Thanks buddy! Kinda gives it a "JDM" feel... .
:yelrotflm

:lol:

Does that mean a video Ipod will play movies on his screen? :dunno:

Not readily, I still need to get the avelectronics box to input video onto the nav screen. I plan to go that route when I have the funds for that input box!

Yes, it is USB 2.0 compatible.

I did some research on this myself this weekend with a 20gb external hard drive so I could provide you with accurate answers. ;)

The unit will only recognize the FAT/FAT32 filesystem, which is what is used on most (if not all) USB flash drives (including small USB MP3 players like the iPod shuffle and Creative MuVo). Connecting your iPod via USB will also work if it is formatted for Windows use, but of course, the iPod simply states "Do Not Disconnect" while the unit is in operation. As such, any FAT32 formatted hard disk will work. Drives formatted as NTFS or other formats will not work.

The unit plays songs from the disk in alphabetical order based upon only the first 6 characters of the file (since internally it uses the old DOS "8.3" file naming convention when reading the drive). So if the names of your files start with the artist's name, the unit would play the songs by a given artist one after the other and then would move to the next artist, etc.

If you have folders, it will play all of the songs in one folder (in alphabetical order based upon the first 6 characters of the file name) before moving on to the next folder. It seems to traverse the folders based upon the order in which they were created as opposed to alphabetically. Multiple levels of folders do not affect it. It will dig through sub-directories to find your songs.

If you get tired of listening to a particular folder/artist, you can hold fast forward or rewind to rapidly skip many songs at once, which will likely land you in another folder/artist.

The USB port will provide the same amount of power that your PC does. So any drive that can be powered by your PC can also be powered by this unit. This includes those 2.5" notebook hard drives. The larger 3.5" external drives that require external power supplies would still need external power. That's what I used for my test, along with a power inverter.

Hopefully that adequately answers your questions, but if you have any more, please feel free to ask. ;)

Thank you for doing the test and for the great review. I was unsure if there would be any side effects to using the unit with the navigation system, which is why I appreciate your help in testing. It's great to know that it's not a serious issue. I have informed the manufacturer, but they cannot promise that it will be fixed in the short term. They will need to find a car with navigation that they can use for testing, research the problem, etc. I don't expect that this minor problem will affect sales much in the mean time. ;)

I received my unit today. I was a pre navigation tester. I have a 2005 with Navigation and 9.73 firmware. I installed and it works as described. I ran the wire to the glovebox and I willl leave the ipod in the glovebox out of sight. I no longer have to turn the headunit off before turning off the ingnition. I can now turn off the ignition, the ipod pauses and when I turn the ignition back on the ipod starts where I left off. It takes approximately 7 to 8 seconds for the ipod to start up, so if anyone is installing this, be patient. I switched from EX to FM to AM to CD and back to EX and each time the ipod paused and restarted where I left off when I went back to the EX mode. The true test will come after I have not driven my car for one day. With my icelink, if I did not drive my car for a day, then I had to turn on the headunit, turn it off, disconnect the ipod, reconnect the ipod and then turn the headunit back on. It was a pain. So I will not be driving my car until Wednesday evening and I will see if the ipod starts up where I left off. I will post the results Wednesday night. I also tried the second connector with a portable CD player. It worked when I tunred off the ipod, although the sound was very low. It was probably the fault of the portable CD player. I am thinking of attaching a satellite radio using this plug, does anyone know where I can hook into a power souce near the glovebox?

As far as the Japanese writing opn the navigation unit, this happens when you turn of the headunit with the navigation unit up. It has nothing to do with the icelink or this new unit from falcontx.

I don't think I will be using the icelink again. It was a pain. This new unit is less than half the price and works as described so far. I will post my Wednesday results late Wednesday night. I will also post any updates regarding any issues that may come up.

Thanks falcontx. So far the unit is great and the price is even better.

I ordered my on Monday nad can't wait to get :) .

I'm very interested in this (interested enough to shell out some effort and money to get my firmware updated), but I really want to know whether the video ipod will output video while connected. My ultimate goal is the video ipod controlable via the steering wheel with video displaying on my nav screen. Can anybody do a test with their video ipod to see if the video output is still working when hooked up to this unit (or make an educated guess about whether it will)?

