I want to play my iPod in my RDX. I have a mini plug on the front of my audio head unit. I can purchase the Acura Musiclink cable. There are those that recommend the Neo iPod cable. What do most of you use? What are +/-‘s of each connections? Before I spend any money I’d like to get some feedback. What's the best iPod connection?

Thanks!

 

DON'T PURCHASE ACURA MUSICLINK - iPod navigation is horrible using musiclink. sond quality is good and it charges though.

Best- Neo or USA Spec or an ipod adapter that will charge and allow you to navigate the ipod from the ipod as well as taking a clean line level output and delivering that to a line level input. Cost about $200.

Good- iPod dock connector to 1/8" stereo phono plug to plug into the Aux in jack. This cable takes the line level output from your iPod and inputs it into the aux port. Cleaner signal than below. cost about $20-30

OK- 1/8" stereo phono plug to 1/8" stereo phono plug. This cable takes an amplified output and inputs it into the aux port. Not as clean as above. cost about $10-20

 

Thanks for feedback. The musiclink sounds like the iPod connection I have with an Alpine head unit in another car. iPod navigation on the Alpine head unit display was totally useless and very slow.

 

Believe me when I say it is far worse than that.....

 

MusicLink really sucks! I bought it (did not know about this site until later) and while I appreciate that it charges the iPod while it plays, the navigation from playlist to playlist it painful and it tends to shuffle songs a lot which I personally cannot stand.

BUT.... since I have purchased it I better get my money's worth so I will figure it out and use it I guess. The idea of it is nice -- not having to use an external device or iTrip FM transmitter -- but what can I say...

The sound quality however it top-notch! So at least it has that benefit.

 

I with you brother. The audio quality is the best and the charging is nice but zero navigation. Some may think that audio navigation is the solution but have to say it's the worst piece of garbage I have purchased for a new car. To navigate my music I have to have the car off first or unplug my iPod, navigate to the Album or play list I want then plug the iPod back on to the cable. Next, select iPod mode on the audio system. After my album and play list is done, if I'm still driving, I just go to random album or random song mode until the next time I get a chance to change album manually.

Ideally, the only reason I should unplug the ipod is to add new albums to it. My iPod is exclusively for the RDX. Wish I didn't have to open my glove compartment just to navigate to the new album.

Whatever you do, don't install the software. It may screwup your iPod syncing. It has never worked for me.

 

Thanks for feedback. I ordered a USA spec ipod link on ebay for $129. I'll report back on how it works.

 

Okay, so like I said, I bought this MusicLink before I knew better... so now I want to at least try to make this thing work for me.

But what I cannot figure out is how to get the iPod to play the playlist I want when I want it. The latest TTS software is installed and my Video iPod is up-to-date as well as iTunes.

The instructions for the MusicLink pretty much suck because they are 'generic' and do not refer to the RDX. But from what I can tell so far, I press the Disc 6 key until the Disc # shows "1". Then I press the Seek button. I wait to hear it say "W" (cuz the playlist I want starts with a 'W").

But here is the deal: I have three playlists that start with the letter "W". The radio is supposed to read me the three playlist names so I can pick the one I want. But instead, it just starts playing the last of the three playlists.

So the big question is: what is the button sequence for making the system read out loud the playlists for a particular letter of the alphabet so I can then select the one I want (and have it play the playlist in order, not shuffled)? If anyone knows the answer, I would be most appreciative.

 

From p. 17 of the Acuralink User's Guide if you press and release the seek button after it says the letter it will play the first song in the first playlist of that letter, but if you press and release the seek button and then press and hold a seek button for at least 1 second you can then have it read the playlist names. So a single press gets you the first song and a double press (and hold) gets you the name readout...

 

It worked just as your described. Thanks!

 

So, how do you find the voice feedback controls on the MusicLink?

I don't have one, I've only read the manual and when I was reading it, it sounded like way too much work to try to do while driving the car. Anything that is "time based" (like having to hit the tiny little seek button buried at the bottom of the center console right after hearing the letter), that isn't directly related to driving scares me.

 

You installed the TTS software? Good Luck. Let me know what you think. I can't even understand what it is saying most of the time. I think the voice to text on the RDX is way better than the stuff on Windows. On top of that I takes forever to sync and timesout. I have over 400 albums and 15,000 songs.

Instead of speech, the software should have just made a text file listing of albums and songs and dumped that in some known directory on the iPod. When the iPod is plugged into musiclink, it loads the file into the RDX audio system to give you a listing of albums and songs on the console to select via knob or voice command. How hard can that be?

file format could as simple as:

[Artist]\[Album]\[song];[reference in iPod]

Just my best guess as to how I would do it.

 

The MusicLink system is NOT intuitive at all. And, half of the time, it picks the wrong song/playlist/album/artist/genre to play. Now that could be because I am hitting the buttons at the wrong moment -- operator error as it were -- but I think it is because the system is just not very robust.

The sync process with TTS is a pain but not too terrible once the initial sync is completed. But then again, I have about half the songs that you do.

I can understand the vocal lists (of names of albums/titles/playlists/etc) but the process of selecting a playlist -- and then to select 'which playlist' when you have more than one with the same beginning letter -- is somewhat of a hit or miss thing with me. Sometimes I get what i want, sometimes not. Like I said, it could be me.

What's good about MusicLink? Well it charges the iPod, the music quality is VERY GOOD, and it does avoid having cables hanging all over the center console. It also pauses the playback if you answer your phone, turn off the power, or switch a different music source (that is very helpful!).

But if they could improve the interface so the song list could be on the nav screen and use voice command to pick songs/playlists/albums/artists/genres by number (if not the name), it might be easier to use.