Gavin’s Digital Diner

I commute one hundred miles a day – an hour each way.  During the first five years or so, I entertained myself with NPR and the BBC.  Then — seeking to be more “productive” I started digesting books on tape and later, books on CD.  Turns out I have a passion for non-fiction — science writing, history, politics… you name it, I’ll listen to it, ten hours a week.

Unfortunately 10 hours a week in a car can eat up a lot of audio books and they’re not cheap.  Moreover, they’re clumsy to deal with — stacks of CDs or boxes of tape scattered about the car. 

So — after some encouragement from a friend in DC — I signed up for Audible.com’s “Gold” membership and splurged and bought a video IPOD when they first came out.  (Black of course).

In hindsight, I’ve saved more than the cost of the ‘pod and the Audible subscription.  My Border’s bills have dropped substantially.  Now I only buy my “real” books there.  I’ll never give that up, by the way, a trip to Borders is an evening’s entertainment that online buying never duplicates

Between Audible and the plethora of podcasts I like, filling up those ten hours with productive audio is a breeze. 

The only fly in the ointment was the Ipod-to-Volvo integration.  It was, IMHO, lousy. I had one of those FM IPO connectors.  A device called a “TransPod” made by DLO. It held the Ipod, charged it, and used FM to broadcast the sound through my car stereo.  It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t very good.

The quality was acceptable, but just. It was always slightly “muted,” picked up static now and then, and tended to get — for lack of a better description — kind of “scratchy.”

As well, after a year of wear and tear, the device no longer fit snugly in the cigarette lighter socket. It would wobble up and down when I touched the Ipod. It made trying to select songs downright dangerous.  (It’s dangerous enough to try to spin and click one’s IPOD at 70 MPH without it wiggling to and fro.  It’s location was not optimum either.  The socket was down by the shift lever, hence the Ipod was right next to the shift lever as well, making it awkward to reach. 

I set out to improve on things.  Many cars now have built in IPod connections, and I had heard that Volvo offered one, but a little Google research indicated that it left a bit to be desired.  Volvo’s Ipod connections — ever conscious of safety — disabled the click wheel totally, giving you control only through the radio controls, without display.  It seems you could click through the songs, one by one, or you could setup five or so play lists labeled Volvo1 through Volvo5. 

Moreover, the Volvo installed adaptor ain’t cheap.  All told, including installation, it would have cost twice that of the Ipod itself.  Not an option. 

In looking for alternatives, via Google, I discovered a company that makes after-market connections for Ipods.  The company is USA-SPEC. http://www.usaspec.com/ipod.html I soon found a device specifically designed for my car (it sounded suspiciously just like the OEM version that Volvo was offering by the way.  The difference was this could be set to enable the clickwheel and display.)

They also make them for Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, VW, Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Lincoln, Merc, and BMW, by the way. The reviews looked good and the price was right. ($150.00).  They claimed it was easy to install.  I’m fairly handy so I bought it.

That solved the connection problem.  Now I needed some way and some place to mount the damn thing.  After an hour or so lurking on the “SwedeSpeed” forum, I saw a reference to something called ProClip.  They bill themselves as “simply ingenious.”  I’d have to agree.

It’s a two part solution – one part is the custom mounting clip for your car, and one part is the custom mounting holder for your device.  Pick the mount for your car, and then pick a holder for your device.  The two pieces then fit together. Brilliant. And, not only did they have Volvo, they had multiple choice, multiple devices and locations.  Just to see, I looked up my wife’s 1995 Eagle Summit Wagon — a oddball car if there ever was one — and there it was.  Amazing.

For Volvo, there was a choice of five mounting locations — no tools required, it just clips in. There was my Ipod too, a choice of upwards of ten options including one specifically designed for the USA-SPEC cable connection.  Hurrah!  Total cost: $80

I’d have to say: If you need a way to mount virtually anything in your car (they have stuff for Blackberry, Ipod, Dell, HP, etc, etc.  Lots of stuff I’ve never even heard of!). These folks are ‘da bomb.  http://www.proclipusa.com

Unbelievably, the ProClip mounts without tools.  Mine just clipped right in over the AC vent. (I also like the fact that all of the sample pictures on the web site seem to be of my dashboard!) Made me feel confident.

Hardwired Adaptor for Ipod = $150

Secure, custom designed mounting adaptor = $80

Feeling a fancy as a BMW with a built in connection = Priceless

Now I just had to install it without jacking things up royally. That took about 3 and ½ hours and a little bit of head scratching, improvising, and solder, as well as a visit or two the SwedeSpeed forum on the net to re-re-read the instructions.

Here’s the end result:

 

Oh… the sound is magnificent.

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