I have a feeling this is a really dumb question… but if I can’t ask it here, then where?
I got my new Proform 397 Treadmill from Sears and I really like it.
It has an “iPod compatible port.” Okay… how do I connect the iPod to this port? What kind of a cord/cable do I need? Should the treadmill have come with some kind of cable? There’s no “dock,” just the hole to plug a cable into. I’m confused. The iPod itself came with earphones and a cord to connect to my computer.
Does the hole look like the hole in the iPod where the earbuds go? Then you need a cable with a TRS connector (aka stereo jack) on both ends. Plug it all together and the treadmill will apparently play the music on its built-in speakers. Yay!
That sounds and looks right. I guess I can find one of these at Wally World or Target? Radio Shack? I might have something like that around the house. Thanks ever so. 
I snagged one that’s about 8 inches long at Radio Shack for less than $3. They have various lengths.
How very strange that they would call a stereo jack an iPod Compatible Port. It’s also Walkman and Zune and Your 20 Year Old Kitchen Radio Compatible. I wonder if Apple looks kindly on manufacturers using their name in vain like that.
Hmm, I wonder if this idea will ever… uh… take off!
I got the cable at Target and it works great! Thanks, y’all.
I’m sure Apple loves it. “Look Mom, this treadmill/speakers/car (yes, my new car was billed that way) is iPod compatable. Now we have to keep buying Apple products.”
For the price I paid for my treadmill, you would think they could include the cord!
It’s marketing genius, actually. iPod IS the de facto standard now. Case in point, the OP didn’t even recognize the stereo input hole because of the iPod’s tremendous success despite its proprietary dock connector. People have been trained to think they need to look for “iPod-compatible” radios instead of radios with a standard stereo input jack, much to Apple’s credit and the rest of the industry’s chagrin.
People don’t buy or even talk about “mp3 players”, “digital audio players”, "Zune"s or "Sansa"s or anything of the sort; all of them combined wouldn’t have the mind or marketshare that the iPod has, so it entirely makes sense that “iPod compatible” is more marketable than “AUX INPUT” or “3.5mm stereo miniplug” or anything else you’d want to call it.
The downside, though, comes when people start buying Zune brand iPods, or if something like a treadmill has crappy built-in speakers and the user think it’s Apple’s fault. And the way trademark law works, Apple’s ability to crack down on the negative cases depends on them also cracking down on the positive ones.
Does “iPod-compatible” infringe on their trademarks?