USA SPEC (PA11-CHR) iPod to Factory Radio Wired Music Interface with AUX (RCA) Port for 99-06 CHRYSLER/DODGE/JEEP

So far so good. I love being able to play my iPod and charge it in my 06 Jeep Liberty. This unit will also let you play an "auxiliary device" so while it doesn't charge my Droid, I can absolutely play the music/streaming from my Droid phone over this unit (there is a left RCA input and a right RCA input, so with a simply 1/8" to RCA adapter you can play any device with a normal headphone out).This unit plugs into the port where the external CD changer would normally plug in. I actually have a 6 disc in-dash changer, but there was a Satellite XM unit plugged into the extra port. I didn't want to pay for satellite radio anyway (not to mention the streaming quality is awful), so I simply unplugged the XM Radio unit and plugged this in. Voila! iPod in my Jeep!TO BE CLEAR: This unit ABSOLUTELY works in a Jeep Liberty with the in-dash 6 CD changer (some website listings for this unit say it will not). This unit plugs in where you would normally plug in the external CD changer that goes in the back of the car, or under the seat, or in the console. If you have an XM Radio unit, it uses the same port. Unplug the XM Radio or external CD Changer and plug this in and you're good to go. This does mean that you can't have an external CD changer and this unit hooked up together though.The unit itself is a little white box, with two fairly long cables plugged into it. One cable plugs into the back of your factory stereo, the other cable is what plugs into your iPod. I ran the factory stereo cable under the console housing and into the dash. This lets me put the unit itself under the passenger seat. It's good to keep the unit at least a *little bit* accessible if you want to switch between modes, and also if you want to plug into the AUXILIARY port (instead of the using the iPod cable).There are two modes (well, technically three, because you can select "hybrid"). One lets you use your steering wheel controls and your factory head unit to control 5 playlists. The other just lets you use your iPod normally. With the mode that allows you to control five playlists with your stereo controls, you can either name five playlists a special name that allows the unit to find them and treat them as the chosen lists, or the unit will just choose the first five lists on your iPod."Hybrid" (which theoretically would allow you to have the factory stereo control the five playlists while letting you still use the iPod itself normally) would be great if it worked for iPods past software update 1.1. That's right, hybrid mode only works for the software that became obsolete nearly a decade ago. Anybody who had an iPod after 2006 or thereabouts upgraded the software on their iPod. I can't imagine there being a single iPod on the planet that actually still uses v.1.0 of the iPod software, so saying this unit even has a "hybrid" setting is kind of like saying, "Sure, it has 'internet' mode, but you have to telnet in via a fax machine." [eye roll]The fact of the matter is that there aren't many solid aux/iPod input units out there in the first place (especially without splicing into your wires), and the fact that this one allows me to simply plug into the back of my stereo and has a dedicated cable that will allow my iPod to charge while I listen makes this the clear winner. The added bonus of being able to use the factory stereo and steering wheel controls to control Five Playlists is nice if you want to go that route (though limiting yourself to five playlists on an iPod seems kind of ridiculous... if hybrid mode worked, it would be FANTASTIC, but that's not really an option unless you are running the most ancient of software revisions on your already ancient iPod).p.s. The sellers on AMAZON are NOT factory authorized retailers (but this means a significantly lower price). This means if anything goes wrong, USA Spec WILL NOT help you out. They will tell you that you should have paid more through a "factory authorized" dealer, and since you didn't... your up the creek without a paddle. It's basically a fifty dollar gamble (pay more for what amounts to insurance, or save your money on the initial purchase and just toss it if anything goes wrong). FWIW, I've had my unit for nearly a year with no problems.

I needed this shipped to a different address, to be installed in a car ('02 Jeep Liberty) I flew out to purchase, then drive back. The item arrived just fine, installed alright. However, the operation leaves something to be desired.The unit is prone to shutting off the audio and rebooting at random intervals. I drive 12 miles to work every day, and sometimes it will shut off twice during that period (one day it did it twice within two minutes). When I contacted USA SPEC about this issue, there was a near total lack of interest. Eventually, the "customer service" person waved me off, claiming that the "seller was not an authorized reseller of our product".Alright.Nevermind that the item, and all packaging is clearly USA SPEC's. If it IS a counterfeit, that should be an issue that USA SPEC needs to look at, instead of sticking it to the end-user.Nobody's fooled, here. These things roll out of a sweatshop somewhere deep in China. Markups/margins on these things are incredible. It would have cost USA SPEC next to nothing to simply say "Hey, we'll send you a new one, send us the old one when it arrives..." and maybe do a little research on how it became faulty. You know...what was it they called it in the old days?... "product support", I think it was?In any case, the issue is not with the seller. They did a great job getting it there, on time, and intact. The product, however - and the small, 10-person company in Los Angeles that imports it - leave a lot to be desired.

I'm really impressed with how well this thing works. I can play music from my ipod, or any random thing with a headset jack really. The impressive part, of course, is not just that it can play music but that the controls on your factory stereo can now control the iPod. This I love, and it works well with the mopar stereo. You can easily play, pause, next track, last track, and even fast forward.So why only 4 stars? As a couple people have noted, it has a few minor glitches, but they are minor. Every once in a while it will "skip"... and since the ipod is solid state, I'm not really sure what's causing this. It's pretty rare, so not a huge deal. More often though, my stereo will just start playing the iPod, almost always within a minute or two of starting the car... I think it thinks i just loaded some CDs into the changer or something. Annoying, but not overwhelmingly so, unplug the ipod and it won't happen... and honest when it does, just hit the button to switch back to the radio.Anyway, self install was easy enough, and it works great, much better music in my car now!

The install was very simple (plug and play as advertised). The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating is that it takes a few seconds after turning on the car for the device and iPhone to start working. We were a little impatient when trying to use it for the first time and started pressing buttons on the radio console, which caused it to pause the music or play the music with no audio. If you wait about 5-10 seconds after starting the car, everything seems to work as advertised. We did have to toggle the dip switches to make it work the way we wanted it to (we wanted to use the radio controls or iPhone controls and also be able to use the auxilliary audio input connectors for other audio devices). I believe the factory dip switch settings locked the iPhone screen and disabled the auxilliary input connectors.