So i have an ipod right? A 30 Gig video one, its pretty flash and i dont mind it. And i love my car audio so i thought, "Why not put the two together!" So off i go down to the local car audio joint on a quest to find an ipod compatable head unit. And i set my eyes on the alpine cda-9857 the dude told me its full speed with the ipod and controlls it all through the head unit and rada rada rada. so i lay down my hard earned $599.00 and hurry home to install it and groove away....

HAHA yeah right. so i install it, whack a cd in, cool sounds good. connect the ipod cable to it connect my ipod to it.

SEARCHING... awesome!
30 seconds later
SEARCHING...yay
1 minute later
SEARCHING... hang on it should'nt take this long
5 mins later
SEARCHING...this is freaking ridiculous!

So i checked all the wiring... all is well
So i checked the ipod cables and s**t... yep all sweet.
Tried again... SEARCHING... for about another 5 mins!
WTF!!!
So i do the unthinkable and resort to the alpine manual...(i know, it took alot of courage to pick it up) and flipped to the ipod section.

Hang on... whats this?
"THIS UNIT CAN BE USED WITH THIRD GENERATION AND ABOVE IPODS."
But my ipod isan early model ipod!! does that mean that the $600 head unit that i just bought specifically to use with my ipod is incompatable with it??? It doesnt say that on the box!

So now im p****d off! i now have to buy a brand new freakin ipod so it can work with the head deck! i assumed ipod compatable would mean all ipods! GOD DAMNIT!

so does anyone know if theres an update or something that will make it work? i dont wanna spend $400 on a new ipod when i have a perfectly good one sittin here next to me. it says that version 2.3 and above will work, but my ipod is a version 1.2. is there anyway to update it to 2.3? any help would be appreciated guys! thanks for reading my rant!

Last edited by CLEANEB on Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'd be taking the unit back to the wanker that sold it, he should know his products. If you told him you were after one for your ipod and he sold you one that doesn't work with your pod then he should take it back.

o, and there is an ipod software updater avaliable from the Apple website.

yeah i tried updating it but it seems it doesnt wanna update it past version 1.2. it might be reading it as a 2nd generation ipod or whatever and only updating it to the highest version available for the 2nd gen ipods which is probably 1.2. grrr

I've got an older 15GB ipod I bought probably over 2 years ago, just the stock standard one. I whacked it into the computer the other day just after I updated to the latest version of iTunes, and after I plugged in the ipod, itunes came up with a whole new menu and started to update the version to 2.3. You just have to pull it out and plug it into the charger afterwards to finish the update.

I would of thought that if an older ipod could do it then a newer one would. I actually thought that my older ipod wouldn't of supported the new version.

What version of iTunes are you using?

yeh take it back to the d**k that sold it to ya and tell him that your generation i-pod dont work with it.. if he says u didnt tell him the generation, claim that u did

dont take no for an answer mate thats s**t

hey before ya start raggin the sales guy...exactly what did u say to him mate.....excuse me sir id like to get a headunit thats compatible with all ipods...or to connect to my 1st gen ipod ??? ... or just i need a headunit to cnnect an ipod up to...i like thi alpine unit will it work....

not everyones gonna click to say maybe should ask him if he has a pre-third gen....buyer should always do some investigation first....they may not take it back now youve installed it all.

And there were alpine cables to suit 1st gens..so u will need to investigate that opr talk to a local alpine dealer and see if that cable is compatible with your CDA-9857 - remeber 1st gen was loads slowerer...bout 5 secs not 5 mins tho lol..

c'mon kev lighten up, the boy needs a new HU

hehe nah just saying before venting yet at this sales dude...might be worth a lil further investigation as the older cable "may" be compatible...meaning he wont look like a tool goin off bout a refund when there is a cheap fix...around but yeh i dunno on this sub the right answer for him.

so there is a few different cables then? nah i didnt tell him what gen ipod it was cause he didnt ask (lol) and the fact that i didnt realise there were generations of ipods till i looked in the alpine manual and it had that stuff about them. Im not blaming the sales dude he seemed to know what he was talking about, maybe he thought the same as me and assumed it meant all the ipods. ill go and see them tomorrow and see what happens. thanks guys

no probs dude and the slaggin the sales staff was more aimed at the other guys ... but yeh im pretty sure there were first gen cables...I think now u have a KCE-422i and now third gens run off a faster throughput KCE420i...

I'll have a dig around for u...

Ok would you should need is the first gen cable - KCA-420i now I dunno if alpine still distribute them since they have been superceeded but im sure with the alpine ipod craze that has taken off there should be plenty round....what you will need to find out is if this first/2nd gen cable is compatible with the newer 3rd and 4th gen ipod compatible headunits such as the CDA-9857,9855R,9961 etc

Didn't you say up there that you have a 30 gig video ipod? They are like 5th generation ipods. I have a photo ipod and that is 4th generation. The video ones came out after that. If it is for 3rd gen and up yours should work fine.

yeh what i thought but dont know all too much about the ipods...but in saying that if it was 3rd gen+ then providing he had it connected/setup properly it should have worked when he tried...so either way something aint right

Yeah your right either way he should take it back and get them to have a look. I run my ipod on a Pioneer deck so I can't really help with the Alpine stuff.

I think from memory the 3rd generation part means it has a dock connector, and the iPod video is 5th generation.....