Pioneer to ship iPod car stereo adapter in March
updated 06:50 pm EST, Tue January 4, 2005
Pioneer iPod adapter
today introduced a new iPod Adapter for its car stereos. The direct-connect adapter works with the IP-Bus system in more than 3 million Pioneer car stereos, including all of Pioneer's new car stereos, which are being introduced at this week's International CES show. Through Pioneer's IP-Bus system, the CD-IB100 is backwards compatible with more than 3 million Pioneer car stereos. The company says that users will "be able to operate their iPods as easily as they would using the stereo unit, by means of the stereo's front panel controls." Pioneer stereos will display up to eight characters of text including album, artist and song names, with the ability to scroll additional information. While an iPod is docked to the CD-IB100, the adapter will charge the internal battery.
With select 2005 Pioneer audio video units, the adapter also provides enhanced features including multi-line display and list search, taking advantage of the additional display real estate. The CD-IB100 adapter also takes full advantage of Pioneer's audio enhancement capabilities such as Easy Equalizer (EEQ) and Bit Media Expander (BMX). Pioneer radios with the built-in EEQ feature let users adjust the sound from their iPod/iTunes device to their audio preference. Units with the BMX feature automatically restore the harmonics lost during recording of compressed music as well. The CD-IB100 adapter will be available in March of 2005 for $140.
