USB Connections Improve iPod Compatibility for Sony Car Audio

Lonnie Lazar ()

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Sony has added what the company calls “USB 1-wire” connectivity to select models of its 2009 car audio line up, enabling direct digital connectivity for USB powered audio devices such as iPods and iPhones, as well as other MP3 players and even USB thumb drives.

If you’ve ever been frustrated by the sketchy signal provided by radio frequency car adapters such as iTrip, or been dissatisfied by the sound quality of AUX in connectivity trying to get your iPod playing in the car, Sony’s Xplod line of head units is well worth a look and listen.

“We’ve needed to do this as an industry for some time,” explained Mike Kahn, Sony director of marketing for mobile electronics at a media meet and greet in San Francisco Wednesday night. Direct digital connection of the external device to the auto sound system is quickly becoming a standard feature for manufacturers such as Sony, Alpine and Pioneer, which is no surprise given the boost in sound quality over cobbled together analog connectivity solutions of the recent past.

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Sony’s gear is very price competitive with its major rivals and its USB 1-wire technology doesn’t require any special cabling – you can use your standard iPod USB cable to plug right into the head unit, browse the device’s library and select songs right from the auto unit’s controls.

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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Posted in Hardware, iPhone, iPod, Music |

  • Justin

    What about iPhones?

  • Adam

    Will it provide enough power to charge my iPod or iPhone in the process?

  • http://cultofmac.com Lonnie Lazar

    @ Justin: yes, it works with iPhones and iPod Touch as well.
    @Adam: yes, your devices will charge when plugged into the head unit.

  • imajoebob

    Now if someone will just design a car stereo that looks like it belongs in a car, not a rocket ship to a distant galaxy…

  • Worth

    as an owner of one of these stereo’s, i can say that there is one problem (at least on my set): when you plug in the device, it disables the screen of whatever ipod you’re using, and you can only use the unit’s controls. this might be a good thing, safety wise, but its not so good when the controls on the audio unit are miserable! it takes 5x as long to find a song that way as it would on the ipod, and thats 5x the amount of time you have to spend concentrating on that and not the road.

    food for thought.

  • Gary

    I have one of these stereos as well, works perfect with my iphone 3g. I can control through the stereo, the iphone charges, and I can still use any of the apps I want while the iphone is playing. Just the other day I was looking for a house and using the map while playing my music on shuffle, no problems. When the phone rings the music fades out so I don’t have to turn it down manually, then when the call ends the music fades back in. I am very happy.