Apple's iPod portable multimedia player is incredibly successful; there's no doubting that. With the ability to play thousands of hopefully legally downloaded songs and, more recently, hours of video, the iPod and its infectious beat-infused commercials are driving the MP3-player market. The only problem is, there are very few easy-to-use, simple interfaces that can hook up an iPod to any head unit, factory or aftermarket, regardless of vehicle make or model. Almost every leading stereo manufacturer has a head unit available with iPod control, but for factory units and older aftermarket models, the pickings are slim.
Harman Kardon answered the call with the Drive + Play system, which connects an iPod to literally any car and utilizes a simple interface familiar to any iPod user. There is an LCD text display with menus laid out in iPod fashion and a five-button control knob that works exactly like the iPod dial. The display and control knob are separate units and connect to the hidden brain unit with plenty of cabling. Controlling the Drive + Play is intuitive for iPod users. If you know how to use your iPod, you'll have no trouble at all using the Drive + Play. Plus, even if the Drive + Play is powered down, the system will continue to charge the connected iPod so that you're ready to go when you jump out of the car with iPod in hand.
Upon opening the box for the Drive + Play system, we instantly saw just how comprehensive Harman Kardon's package is. There are various mounting stands included so that the text display and control knob can be placed anywhere in the vehicle for easy access and proper viewing angle. Installation is straightforward and, if you don't want to use the cigarette lighter plug adapter, only involves splicing in three wires for power. However, many wires and connections have to be routed and hidden within the dash, such as power, display, control knob, FM transmitter or line out, and iPod connect. Expect about an hour for a standard install.
Dial One Auto Sound of La Habra, CA, handled our install of a Drive + Play system into a factory stock 2002 Audi A4. We had the display screen and control knob neatly placed within arm's reach on the driver's side of the dashboard and ran the iPod connector cable so that the iPod is hidden in the glove box when in use. The Drive + Play system is connected using hardwired power and the optional Harman Kardon wired FM transmitter. An interesting feature of the Drive + Play setup is uninterruptible iPod playback. If the car turns off and then back on, the song will pick up from where it left off, this much is expected. But, if you completely unplug the iPod and then plug it back in, the last played song will begin blaring again from the last stopped point automatically. Perfect if you want to park your car, take your iPod with you, and then jump back in without missing a beat.
Backlit for visibility, the text display brought up a familiar menu once we fired up the car. There are options available to select songs based on playlist, artist, genre, album or to just cruise through the entire song list. The Drive + Play system has an advantage over certain aftermarket iPod-ready head units with the size and capability of its screen. We were able to select songs out of a lengthy list many titles high with plenty of characters running across. The overall control knob provides the ability to cruise menus quickly and the rotary part of the control is a godsend for cruising through huge lists of songs or fast forwarding through tracks. Selecting by genre, our tunes came up instantly and skipping to the next track was accomplished without any wait. The only delay you'll see is if you choose to play a song out of a huge list, such as selecting by song. The Drive + Play will pause while it loads up information. Luckily, once the system gets going, there is zero wait time between tracks, but the initial wait is a little surprising.
The only concern we had after using the system was with playing video off of the newer iPods. The Drive + Play display doesn't work with video; it only shows menus and song titles. However, once you connect an iPod, the buttons on the iPod itself cease to function. You have to access all menus and songs through the Drive + Play control knob, and there is no menu selection that can access videos. This means, even if you just want to listen to music videos that you uploaded to your iPod, you're up a creek. Not too much of a problem we figure, because if you had a lot of video files that you want to play in your car, you would have most likely already invested in an in-car video display. Pick up a Drive + Play system for its ease of use and seamless integration into any car and then you'll be happy. We know we are.
Brand: Harman/Kardon
Model: Drive + Play $199.95
www.harmankardon.com
Key Features
Can be installed in any carWorks with any iPod, except for the iPod ShuffleBright, easy to read LCD displayIntuitive controls match the iPod itselfCompact and easy to installOptional 3.5mm auxiliary stereo input