OK, so I have a video iPod and a Blackberry (BB) Storm with Bluetooth. I wanted to be able to:
1. Dock both of them simultaneously in the car
2. Charge both of them simultaneously in the car
3. Press play on either one and hear it through the stereo using CD/AUX input
4. Have the install look clean and match my interior and feel solid
5. Be easy to reach, see and manipulate while driving
6. Have a setup that allows my wife to plug in her iPod Nano
7. Use my Motorola 710 bluetooth earpiece with the Storm while it is playing Slacker Radio through the car and be able to take an incoming call easily
8. Be able to remove everything quickly and without leaving any permanent marks
I bought a floor model iPod Transdock from Ebay and modded it to fit the funny angle that the Sky cig lighter jack provides. Basically, the Transdock comes with several different lengths of pieces with different articulation for tilt and spin. I had to take apart the pieces, rewire and re-solder them to come up with a setup the was out of the way of the passenger and didn't stick out like a sore thumb, but was easy to reach and was solid and didn't bounce around over bumps. I use the Transdock to plug into the cig lighter to power and charge my iPOD (I leave it in all the time) and use the mini audio out to go into an audio splitter that is then shared with my BB Storm. So, I don't use the radio station broadcast feature because the audio cable provides far superior sound quality.
I bought a Blackberry Storm docking station for my storm which docks in the side position which then has the mini audio plug on the top side of the BB. I bought a super thin mini audio cable that then goes to the splitter shared by the iPod. The back of the dock has a mini USB power port which then plugs into the bottom of the iPod dock to charge my BB. I downloaded the free version of Slacker Radio player for my BB storm, and I have to say, I use it 9 times out of 10 over my XM radio - SLACKER RADIO JUST ROCKS!! You can customize your stations - they have the whole workd to choose from for genres and the sound quality is MUCH better than XM. When you hook your BB to your PC, the stations you "cache" download to your BB SIM card providing you with hours and hours of FREE high quality audio without using your minutes.
The BB Storm also doubles as a video player, and I have downloaded whole movies - Kung Fu Panda, etc, music videos, MP3s, etc that then play on the screen. (Don't tell Mom.) My BB is set to turn the screen off after 10 seconds to save battery, but I also modded my BB so that when an email comes in, the screen lights up for 3 seconds then turns off again - this way I can monitor work emails too.
I hid the wiring where the silver shifter surround meets the dash and velcroed the BB dock between the shifter and dash - perfect fit BTW. I use a Motorola bluetooth earpiece tied to my BB. When the BB is playing Slacker through the radio and a call comes in, Slacker is put on hold automatically and I hear the ringing in my earpiece. I tap the button on my earpiece to answer, and when done tap again. After 10 seconds, Slacker starts back up again automatically - sweet. If I want to play my iPod, I pause slacker and press play on the iPod and the music starts right up - no swapping cables, etc.
Here are some pics of the install:
If anyone is interested I will pull the cables out to show the connectors - but it is really quite basic - 1 radio shack splitter, 1 L shaped mini M to F coming from the radio to get the cable around the corner and 2 mini audio M to M cables, and 1 mini USB to USB cable.
(Oh and no busting on my music taste!)
