iPod and Civic

Over Christmas I bought Karen an iPod but quickly we realized one problem–we couldn’t play the music in the car! Short of purchasing a BMW with built-in iPod support, I explored the internet for various options and came up with three different solutions:

1. Purchase a device that will broadcast a radio signal over FM for $50+, but it’s radio quality and is prone to static and interference.
2. Use an FM wired modulator, which connects the FM signal directly to the line, but it’s still inferior to even a cassette adapter.
3. Connect directly to the CD Changer port using a special device called Blitzsafe.

Of course, I opted for the third option.

I purchased the Blitzsafe Honda-To-iPod interface from LogJam, which came with an iPod connector that also charges the iPod, a nice feature if the iPod isn’t charged. Unfortunately taking my car apart wasn’t as straight forward as portrayed on the web. My model has a cup holder, which makes it harder than the regular model, so I carefully spent an hour and made no progress. Hoping not to damage my car, I thought about professional installation, but they all charged $50+ and has a wait of a week. That was too much–I need it NOW! So I met up with my friend John, a Honda Mechanic, and he handed me some diagrams of the lower panel. I came home, took the panel apart, plugged in the cable, and in less than an hour, had the iPod playing over the car stereo in CD quality.

In the end, it was more work than expected, but totally worth it!