My Ford parts guy told me their stereo guy has a an adaptor that plugs inline with the antenna. I think he said you have to set your radio to a specific station and he did say you had to crank the volume on your mp3 player, but the sound is crystal clear with no static at all. He sells the part itself for ~$40.

Sounds like it might be a cheap alternative. Anyone heard of a set up like this before?

Did they ever get the PIE adapter to work without messing with the dashboard electronics?

 

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=73061
This thread may interest you if you are considering using an XM tuner too.
Best Buy has an Ipod interface for around $100.00 at the local store that lets you control the Ipod through the factory stereo controls. Using the factory stereo to control the Ipod isn't nearly as important to me as not having to use an FM modulator.

 

are you refering to something like this?

http://caraudio.avdeals.com/satellit...ges/satswb.jpg

i used one in my Ranger to hook up my Sirius Starmate. its called a SATSWB. basically your FM antenna plugs into the hole on the box, the end with the same plug as the antenna plugs into the stero and the other end plugs into the audio out on the sattelite reciever. set the reciever to broadcast on any channel and set your radio to recieve on that channel. when the sat reciever is turned on, the box disables your external fm radio antenna and pipes the audio straight into your stereo.

now i dont know if that is the exact piece of equipment you need, but that sounds about like what you were describing.

 

That box is about what I was imagining, I haven't seen what he offers though. Curious how the sound would be. going to see what I can find as for pricing on these.

I don't own an Ipod, I have a zune and honestly I don't listen to play lists too much, generally albums at a time and never know what album I'm wanting to hear until I look through them. So being able to control it through the head unit itself is not so much a priority. I'd just be happy to plug it into a reagular headphone jack and hear it over my radio. Plus I'm on a strict budget at the moment, so cheap is key.

Thank you for replys.

 

Ford now has a direct plug in module to interface an ipod direclty to the head unit on 05 and newer mustangs. All menus, playlists and sort functions are displayed on the head unit. The head unit directly controls the Ipod. It is a direct digital connection, not an FM modulator.

Its actually made by Periphrial Electronics for Ford.

 

By chance, do you know what the part number is from Ford?

 

A7FCS-HDRADIO-B

Mind you this includes the HD Radio tuner as well. I don't think they yet sell the unit for Ipod only without the HD radio. List is 299 but as with most things Ford, YMMV.

 

he has a Zune though. it wouldnt work.

that fm box i showed up there sounds like listening to the fm radio but with 0 static. i noticed very little difference when upgrading the sat radio from that box to the audio in. but that is mostly due to the fact that sat radio is so compressed. a digital music player with high bitrate mp3's could profit from the audio in over the fm box.