Replacing a CD Changer With An MP3 Player

Replacing a CD Changer With An MP3 Player

My 12 disc CD changer in the Corvette seems to be jammed again. I'm going to try and open it up, and see if I can unjam it--but if not, I have been looking at replacements/alternatives. It turns out that you can't just replace it with any old CD changer. The factory stereo ("the head" as stereo techs call it) has to be compatible so that the controls for changing discs, track seek, etc. work. So far, I have found the GM labeled unit (which is made by Pioneer)--for more than $500. There is also a 6 disc changer that apparently is plug compatible, and responds to the factory stereo controls--for about $200.

But there are a lot of people replacing 12 disc CD changers in Corvettes with iPods. There are adapters that let the iPod respond to the stereo CD controls, just like a several hundred disc CD changer. But the adapter is $150, and then you need to spend a couple hundred dollars for the iPod.

What I am not finding is an adapter that lets you put an MP3 player in the trunk in place of the factory CD changer--and I'm a little surprised that this market opportunity has been missed. The factory stereo for the Corvette (and I suspect most other GM cars of the period) needs a pretty limited set of capabilities at the far end of the CD changer cable: select the next CD; play CD; skip to the next track; skip to the previous track; go back a second; go forward a second. And of course, provide electrical power to the MP3 player.

Think about this for a second: here's a chance for some company to make a bit of money with all the CD changers that are starting to fail (like mine) or where someone wants more CDs than they can currently put in the changer. At the same time, MP3 players are quite inexpensive, and far more durable than a CD changer. They also don't have the skip problem on rough roads that even a pretty decent CD changer has. And they take up less space in the rear of the car. So why hasn't this market demand been met? Or have I just not found the product that I need?

UPDATE: I'm disappointed to report that even the iPod adapter doesn't exactly provide the functionality of the CD changer. No surprise: it can't feed the iPod's track number (or whatever its equivalent is) into a device that is limited to only two digits. And the 6 disc CD changer offered that is compatible with the GM stereo is substantially cheaper than the combination of cables and a 4 GB iPod. Yes, I could replace the stereo as well, and have a really cool stereo that hands 8 GB DVDs with a vast number of albums recorded in MP3 format--but this is starting to get more complex than music for a car justifies at this time.