Connecting iPod to Honda Music Link

Dang, I should be buying my new 2007 Pilot in the next few weeks and the native ipod integration was a feature i was really looking forward to. Hopefully they've addressed this issue by then.

Out of curiosity is anyone familiar with any 3rd party options that connect into the stereo system in a similar way?

Also, I too have read that the requirements indicate a 4th generation ipod or higher... aren't the dock connectors the same for the 3rd and 4th ➕ generations? Has anyone tried a 3rd generation with the honda system?

In my mind this is a Honda issue...not an Apple issue. We need to push Honda to honor their committment and issue a firmware upgrade for the music link that the customer can download and install without necessarily visiting the dealer.

Also, they should be immediately notifying all customers to NOT download the latest iPod software as stated in the user manual.

I still want my money back.

How is Honda going to issue a firmware upgrade? Thru Itunes? I don't think it should be released by Honda - it should be released by Apple. Apple makes the software/firmware that runs their devices, not third parties, so Apple needs to fix it. I agree that Honda should notify/warn Honda Music Link owners of problems with Apple firmware products that conflict with the Link.

I still blame honda. remember that there is not a direct link between the honda sound system and the iPod. There is a third party hardware device that is honda branded that facilitates the link. Honda needs to provide a firmware upgrade for this device, and I believe it could be delivered via the ipod.

honda needs to take a serious look at the music link package. the device is buggy and the software is attrocious. I wiped all of the TTS files from my system, reset my ipod reinstalled ipod and itunes software, did a registry and disk seard for any remnants of the TTS program...and I still have the stinking voice talking to me...and its not even the right song! zep is now rolling stones and csny is now the beatles.

the toyota system is vastly superior. it shows title artist etc. on the radio display, and the link is integrated into the center console.

apple has every right to upgrade and improve their devices. the third party vendors need to spend the time and money to keep up.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not crazy about the Music Link and how it works. It's barely adequate in my book as far as functionality, but the sound quality is leaps and bounds ahead of an FM transmitter.

And after spending basically $400 for a 60 gig iPod and $340 on the Honda Music Link, I don't really care whether Apple or Honda is responsible for the situation. All I know is that I have a sizeable investment in this system, and it worked until Apple changed something.

Until either Apple or Honda takes some sort of action to correct the issue (and I don't care which, although the best would probably be if they worked together), I won't update my firmware or iTunes any further.

Dell Windows XP

Spoke with Acura corporate yesterday, and their guy seems to think the software solution will be coming from Acura. However, from other things he said, I am not sure that he actually knows. Seems like Apple would issue the update on 1.2.1 or something. I don't know. I just want it to work.

I called the Honda 800 number posted in this forum and spoke to a 'nice' person who was concerned about the issue but had no knowledge of the extent of the issue. That was Thursday and no word yet... I, too, want a solution that works, prefeerably with no software on my iPod.

I disagree that apple is not responsible either. I certainly understand that they have to continue updating their software, it makes sense, I want them to. But I think they should inform thier third party vendors before doing so in case something like this happens, and that way we don't have to suffer what we're going through. That is simply not fair, and also Apple markets the ipod claiming compatibility in your vehicle, if so then they should assist in resolving this issue. I spoke with Acura corporate, they don't know how long this is going to take obviosuly. Apparently it is Alpine who makes the software for the Musiclink and the guy said it could be one day, or three months, who knows. I'd suggest everyone continue calling Acura and Honda and letting them know you're upset. It this thier responsibilty to coordinate with Apple, and vice versa to make sure thier products work efficiently and properly without any issues. In my mind thier both accountable, and if I don't get a suitable solution within a couple of weeks, I am definitely not going to sit around waiting for a solution in three or who knows how many months. This is my mind is a complete lack of accountability and responsibility. THey're too slow to act, and they should have been prepared for something like this. Acura/Honda knows Apple is going to continue updating, it's obvious, again they should (or Alpine, I don't know, someone) be informed by Apple or something to avoid these situations. Ridiculous.

I was at the dealer today getting my civic serviced and discussed this with the service manager and the sales manager. Neither had ANY knowledge of this issue. Maybe its just too soon (when was the 1.2 upgrade issued?). One would think that Honda would have notified their dealers by now.

I'm a member of consumers union and will definitly be notifying consumer reports. This issue needs to move beyond this thread...no one is reading this but us.

I called honda and apple and neither one seemed to be aware of the problem. I did get a call back from honda about the ipod problem. I am going to call them back on monday. I told the person at honda that they should notify apple that there is a problem. They are two very large companies that have collaborated on this and between the two of them they should put thier heads together and fix it. I work in IT and any time we have a problem like this everyone gets in a room and we figure out a fix. I told honda and apple that they should work together to fix this problem. It is all about a little integration work and regression testing on both companies part. It is all about good Change mananagement. I think everyone on this tread needs to call honda and apple and put pressure on them to fix this issue. If enough of us call them they will see that it is a big problem. The reason i bought the honda accord was the fact that they had the ipod link and they do make a great car. I still love both the ipod and my honda but to do nothing about this would be really leave me thinking about getting toyota for my next car. So i do urge everyone to call honda and apple and let them know that thier is a problem and they should have the engineers at honda work with the engineers at apple to come up with a fix for everyone else out there that is having the same problem. BTW my problem is fixed with the outlined instructions i posted on my earlier thread.
Total time to fix the problem was not long but i had to reload all of my songs which i am still in the process of doing.

This was well documented earlier on in this thread. Check the prior posts. I for one am not rolling back anything and will wait for a fix from Apple and or Honda, both of whom I've contacted via email and telephone to complain/notify them of the problem.

Apple AND Honda darn well knew about this. I updated within 2 days of the original release of 1.2 and immediately had the problem. That day I contacted Honda corporate AND Apple and had them officially document the problem.

I posted earlier on this thread. It seems that you have to downgrade to iTunes 6.05 and iPod 1.12 in order for the Honda music link to work again. This is probably nothing new to most people on this thread.....

I own a Honda Civic, and I didn't downgrade anything. I just took a wire, plugged it into my AUX jack and into my iPod, got an iClick remote device (so I can keep my eyes on the road), and find this to be MUCH better than the Honda musiclink.

Like everyone else, I spent several hundred dollars on this musiclink and it has always sucked.....more so now, of course!!

I hate to have wasted money, but perhaps something better will come out of this.

What wire did you plug into the aux jack? This is what I was trying to do originally and was told by Honda and Sound Advice that there was no such wire since the Honda plug in was proprietary. I would LOVE to simplify and just plug my IPOD directly into the stereo system.

Well i got a glimmer of hope today. i called honda and they said that they are in the middle of running test to come up with a solutions. no time frame unfortunately. but i figure it's a step in the right direction. keep on it guys!!!!!!