OK. The ice link has arrived!! It's pretty much a long cable with a small shrink wrapped circuit board in the middle. I got the version w/ the dock cable instead of the cradle. So, one end of the cord is the docking plug and the other is a harness. The instructions state that the harness plugs into a receptacle in the back or bottom of the radio marked w/ a red X or arrow. I don't remember which. They also state if something else is pluged in (i.e. the CD changer harness) it should be unplugged. I'm hoping to have this thing up and going no later than Saturday afternoon. It's just a matter of finding the time (and energy if after work).

 

Well . . . I had a pretty easy day at work today. I had some energy when I got home because of this. So, the ice link got installed. Originally, I wanted to put the ipod in the compartment w/ the sliding cover. However, I didn't manage to figure out how the center console could be dismantled quickly and I didn't feel like spending much time. So, I ended up doing the install slightly ghetto. The wire basically pops out of the back of the dash board by the knee bolster. I figure I can put the ipod in the mesh pocket after I plug it in since the wire is coming from there.

The install itself was unbelievably easy. The device is basically two wires that you plug into a shrink wrapped circuit board. One wire then plugs into a harness receptacle on the back of the radio and the other end plugs into the ipod. There was a harness plugged into that receptacle on the radio already. So, I unplugged it. I assume that the other end of this harness was the harness in the trunk mentioned in an earlier post. I have to say the hardest part of the install was getting the trim piece w/ the radio cover back on. What a pain!!

Anyway, the sound is just as good as when playing a CD. The controls are also relatively intuitive and you can switch between two control modes. One where you are listening to playlists and can control only through the radio and the other where you can use the controls on the ipod or the controls on the radio to listen to all the music on your ipod. I've only used it so far on a short drive to the gas station, but I think it's great.