THOUGHT OUT… Company News

Let me first say that this iPod connector does work and the sound quality is great, BUT…

I had full plans of doing a write up and post on the installation and outcome of this “2007” iPod connector, but I drastically changed my mind when - the as stated from Mazda “LIMITED FUNCTIONALITY” connector was installed. The iPod is totally non-functional the moment you plug it into the connector (that is probably their first mistake). Without going into every detail of every operation the first notable one is that navigation through what they call the MENU list, this is extremely slow and cumbersome, as well as being blind in the fact that it is only shown for a limited moment then it disappears for good. Once you “think” you have the correct MENU you then try to sort the LIST navigation, this is done via the rotation of one display character that does stay on the screen (thanks!), but only to the value of 6. In other words, if you are looking for the 21^st play list you would rotate 3.5 times around in this function and end up on the value of 3 (6 x 3.5=21). I can’t imagine trying to search for the “Brother Love” song “Push” with much success in this menu/list/track structure. Now, if you add a CD, a podcast, or a song to your iPod tomorrow your entire math needs to be recalculated. The TRACK setting will allow up to 99 tracks before you have to start doing math again, unless you added a song or two last week! As you can probably imagine you need to have some sort of savant syndrome* along with patience to operate what is considered being one of the easiest devices on the market today in your Mazda, not with this connector! Wouldn’t it be simple to just allow audio input to the radio and navigate from the iPod? The argument of concentrating on the road is thrown right out the window with this Mazda iPod connector integration! I think I will have to settle with a wired FM modulator and save the six CD changer for my favorite music files!

FOR SALE: Mazda iPod Connector 2007, cheap, email me.

*Savant Syndrome: skills involve striking feats of memory and often include arithmetic calculation.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 16th, 2006 at 12:03 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.