to use an FM transmitter, as mentioned above or use a cassette tape adapter,

Link

our factory stereos have no auxiliary input.

Good luck!

Dj Brady wrote:

LMAO... Shintsu, you're a opinionated f*cker, aren'cha.

Yep, that's me!

*chuckle* the thing that's got me scratching my head is.... you hate IPOD but promote Microsoft...

Dj Brady wrote:

*chuckle* the thing that's got me scratching my head is.... you hate IPOD but promote Microsoft...

As a general I dislike Apple. They promote their products (esp. their computers) as being so easy to use yet their users get mad when you say they're stupid even though that's one of their selling points. Plus, too many people see Apple as a lifestyle and not just a product to buy. Ever notice the kinds of people who buy all the Apple stuff? They're usually an artist, in a band or unemployed.

I love Microsoft. Apparently so does most of the world since around 90% of the PCs out there are Microsoft based OSes. They make one of the best game consoles (360) and they make some pretty good games. I go against the masses who all say "M$ sux" and "Apple r t3h c00l!" to be different. I wholeheartedly support Microsoft and all the other guys are just jealous they're not as smart and successful as Bill Gates is.

Just my 2 cents.

Shintsu wrote:

Ever notice the kinds of people who buy all the Apple stuff? They're usually an artist, in a band or unemployed.

Pardon the Hijack Ya'll.. we'll get back on track, momentarily.

Now... to address the quote... the reason most artists and bands like Apples, is because their hardware is designed to be very stable with the 'correct' software loaded. I have a recording studio and we use macs as our primary hardware. We DO use PCs, but only for miscellaneous work. Macs are (up until the Intel Chip.. I have no experience with those) designed to be THOROUGHLY tested with only a handful of software, which means they're very stable and great for audio/video production... BUT, that's because not much 'common' software is written for them. When you start loading a bunch of software (see "The PC Market"), that makes it's own registry edits and loads at startup... you start getting slowdowns.. crashes... bugs in the system..

I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I love the wide popularity of the PC and how so much stuff is available for it. I also love the Macintosh for it's intuitive design and well tested platform for earlier generations (again.. anything after Jaguar is very sketchy and crash prone if you don't take care in what you load on it)

/end hijack. ; )

I would just buy one of those tape adapters that you use for playing a portable cd player in a car with only a tape deck. I bought one at wallmart last night for $10 and it works great..

OK. I am not going to debate iPod versus other MP3 players. There are pluses and minuses to both.

My point is that it is much easier to have access to 1600 songs on a 8GB Nano (or MP3 player) rather than lots of CDs. I travel 1000 miles a week and and it is much safer to deal with the Nano. Trying to juggle CDs in traffic became a pain. Plus I have lost CDs under the center console, between the seats, and had to carry the CD cases around.

http://www.harmankardon.com/guideandplay/gps810/

or

http://www.harmankardon.com/drive-2/default.aspx?Language=ENG&Region=USA&Country=US&market=CAR

not sure if the link will work, but I have this 1/8 headphone hardwired to antenna cable thingy and it works really well:

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=771&i=142FMMOD01&tp=121

I was thinking about getting the adapter that would let me play the ipod Nano through my trucks FM radio. Anyone familiar with that set up?

I already have close to 300 songs on the ipod, its very easy to load CD's on it. I have been borrowing them from friends. If I could just find someone that had the Prince library now.....

Bert

ibmoses wrote:

I was thinking about getting the adapter that would let me play the ipod Nano through my trucks FM radio. Anyone familiar with that set up?

I already have close to 300 songs on the ipod, its very easy to load CD's on it. I have been borrowing them from friends. If I could just find someone that had the Prince library now.....

Bert

deekster_caddy wrote:

not sure if the link will work, but I have this 1/8 headphone hardwired to antenna cable thingy and it works really well:

http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=771&i=142FMMOD01&tp=121

It works really well! They also sell things that connect to the dock cable, but I haven't used one. The headphone jack is all that is necessary IMO.

Just stick with CDs and the stock player. Or get a CD changer. Compact Discs sound better, include album art, and don't require batteries. Plus you don't have to mess around with organizing your MP3 collection on your computer, plus your ipod, plus actually find the time to download everything. The last ipod I bought was in 2003. I used it for a few months, and it's been sitting in my drawer since. It's practically brand new. I went out and bought a 12 disc CD changer for my car, and just load my CDs that way. When a friend plays his ipod on my car stereo system it makes my ears bleed. The sound quality just isn't there. Sadly your average person is now perfectly fine with paying 99 cents to 1.99 for a compressed audio file that doesn't include any album art, and sounds like crap. You can typically go out and find a CD with album art and actually the full quality song on it for a cheaper price. And of course sadly, I'm in the minority and most people think I'm crazy when I actually suggest that someone should go out and actually *gasp* buy a CD.

GMFreak8 wrote:

Just stick with CDs and the stock player. Or get a CD changer. Compact Discs sound better, include album art, and don't require batteries. Plus you don't have to mess around with organizing your MP3 collection on your computer, plus your ipod, plus actually find the time to download everything. The last ipod I bought was in 2003. I used it for a few months, and it's been sitting in my drawer since. It's practically brand new. I went out and bought a 12 disc CD changer for my car, and just load my CDs that way. When a friend plays his ipod on my car stereo system it makes my ears bleed. The sound quality just isn't there. Sadly your average person is now perfectly fine with paying 99 cents to 1.99 for a compressed audio file that doesn't include any album art, and sounds like crap. You can typically go out and find a CD with album art and actually the full quality song on it for a cheaper price. And of course sadly, I'm in the minority and most people think I'm crazy when I actually suggest that someone should go out and actually *gasp* buy a CD.

The ipod nano I am just learning to use finds the album covers and shows them, I like that. So far I have bought about 20 songs from itunes. The rest I have loaded from CD's that I own and have borrowed.

Right now(when I get back to it) I am working in the living room on a project and I have the ipod plugged into my surround sound system, listening to Eddie Money at this second...just changed to Rupert Holmes(Pina Colada song)...

I hope to borrow CD's from people and get a huge # of songs but will probably spend a couple of hundred bucks at least on itunes.

Bert

I bought one like this for my wife. She uses it in the car, and we also use it around the house sometimes. Comes with a radio freq remote, works alright for the price. No cords, powered from the iPod: Link