RV8NOTE239, iPod Nano in an RV8, V8 Register, MG Car Club

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Fitting a "modern CD stacker" in an RV8
One of our members in Japan, David Boniface (Oxford Blue 1589), provides a useful ICE tip for both V8 and RV8 enthusiasts. (Mar 06)

iPod nano is a compact unit - only 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches and 1.5 ounces - linked through a cable to a cassette adapter unit. (Photo: David Boniface)

I recently won an iPod Nano 2Gb in a prize draw and found the timing of that win was quite fortunate. Living in Japan with an RV8, I do not have the problem that European owners have with reimported cars who have either to change the radio or use a frequency converter of some kind. The OEM CD changers fitted to the RV8 model are now as rare as hen's teeth, even in Japan, but I did manage to find one a couple of years ago. However it recently failed and is uneconomical to repair apparently. Whilst pondering what to do - for example which new CD/radio

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combination to buy - I won the iPod.

OK, it is "only" a 2Gb model but it will store around 550 tracks which, if you assume that a typical CD will have say 10 tracks which you like, then that is the equivalent of 50 - 60 CDs, surely enough for most people I think. I then bought a simple cassette adaptor; it looks like a cassette but has a cable which plugs into the iPod and plays all the music on the iPod through the radio/cassette player. This means that, in addition to having a personal music player, I can use the iPod in any car with a cassette player or an input jack.

A variety of accessories for using many different MP3 players in a car are available from Belkin http://world.belkin.com/ This simple modification is worth thinking about rather than spending a lot of money to upgrade the ICE, especially in a noisy open car.

A further benefit was freeing up some valuable boot space and I have now found that the base unit for my Navi system will fit in the mounting bracket for the original CD changer.