Harman Kardon Drive + Play iPod Control System

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 12 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  a sleek, safe, and good sounding alternative to fumbling with tape deck converters and FM adapters.

  by FLproject4 on March 19, 2006

  Pros: great iPod integration and easy menu navigation, vivid display, and clear sound

  Cons: a bit pricey, and no "line-in" option with older factory radios.

  Summary: coming from a high-end company like harman/kardon, the drive + play exceeded my expectations. however, despite all of its great qualities (great looks, sound, and ease of use) this product ...

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  Summary: coming from a high-end company like harman/kardon, the drive + play exceeded my expectations. however, despite all of its great qualities (great looks, sound, and ease of use) this product still does not get any love or attention from cnet and the cnet community. i am the first one to review the product and it has been out for many months, and it is never on any CNET lists (ex. best iPod accessories). DRIVE + PLAY WON MANY AWARDS, INCLUDING MACWORLD'S BEST OF SHOW!!!
  
  the display is bright and easy to read in all light conditions (even with polarized sunglasses on, unlike iPod screens). the navigation control knob are easily mastered, as they are nearly identical to the iPod's click wheel. all in all, the whole set up looks very professional, and very cool. while driving, you can easily find songs and navigate through playlists with your iPod safely tucked away in your glovebox or center console. this is a win-win situation as it prevents clutter around the cabin, and scratches on the iPod. additionally, there is virtually no "lag" between the sound and the display.
  
  i can't argue that the price is a little steep. however, when put in perspective the price is more reasonable. i have gone through about 4 tape-deck converters, 1 Griffin iTrip, and 1 Belkin TuneCast II. The tape deck converters all broke or got lost, and the FM transmitters had terrible sound quality!
  
  the drive + play wired FM transmitter offers much improved sound quality than the integrated FM transmitter. so that is the best option if your car radio does not have an aux line-input...but if your car does have an imput, then the direct connection is the way to go.
  
  the drive + play is a very impressive package. with the drive + play your iPod and car stereo can finally come together as one. this level of integration is really unmatched by the other products on the market.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 7 stars

  Caution: This product only works with 4th generation Ipods and higher

  by mattliptak on August 6, 2006

  Pros: Ease of use a makes the Ipod even better in the car

  Cons: Only compatible with 4th gen and hgher Ipods

  Summary: purchased this item and owned a 3rd generation Ipod and when connected, and when you change songs, it skips for the first 10 secnds of each song. It also will ...

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  Summary: purchased this item and owned a 3rd generation Ipod and when connected, and when you change songs, it skips for the first 10 secnds of each song. It also will no remember where you left off in any menu if you go back. I had to purchase a whole new Ipod and it works perfect now. I talkd to the company and they said they designed this with 4th gen and higher models. Not sure why they didnt point this out. Other than that it works perfect! I think the big drawback is having to disconnect your Ipod each time you leave your car because it doesnt power the Ipod down automatically!

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  2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Good interface, but a noisy FM...

  by schmeric on January 10, 2007

  Pros: Heads-up ability to view limited iPod information

  Cons: Noisy wired FM connection

  Summary: Great little device for connecting your iPod to the car head unit. My 2000 Lexus does not have audio inputs nor could I find an aftermarket AUD-IN converter for this ...

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  Summary: Great little device for connecting your iPod to the car head unit. My 2000 Lexus does not have audio inputs nor could I find an aftermarket AUD-IN converter for this model year car (they run $150 - $350 anyway), so I had to go with the wired FM. I have a Sirius radio conneced to the AUX in on the D&P and there is negligible interference when connecting to an empty FM station, but the iPod has some distortion at the higher audible frequencies. Particularly on lyrics that have a strong "S" or "F" or alot of cymbals. I'm able to work around it by using a cassette adapter and connecting it to the iPod headphone jack while it is plugged in to the D&P. Much clearer sound, you can adjust the input volume, and you can still use the D&P joystick/display. Bottom line: good interface, audiophiles will cringe (unless you can connect directly to an audio input), and the AUX in can be used for a satellite radio(it's nice to be able to electronically toggle between the two). Have a pro install it - it's worth the extra $100.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Like it, but (I would say) the software has a few bugs...

  by st4000 on September 2, 2006

  Pros: Don't even need to see your iPod, plug it in and lock it away safe.

  Cons: (I think) the sofware can be improved...

  Summary: I like the unit and really like the concept so let's start with 10 and knock off points as we hack this thing. First off, I am only interested ...

