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(More customer reviews)USA Spec iPod interface PA 15-GM
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This arrived a couple of days ago and I finally had the opportunity to install it today. This truly is a plug and play unit. My 2005 Cadillac Escalade factory sound system has an XM receiver which is located behind the glove box, so all I had to do to install this was drop the glove box down, unplug a connector, substitute a cable which inter-connects the USA Spec unit with the XM receiver and head unit and plug in the cable with the 32-pin connector that goes to the iPhone and I was done. Oh, there were 2 DIP switches on the unit I had to switch to "ON".
I'll have to play around with this a little more but am pretty happy with the operation. I would say this is a definite step up from what I was used to with my iPhone and iPod with my previous car, which was a cassette adapter plugged in the earphone jack and a charger plugged into the cigarette lighter.
As I have the XM module, the iPhone/iPod can be controlled in either Direct Mode from the the iPod itself or in Folder Mode, which accesses all of your Playlists, Artists, Albums or Songs, using the head unit or steering wheel controls. Volume is controlled with HU/SW controls in either mode. The Folder Modes are a little cumbersome as scrolling through the lists is tedious with button pushing, so I think it will be easier to use the Artists and Albums functions in the Direct Modes, however, Playlists are pretty easy to breeze through and I usually use Songs mode in random shuffle anyway. Searching for a single song is infinitely easier in Direct Mode on the iPhone itself. Artist, Album and Song are all displayed on the car radio RDS display while in any of the Folder modes.
Short of replacing the factory HU with a "designed for iPod" unit, I think this is the next best thing and much better than what I was using previously, and better than plugging into an AUX jack. BTW, this interface unit also has AUX jack for an alternate source, such as another MP3 player, DVD, etc.
I also picked up a Bracketron cradle that clips into one of the vents. I like the location where its sits and there's just the right amount of cable to pick up the iPhone for calling. I'm not sure I like the A/C blowing on the iPhone though, so I'll have to see how this works out and what other options I might have for a cradle and its location.
For the price, it seems like a good solution.
Almost forgot, there is one annoying aspect. When you first plug it into the iPhone (I have a 3GS and have yet to upgrade to v. 4.0) it displays a message that the attached device is not compatible, however, once you press "dismiss" to the message, it indicates charging and hence, compatibility.
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