Have one fitted today by the Skoda dealer, who clearly didn't know much about them. The instructions are poor to say the least, so I'd be interested in any advice from those that have them. The cd radio is the Symphony model.

Firstly, when I connected the Link, I lost control of the Ipod. Disk 1-5 seemed to control playlists and disk 6 let me into an options list, which included set-up and access to my albums.

However, when I went to select my albums, there appeared to be no way to choose an album. Fast forward and backward remained that rather then 'Menu' & 'play/pause' and track 1 of 2804 started playing and the only way I could select others was to press next track repeatedly. I got rather fed-up by the time I got to artists beginning with B!!!

I managed somehow to disingage the Densions control over my Ipod by doing some sort of reset, but has anyone had better luck with integration via the Ice Link/VAG Ipod interface?

Jez

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Dension Ice Link!

I posted on here a while ago that I didnt like mine (or words to that effect) and got shot down in flames!

Different people have different expectations I suppose.

I found the thing user unfriendly and cumbersome .

Mines for sale on ebay at the moment !

There seem to be some owners who love 'em - good luck to them !

Jez, you can select #6 on the Symphony to get onto the menu you've seen, then if you choose the iPod UI option you can browse the iPod with the click wheel as normal.

AFAIK, there's no way to skip albums from the Symphony, only your first 5 playlists.

The only buttons on the Symphony that affect the iPod playback are track seek (ffwd/rwd) and next/previous track.

Set yourself up with playlists with a number prefix in the name, eg:

1 - Pop

2 - Dance

3 - Rock

4 - Podcasts

5 - Newly Added

Then they'll always be in numerical order when it comes to mapping them to the 5 buttons on the Symphony.

Trickdick, I can understand your frustration. Sound is excellent, though, about a trillion times better than a ITrip.

Joff, I think I hit that iPod UI option to see what it did and it gave me control of the Ipod. How do you switch back to the IceLink controller again? It seemed to do it once of its own accord, but maybe that was because I had randomly pressed another button!

ps. did I kill a kitten?

I'm a bit disappointed in mine TBH, especially coming from a Phatbox I used in the Fabia and Polo. Just couldn't be fussed with sorting an installation point for it in the Ibiza, so sold it and got an IceLink.

The interface is poor I feel. It just doesn't seem to have been thought out very well. The 1-5 idea I can understand. But what the Phatbox did was have 1 for you to browse through the playlists using the <> buttons, 2 to browse by artist, 3 for artist, 4 for genre and so on. And of course you had the voice announce option too, so you knew what was playing!

I could manage if '6' gave you some proper control over the Pod, to allow you to properly select different playlists or artists. As you say, I can find no way to actually select stuff :confused: I also agree, the instructions need a bloody good re-write, maybe with some with a grasp of the English language - they really are cr@p!

Anyway, a bit of a rant and it doesn't help you all that much, apart from the fact you now know it's not just you! Thought about getting a Phatbox again the other night, but just seems a bit extravagant as I now have a 30Gb video, which gets most of its use in the car. The only other use it gets is occasional train journeys.

Any other iPod integration solutions out there, something that allows better control but while still retaining the OEM headunit?? And hopefully not another cradle, I've got enough of those already for all the other gadgets

Steve

Harmon Kardon make one that looks nice.

The HK one looks good, but I expect suffers from the same problem and it's something to break into your car for.

So, the Dension isn't perfect (if you want that, get an Alpine Ipod full-speed head unit), but it does an ok job and I think sounds pretty good.

Seem to have now sussed the button 6 thing!!

Ford's put a 3.5mm jack socket in the glove box to connect any MP3 player. Makes sense to me that all manufacturers do that.

Cheers,

Jez

I'm not a fan of the 3.5mm jack method - you then need to sort powering the MP3 player and have to mount it somewhere to be able to control it. The Icelink even charges up the iPod a couple of hours after turning the engine off

Icelink could be better, but given that Denison need to work with what the manufacturers choose to supply in cars, I think they've done a great job. I'm sure they would have preferred to have the display showing track info so there must be some reason why it wasn't possible.

I had an Alpine 9855 in a previous car and the iPod interface was abysmal. Yes it connected and it sounded fine, displaying ID3 info, but the slide-touch control was pathetic. To scroll to "Stereophonics" (more like Sugarbabes and Spice Girls tbh) you'd have to slide your finger across left or right 20-30 times (I've got a 60gb photo) to scroll through the alphabet to the album.

Jez, I hope you can live with yourself!! :P

Seem to have now sussed the button 6 thing!!

My issue with with '6' - are you now able to use that for anything useful, and I mean without looking at the iPod screen? I can't imagine you are - I think to drill down into the artists list properly I'd need the cradle so I could see the iPod screen. And I don't really have room to put another cradle in.

Steve

Joff, the 3.5mm jack works fine on my two cars as I have the latest gen Ipod, so get hours of use from it.

The new Alpine full speed jobs are in a different league to any other Ipod interface in terms of speed and they are bringing one out which replicates your Ipod screen in the next few months.

Here is one of Alipine's existing range, which is totally different in concept to the Alpines which have the add-on adapter: http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/alpine-cde9850ri-ipod-full-speed-p-4679.html

Please don't kill the kitten!!

Just found a pic!!

That looks tasty! Great idea replicating the iPod's screen, probably no easy feat either!

I'm also tempted by the other model you linked to, the CDE-9850Ri, I really am. Do you know if that will plug direct into a VAG loom, or will it need an adaptor of some kind?

Steve

Sorry, no idea mate. If you send a message to caraudiodirect, they'll be able to advise. I know people who have those and are very happy indeed with them. Speed is second to none.

Jez

Hmm, that might be worth another look at then!

I'll be buying one when I get my next car!