New Shiny, I Did Not Want Ye!

Despite the continuously climbing gas prices, I still plan to take a road trip mid-July to Minnesota…via Montana.

I have known for about a year that the factory CD player in the Xterra has been ill. It plays a CD just fine…if you can get it in the player. And then you'll have the same problem getting the CD back out. Last year about this time, before we split up, Mrs. Farrago and I got a new stereo for the Pontiac Sunfire that she's had since before we got together. She wanted one that had an auxiliary input so we could plug an iPod into the stereo and not have to hassle with some aftermarket FM transmitter for which we had to then tune our radio to one of the four lowest frequencies on the FM band in order to hear it. In a radio-rich city like Chicago, there's no guarantee that none of those frequencies is being used…and they are. So listening to the iPod on the car stereo was a less-than-satisfying experience until we got the new stereo put in.

We had discussed doing the same for the Xterra, but it wasn't a priority at the time. Then the split happened, and the Xterra is now with me. We're discussing visitation and possible joint-custody for when the divorce is final.

But, anyhoo! As the trip has approached, I was not the least bit interested in hitting the scan/seek button every hundred miles in search of the strongest album-oriented, classic rock station, nor was I looking forward to fighting with the CD-player to take or give back my CDs, not to mention the hassle of removing or replacing them in their jewel cases while simultaneously driving, eating big sandwiches, reading a map and drinking my beer.

I might spill the beer.

I could use the headphones, but that blots out pretty much ALL the other sounds, plus there's the issue of the cords running all over the place and posing a hazard (one might get in my beer).

So I've been saving up my cash for a new stereo. And, with less than two weeks until my trip, last week was the time.

I went to the same place I went to last year for the Sunfire's new stereo…even though it's not in the same place it was last year. I had hoped to find the exact same model that we got for the Sunfire, which had a cord coming out the back to which we could plug into the headphone jack of the iPod (or ANY audio device), and would then pump our music out through the car's speakers.

When I mentioned "iPod" to the sales guy, he steered me away from the models that had auxiliary jacks on the front and showed me a model that has a USB connection and would allow me to actually control the iPod through the car stereo unit's buttons and its remote control. Remote control!

Naturally this one was more expensive than the plug-in-the-front models. The most I wanted to spend was $300. The sales guy told me it was $300 installed. I debated with myself, but decided that it was safer to be able to control the iPod from the stereo than trying to fiddle with the iPod and dealing with the cord running from it to the front of the less expensive stereo. SOLD!

Friday afternoon I went to the store where they had my stereo and an installer ready and waiting for me. I brought my iPod so they could make sure everything was working properly before I drove back home. They had no problems… I'm not the kind of person who thinks he knows how to fix crap behind the dashboard, so I've never so much as peeked back there. And $295 later, I had a new car stereo…and CHANGE!




One small problem, though; I was instructed to update the software on my iPod, something I had to admit I hadn't done in a while, as the stereo could not recognize it.

So I went home, popped my iPod onto its dock, and the computer told me that its software was up to date. Back out to the Xterra, I plugged the stereo cable into the iPod, turned on the power and…

Bupkis.

Back to the box the stereo came in, I looked through the documentation. There, on an innocent-looking yellow piece of paper, was a list of the "Supported iPod Software Versions." Uh oh.

I had to refer to the Apple website to figure out how to determine which "generation" iPod it was. The reality that it was purchased in 2003 did not comfort me. The website made me confident that I had a third generation iPod, and I again consulted the "Supported Software" sheet.

The earliest generation mentioned is the fifth.

Another sentence on the page mocked me: "Older versions of iPod software may not be supported."

So I was faced with two options: return to the stereo place and have them replace the stereo with one of the plug-in-the-front models and pocket the difference, and deal with the mess and hazard of dangly cords while I try to drive and play with it; or go to the Apple Store and buy a new, car-stereo-supported iPod, putting the purchase on a credit card, something I had been one day earlier proud of myself that I hadn't used.





Safety (and coolness) won out, and I incurred more debt. As the photo shows, it's a pretty li'l thing…and I need to dust. It's about half the weight and, at 80GB, more than five times the storage capacity of my old 15GB iPod. I got a 10% discount by turning in my old, third generation iPod for recycling, a gamble I realized I had inadvertently taken, for if the new one did not work, I would have then wanted to return it, and exchange the stereo.

But, fortunately, it works perfectly!