Greetings! I just picked up my new Element this evening...I am so stoked. This maybe a real dofus of a question but do I just need to go to Best Buy and pick up an AUX cord to plug in the iPod to the outlet? Or is there another piece of hardware I need?
Thanks.

naw its MUCH more complicated than that.
You have to hit the AUX button on the Element radio too....
:-)

I was looking into the fancy adapters to power it and hold it and all that.
But I finally figured out its rare that I drive more than 14 hours in a row, and a six foot long, $4 Radio Shack cord works just fine, and lets me stash it in the center console where I can run it by feel or a passenger can fiddle with it.

It fits in well with my "keep it simple" philosophy for MY Element.

You can toss in a "sticky pad" somewhere too to hold it in place. Be sure to get a good armor case for the ipod to protect it as it goes sliding around the car though....

Don't just get the M-M 3.5mm audio cable and plug it into the headphone jack. The sound quality is horrible listening like that. What you should do is get the Belkin iPod car Adapter and a 6-12" long M-M audio cable.

If I were you, I would purchase the Belkin adapter on eBay for less than $10 shipped instead of the almost $30 at the stores. I paid <$8 for my Belkin adapter, even bought one for a fellow E owner who lives in Canada and couldn't purchase it on eBay because of the shipping thing.

:D Hey welcome to the EOC. Enjoy your new ride along with the new tunes.:grin:

http://www.geocities.com/genomindustries/welcome.gif

Sorry, I know nothing about iPods...I just was just looking for an excuse to use that image.

that's a very nice image James. Thanks for using it on me :)
Thank's for the warm welcome and advice. I will be checking out the cords today.

I have read a few threads that some of the power adapters seem to cause buzzing in the ipods. Any comments from anyone?

Actually I am pretty new to the ipod thing, since my wife bought me one for xmas and i hadn't even considered getting one before that, so I am certainly not an expert.

What is the difference between the m-m "audio cable" and the m-m "3.5mm audio cable"? Although I could see getting a minimum length might be a good thing. I checked and I actually got a 4 foot cable at Radio Shack, because they were out of the one footers, which is what I asked for, and I just wanted to plug in and try it out that day. I probably should go back and pick up a 1 foot cable too and compare.

I still don't understand how adding a power adapter, Belkin or otherwise, is going to improve the sound quality? The audio only goes through the audio cable.

Which is the other reason I am keeping it simple. I figure I will just listen to the tunes for under $5 until I get it all sorted out. :-)

keeping it simple: a short 3.5mm male-male cable (between headphone jack and aux, 99c to $10)

much better sound can be had using the dock connector for audio out:
belkin (though some people have had troubles with this, particularly the built-in amplifier, $10-$30)
sik imp (the champ, $35)

I still don't understand how adding a power adapter, Belkin or otherwise, is going to improve the sound quality? The audio only goes through the audio cable.Ahh, but what kind of audio?

Through the headphone output, you are getting amplified audio out, with signal amplified enough to drive a pair of headphones. It is probably also a very low impedance output, maybe in the single digits, certainly less than 100 ohms.

That's not what the Element's radio wants to see into its AUX jack. It wants a lower level signal - line level, not headphone level - and one that is more like 600 ohms in impedance. When you go though the Belkin adapter, you are getting a signal that is the right level and the right impedance.

Having both wrong can make it sound very bad indeed. And, unless you had a "golden ear", you might not know that your sound was not all that it could be. You might simply think that's as good as it gets. Fortunately, we have spdrcr5 to show us the way. :)

I don't know if I am following. Taking a look on the Belkin site, the car adapter kit you seem to be describing only controls the volume of the iPod and provides power. You still have to provide a link into your car stereo they say with the fm transmitter or cassette cord thingie. You still have to provide the audio into the jack of the car.

The impedence of the iPod is 24 mhos (?) according to the literature. The jack on the E is within that tolerance.

That being said, I bought a 12" audio cord at Radio Shack and use my Belkin iPod dock adapter (the one that powers the iPod that I had from my Lincoln) and it works just fine. No buzzing, no interference. I tuck the iPod into the cubby on the left.

Maybe 24 ohms?

I bet your current Belkin adaptor is taking its signal off of the multi-pin plug on the bottom of the iPod, which is not speaker level but line level and I bet is a higher impedance than 24 ohms.

The bottom line is it works and you're happy. Screw the electronics class. :)

Maybe 24 ohms?

I bet your current Belkin adaptor is taking its signal off of the multi-pin plug on the bottom of the iPod, which is not speaker level but line level and I bet is a higher impedance than 24 ohms.

The bottom line is it works and you're happy. Screw the electronics class. :)

No, it's not. The (my) Belkin adapter does not work without the audio patch cord from the headphones.

This is why I am glad I only invested $4 so far, while I figure this out. :-)

Am I reading correctly that the Belkin, or similar, "adapters" give in audio out FROM THE USB CONNECTION and bypasses the "audio out" where you normally plug in the headphones. So you still have two cables going to the adapter, one for power and one for audio, but its a higher quality audio?

So much for keeping THIS simple. :-)

the belkin (and the sik imp, which i think is better) both take audio out from the dock connector, and put power in via that.

see www.sik.com

My Belkin adapter does not take audio from the bottom connection. The one currently shown in their online catalogue does not either, and makes reference to using the casstte attachment or the fm transmitter.

May we have the model number of the one that DOES take the audio through the bottom, so I can go find one!!

the belkin (and the sik imp, which i think is better) both take audio out from the dock connector, and put power in via that.

see www.sik.com

I am a bit new at the ipod thing....
Does the Sik Imp work with the NANO model of ipod? The Nano doesn't seem to show up on the compatibility lists and when they refer to "new versus old" I just have to laugh, because they ALL seem new to me...old geezer that I am.....

The sik imp certainly seems to get good reviews! And NOW I see what is meant by the difference between the two types of output.

Of course the Ten Technology ALSO gets a good review, and they actually mention the Element in the review!
"http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/comments/ten-technology-flexibledock-adjustable-car-dock-and-charger-for-ipod-ipod/"

from the sik website:
http://www.sik.com/imp.php

works with any iPod (except iPod shuffle)

* requires iPod with Dock Connector, iPod with Click Wheel, iPod color, iPod nano or iPod mini