I like my iPod. Even though I never owned one until a year ago, I now can't travel without it. So when a car has an "Aux" input for iPods and MP3 players, I'm instantly looking for it.
Yes, the Benz has the Aux jack, but look where it is...
Yep, inside the glove box, on the right hand side. Are they kidding? I've never found the cord I use to be too short - until now. With this layout, I need a four-foot cord to work the controls properly and be able to close the glovebox door.
Why do car makers, and Mercedes is not alone in this, insist on hiding this jack, in some cases putting a fiddly cover over it? It's such a great feature, and a high "frequency of use" item for us Pod people--and there are more and more every day--that the AUX input should much more accessible than this.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 12,045 miles
joclad says:
11:08 AM, 10/12/06
Thats why there is a ipod integration kit offered which alows full use of the steering wheel control buttons to operate the ipod. The titels and menues are displayed in the instrument clusters Display and my ipod gets recharged while beeing placed savely in the glove box. For all off us with a different player but a ipod the aux connector is the way to connect.
crashtestdingo says:
12:09 AM, 10/13/06
From a safe-driving standpoint, it's bad enough to fuss with a centrally mounted radio while driving. Looking at an mp3 player's display and navigating its menus is horrendous. Why not just pick a playlist when starting off and be done with it?
That said, sometimes I'm guilty of fiddling with my Sirius receiver while driving. >_<