Anyone have any SUCCESSFUL experience with Acura's Ipod link? Or added an after-market link to play the Ipod through the stereo? I"m very unhappy with the Acura Link and am looking for other options.


Last week we bought a 2006 MDX and had the dealer install the Ipod link. I love using my Ipod in the car and was thrilled that there was a microsoft-approved accessory to make this work through the installed stereo. None of the sales or service guys said anything to me about the Ipod link, in terms of how it does (or does not) work.


Well, yesterday I got the car back with the Ipod link installed, and I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening trying to make the thing work. What a huge disappointment! It does not allow you to visually choose songs, artists, playlists, or albums from the Ipod. You can either shuffle through songs or albums, or use Acura's TTF software to push buttons through a mechanical voice reading you alphabetical listings.


I figured that, as cumbersome as it seemed, I'd try the voice thing and maybe I'd get used to it. The idea is that you set the stereo to a particular setting, listen to an alphabetical list, then upon choosing a letter, the voice will list the artists under that letter and you can then choose the artist to listen to that music. It's slow and awkward (and imagine the frustration if you're trying to do this while driving) but I persevered.


So, I get it all set up, install the software on my computer, have it run the program through Itunes to identify all the songs and stuff on the Ipod... I decide to test it to see if I can find "James Taylor" songs on the Ipod through an artist search. I set the "artist" search button, wait through the reading to "J", then press buttons again to get the J artist listing, and get "Stevie Wonder...All "S" artists."


I tried and tried over again, couldn't select a single artist I wanted to identify. THEN, when I gave up on that feature, I figured, "okay, I'll select Stevie Wonder." So, I push the button to play...and out comes Bonnie Raitt music. No matter what I pushed, I couldn't reach music I knew was on the Ipod, and when I selected whatever the voice told me I'd selected, I'd get different music.


I went so far as to uninstall the Acura software from my computer, cancell out all the changes it made to Itunes, then reinstall it all again and have it run through the lengthy set up again... No real difference in terms of it working.


I got online and learned that many others have concluded that the Acura Ipod Link is quite ineffective in terms of using the Ipod's "select what you want to hear" capabilities. The sound quality is excellent, but you just can't play what you want to play in any way I can figure out.


I'm surprised that no one at Acura warned me about this accessory or hinted that it worked in a pretty convoluted and limiting way. And I'm really disappointed that this great-seeming accessory works so poorly.


I'm not looking to calling my Acura sales guy today to say I want this taken out and I'll have an after-market one installed. It's clear that there are better options out there that allow you to select songs, etc using the Ipod itself. ]


I'd appreciate any advice anyone has as to what they did to either make this thing work OR what they used to play their ipod through the stereo system.


Thanks.


Diane