GM announces new radios will have audio input jacks

[Click On Title For More Information]

The explosion in digital audio players like the iPod, Creative MP3 players and the like has created a vast market of aftermarket products designed to get them to work in cars. However, most of these are either new headunits that cost a lot and are difficult to install or adapters that lead to messy looks and poor audio quality. You would think that the leading auto manufacturers would have created a solution to this by now. BMW pushed their iPod adapter with great fanfare and some creative commercials, but it was an expen$ive option that only worked with the iPod.

But now good old Detroit comes to the rescue... partly. Playlistmag.com states that "General Motors has announced plans to introduce an auxiliary input jack and an auxiliary channel on new radios coming to the Chevy HHR and GM vehicles later this year. The auto maker said that the input jack will simplify connecting Apple iPods and other music players."



The photo released by GM shows that it takes a standard headphone jack. Now this is GREAT news! Instead of using some special adapter that only works with a few devices this should be able to work with anything using the typical 3.5mm jacks. Of course dock type connectors allow certain devices like the iPod to charge and be controlled via the cars built in controls, but personally I think that using this more general connector allows flexibility of devices. A great plus for those people who use other MP3 / audio devices.

Look for these to be standard equipment on certain GM models and probably a extra cost options on the rest of their lines if they turn out to be a popular feature.