Thanks!

Josh

Or how about the video function on the Ipod itself. I just want to make sure that if I get this, and want to watch a movie on the Ipod, I can plug it in, and listen to it through the car stereo. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I just want to make sure prior to the investment.

There is absolutely no reason why this would not work. The AudioLink does not affect the usability of the iPod at all. It would basically be the same as watching video on your iPod with it connected to the charger. The video is still displayed on the iPod and the RCA output comes out through the headphone jack, which is free.

I really like the idea of this thing (read: I gave my iTrip to my girlfriend! Hehehe!) I have an '03 JDM, with 9.53 firmware. I shouldn't have any problems once I get the firmware upgraded right? & how much for international customers, including shipping? Thanks.

No, once the firmware is upgrade, the unit will work fine. Shipping to most countries overseas is $15.00. We use USPS Global Express Mail for the fastest and most reliable service. We're currently working on a way to integrate shipping quotes into the website, but for now, if you place your pre-order without using the coupon, it will total $139.95 and we can then apply a lesser discount to cover the cost of the shipping when we process the payment.

Okay, thanks falcontx. Just ordered one. Hope to see it soon!

You can try this to upgrade your firmware. It sure is cheaper than shelling out $50. Hope it works.
https://www.rx8club.com/violations-53/download-nav-firmware-update-software-75010/

that is the Navigation update it will not work to Upgrade the head unit

and the head unit upgrade www.mazdaparts.com offers is only for North American customers...there isn't one for Euro/JDM spec cars :(

Huh? Say it ain't so!! Then that Audio Link won't work on my 8?!? :sad: What's so different about our head units anyway? :dunno:

sorry bud :( many nice guys such as yourself have run into this exact problem :(

Thanks truemagellen. I guess I'll wait till I can find a way to upgrade my head unit's firmware, that or get a USDM head unit!!

Btw, if this is so, then presumably I won't be able to use that AVS Electronics Switcher on Mazdaparts too since that requires firmware 9.55 as well.

the avelectronic doesn't need a the firmware upgrade it is independent :)

see my DIY click on the link in my signature :)

is this basically a rebadged PIE box with a few updgrades? As for the Japanese menu, I stumbled upon it when I added my PIE box last summer. It is a great price considering it auto selects the source and has an aux in. I may have to sell my PIE box for this.

Also, what happens if a signal is coming from the Ipod AND the aux in? Which does it choose? It would be great to feed an audio signal from a bluetooth adaptor or radar detector that would essentially mute the music and sream a warning signal or call through the speakers.

Well, it may be similar in functionality to the PIE unit, but they are in no way related.

Using the iPod unit as an example, if the iPod is playing and a signal becomes active via the auxiliarry port, it will attenuate the iPod signal (it can still be heard a tiny bit in the background) and play the auxilliary signal at normal volume. So, it could be used as you described, assuming the radar detector or other device actually turns the audion signal on ad off rather than just keeping the audio signal active with no volume, in which case audio fron the iPod would be attenuated the entire time. Hopefully that makes sense. ;)

what if both devices are connected could the device overload and not dump the extra voltage and damage the head unit?

if the voltage spikeswell above the maximum ~2watts RMS

By reading and looking at the picture, choices are either USP MP3 cable or ipod cable. I do not wish to sound picky, but I have 40gig RCA USB mp3 player and wife has 20gig ipod.

In order for me to convience her to buy me kit for Christmas present, I have to tell her that she can simply plug in her ipod and control the unit from the steering wheel. However, since I will be driving the car most of the time, I would like to connect my USB MP3 player.

Can I purchase additional cable to accomodate both ipod and usb connection?

Thank you in advance,
Nedor

Unfortunately not. They are two distinct units. The iPod can be plugged into the USB AudioLink using the same USB cable you use to connect it to the computer, but the USB AudioLink will simply read the songs off of the hard drive just like it will with the 40g RCA unit. In both cases, the built-in user interface of the player can not be used.