Product Description

connects your iPod to a compatible Kenwood in-dash radio * provides power to the iPod * enables direct control of many iPod functions from your Kenwood radio * sends iPod display information to your radio * recharges your iPod's battery *

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #877 in Car Audio or Theater
• Color: Black
• Brand: Kenwood
• Model: KCA-iP500
• Dimensions: 2.20 pounds

Features

• connects your iPod to a compatible Kenwood in-dash radio
• provides power to the iPod
• enables direct control of many iPod functions from your Kenwood radio
• sends iPod display information to your radio
• recharges your iPod's battery

Customer Reviews

Brilliant product - user training required!
Upon reading all the reviews on this site I was almost deterred into buying a head unit with an aux-in on the front but I'm now very glad I didn't. Reviewers here have been too quick to dismiss this product because of the navigation system without adapting to how to use the system best, or considering for a second, that you should not expect a head unit to behave in the same way an iPod does. It is not practical to have a knob that behaves like the ipod touch wheel and you can't expect the song titles to display quickly on a limited character display (eg. 12 characters).

The navigation system is estentially the head unit's stacker control function, modified to suit controlling an iPod ~ equivalent to a 1000 CD-stacker for a 60 gig model. Think about what's involved in burning a CD from your computer compared to making a few playlists that can be very quickly selected by your head unit controlling the iPod (Car iPod). Then you'll see that there is a huge time saving in working with playlists compared to working with burnt cds. We have long accepted that CDs come with 12 or so unnamed tracks and to listen to the desired song we have to find the track number from the back of the CD. The Car iPod is far better than that. You do not have to scroll one artist at a time until you get to the letter Z 10 minutes later. You simply use your remote and either guess or look up from a list, that the artist you want is number 78 on the list, enter 78, hit the "OK" key and you're on the artist you want. Fast for making huge jumps through your list isn't it!? Want a particular song? Enter the track number and then the appropriate "OK" key. Music collections do not change all that much and in time you'll get a feel for what number in the list the artist you want is. This system also works for genre and playlist. If you make 99 playlists with 99 songs in each you have extremely swift access to 9801 songs (6 presses of the remote and a 5 second wait).

Failing that system and you really must hear a particular song you can unplug your iPod choose the song and plug it back in to resume from the song you just selected. Considering what the engineers had to work with on this - 1.their existing head unit style 2. what works in a car 3. the Apple designed control interface - they have done an EXCEPTIONAL job here. Congratulations this goes down as one favourite purchases.

Great sound, clunky controls
I bought this hookup (and a Kenwood receiver for it) because I wanted to control my iPod direct from my dash, and get direct-connect sound quality. I have a nearly full 60 gig iPod photo I was using with an iTrip, and taking my eyes of the road to mess with the scroll wheel seemed like an accident waiting to happen.

I bought it at Best Buy who installed it free, so I can't speak to ease of installation. It's a small box that hangs out behind the dash, and they ran the connecting cord up and out next to my hand brake. It took the BB professional about 2 hours to install it.

The Good: Sound quality rules. There's no comparison between this and the iTrip I was using.

I love that it charges your iPod too, happiness is a charged battery icon on your iPod (or 5 bars of cell phone reception).

The Bad: The interface is really clunky. You use the [SCAN} button on the head unit to change between sorting by Playlist, Artist, Album, and Genre (a Podcasts option would've been nice in my opinion). Then, you use the Disc up/down buttons like you're flipping around in a cd changer to get to your selection. The problem, at least on my head unit, is you can only move ONE artist AT A TIME. That's *up one artist*, loads, starts playing, *up one artist* etc., one by one. In my case I have a few hundred artists, so that won't work. I suppose it's be more bearable w/ a mini or nano, but a fully loaded 60 is basically impenetrable. It also overrides the controls on the actual iPod, so you can't use the scroll wheel.

The saving grace is that when you plug your iPod in, it resumes the track you were playing. So what I end up doing is unplugging it, picking a track/album/whatever using the click wheel, and plugging the iPod in again. That doesn't take very long - you can disconnect your iPod at any time, and when you plug back in it "loads" up quick. This works fine, but not at all what I had in mind when I bought it.

Bottom line: Great sound quality, nice to see the disc/track info on your head unit, VERY hard/slow to navigate your library. If you've got a small iPod or like to make playlists, that shouldn't be as big a problem. Otherwise, get ready to plug/unplug every time you want to change your music.

Great Solution! - Wish it were easier (and clearer) to use.
OK...first have in mind this is an interface that (I think) somebody came up with to integrate you iPod to the head unit. To me, this is the key element to have in mind.

Pros

a) It allowed me to tuck away my iPod in my glove compartment, pretty convenient and safe.

b) No need to buy an iPod holder that uses a cupholder.

c) No need to buy an FM transmitter to jugle with. This translates basically in GREAT SOUND!!!

d) Installation is pretty simple...I did it myself. No need to go to a professional installer. All it took was a quick read to the user's manual (both the iP500 and my head unit - KDC-MP2028) and 15 minutes of my precious time.

Cons

a) Hard figuring out/learning how the interface works. Here's a tip: Set your display preference for D-Display (that is Disk Name Display). This will allow you to view the Playing mode you're using with your iPod. Four basic modes are used: Playlists - PLY, Album - ALB, Artist - Art, and Genere - GEN. Once you've decided which mode you want to use, you can switch to displaying Track Title and you're set!

b) Cumbersome way of browsing through your music. i.e. if you chose the Artist mode, you MUST browse one at a time, not being able to see right away the artist name; every artist is displayed as if you're switching disks on a CD Changer. It takes a few seconds for the artist name to actually show on the display. If you have an extensive list of artist (or songs, or albums, or playlists) browsing through the entire catalog can become a chore!. The delay for the names to actually show happens in either mode.

Some advise: I had a real problem when (for example) trying to listen to my favorite songs in shuffle mode (you actually control shuffle and repeat with the buttons in the head unit that are labeled for such functions when regularly using a CD)was a hassle, since I loaded on my iPod all my catalog (including my children's favorites - Barney and all!). To solve this...WORK ON YOUR PLAYLISTS. Keep 'em a few. I have five total: Kids, All, Hard Rock, Country, sing-along (yes!...I like to sing while in traffic). This allows me to load my favorite playlist and shuffle exactly what I intend to hear.

Bottom line...nothing will be the same as your iPod. But let's face it, while in my car, I mostly drive, so I don't want (or need) a full replacement for my iPod, just something that will allow me access to my catalog, and hearing it with great quality.

This is a convenient way to listen to your iPod's content, using your Kenwood unit.