# iPod Compatible OEM Car Stereos - Why Just iPod? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517 "2009-04-01T00:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tannim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Tannim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tannim)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/21 "2009-04-01T14:57:38Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > If you have 60K to spend on a Volkswagon with a fancier badge then you can also spend 200$ for an ipod and ditch that zune. 😛 Why would I want to go to lower quality audio? ipod may have the market share but there are many other MP3 players that have much higher quality audio ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/22 "2009-04-01T15:13:17Z")
> [@Tannim](#): > > Why would I want to go to lower quality audio? ipod may have the market share but there are many other MP3 players that have much higher quality audio I’m not certain, but I would think that the head unit is accessing the file digitally, and so the quality of the music player doesn’t matter, only the quality of the file. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/23 "2009-04-01T15:19:27Z")
> [@Tannim](#): > > Why would I want to go to lower quality audio? ipod may have the market share but there are many other MP3 players that have much higher quality audio This _may_ be true for iPod earbuds, but the actual D/A circuitry is basically the same for all MP3 players. Since you will be using the car’s speakers, your point is invalid. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/24 "2009-04-01T15:29:42Z")
> [@Tannim](#): > > ipod may have the market share but there are many other MP3 players that have much higher quality audio Such as? Do you have any links to test/comparison results? ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/25 "2009-04-01T19:20:46Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > While I’d like to discuss with you all the reasons why an S5 isn’t anything like a rebadged VW, I’d say a necessary first step would be your learning to spell “Volkswagen” properly. Do that and then get back to me. I thought that’s what you call it in the US. I even remember seeing the word “Volkswagon” on an official VW brochure. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/26 "2009-04-01T19:40:53Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > I thought that’s what you call it in the US. I even remember seeing the word “Volkswagon” on an official VW brochure. As you can see on the [VW America](http://www.vw.com/) website this isn’t true. That’s not to say that the other spelling has never found it’s way onto a brochure but I don’t recall them ever using it officially. If VW got off their asses and made a 2-door sports coupe I might actually consider it too. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517/27 "2009-04-02T00:52:53Z")
Well, this is enlightening. I was under the impression that Zunes, Creative players, etc, can’t be accessed by other devices because they don’t have the capability built into them. My Creative Zen Micro, for example, uses a USB cable, and I can connect it to my car stereo through a headphone cable. But I can’t control it through a car stereo the way I can my ipod, and I’ve always assumed it was just because apple made the pods with connectivity to docking stations and the like in mind, and so made the pods controllable through another device. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-compatible-oem-car-stereos-why-just-ipod/491517.md?page=1)