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  Summary: I like the unit and really like the concept so let's start with 10 and knock off points as we hack this thing. First off, I am only interested in direct integration. Nice of it to have an FM transmitter, but that's not how we do it here! Another problem - I have an old radio with no auxiliary input! Fortunately I found enough on the web to hack an auxiliary output and input. Now on to a direct connection integration. I connected the radio's auxiliary output to the HK's input and the HK's output to the radio's input. Think of adding a graphic equalizer to your stereo. This worked great until the HK was powered down. Turns out the default HK power down behavior is to drop the connection when in the power down state (the HK is never really off). This should be a simple software fix. But the down side is that you always need the HK on to listen to anything through the HK's auxiliary input. Minus 2 points (this really annoys me)! Then, I noticed the automatic auxiliary switch menu setting does not survive a power down state like other menu settings! That's just inconsistent. Another point off. I also noticed a little delay in updating the screen and also in the controls. No doubt the 8051 processor (I am guessing) based HK is trying its best to get serial data to and from the iPod, the HK controller and the HK display. But the delay is noticeable and sometimes annoying. Especially when skipping forward in a song. For example, after releasing the rotation part of the HK's control know, the iPod continues to fast forward for 1 to 2 more skips. Minus 1 point. That puts us at 6 out of 10 points.
  
  Like I said, I like the unit, I really like the concept, but I wish Harman would fix the software.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Overrated and Overhyped

  by hinder90 on July 5, 2006

  Pros: Great controls, nice form factor

  Cons: Very limited iPod feature support, terrible display quality

  Summary: Coming from HK and with all the buzz about this product I really had my hopes up, especially after the high cost of having this installed in my '06 Subaru ...

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  Summary: Coming from HK and with all the buzz about this product I really had my hopes up, especially after the high cost of having this installed in my '06 Subaru Legacy. What I found was that while on the surface this is a great idea, it has a lot of issues that severely detract from its usefulness. Granted, the little control knob is really slick, and the unit does look very nice when it is powered off, that is where the pizzaz ends.
  
  First off, many key iPod features are not supported at all. The most notable is shuffle. While you can set your iPod in shuffle mode before plugging it in, you cannot go in and out of that mode without unplugging the iPod. You would expect to have the "Shuffle Songs" on the top menu, but alas, it is not present. HK claims it supports shuffle, but all it really can do is go in and out of the random mode a la the iPod settings which are extremly cumbersome to navigate and doesn't offer the same functionality. Second, the character set on the display is very limited, so anything outside of basic ASCII characters appear as periods, so good luck reading French, Spanish or lord help you Swedish song titles. Third, like the iPod mini, there is no album title info shown when diplaying the track info for what is playing. Finally, the dislay quality itself is very poor even for monochrome- there a lines that intersect for each pixel displayed kind of like a primitive LCD pocket video game from the 80's. Lastly, there is no gain control on the device to adjust the volume levels going in or out of the thing, so you had better be happy with amplitudes that the device puts out to your stereo. Honestly, it should have some way of normalizing the audio digitally, but I realize that is asking a lot, so just to be able to manually regulate is necessary.
  
  All in all, this is a great idea implimented poorly.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 8 stars

  Sharp looking and easier than fumbling with the iPod while driving.

  by teejay69 on April 22, 2006

  Pros: Very complimentary to vehicle look, good sound

  Cons: Wiring needs to be done professionally for best results.

  Summary: Harman Kardon did a great job in keeping the controls for this system as intuitive as the iPod itself. It also presents the information in a very stylish heads up ...

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  Summary: Harman Kardon did a great job in keeping the controls for this system as intuitive as the iPod itself. It also presents the information in a very stylish heads up display. Keeping the backlight on the display in the on setting may be distracting at night while driving, but it can be set to turn off after 10 seconds. The joystick lights up in a beautiful blue ring that looks real sharp at night. The sound quality is better than using the iTrip method, and best if you hard wire the unit to the radio. My favorite extra is that you can hook an additional imput (XM Radio) into the brain and have access to that as well. Overall I am very pleased. This system rocks! I love it!

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Reliable and easy to use, this product holds up the Harman/Kardon name.

  by SoonerBorn88 on April 10, 2008

  Pros: Intuitive menu controls, painless install, easy overall setup.

  Cons: The scrolling is a little tedious, takes way too long to scroll through all of my music.

  Summary: This device is all business, easy setup, easy use, and most importantly RELIABLE! I have never installed anything in my car and this was a treat. The install was painless ...

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  Summary: This device is all business, easy setup, easy use, and most importantly RELIABLE! I have never installed anything in my car and this was a treat. The install was painless with three different connection options. The screen is small enough to be "low-key" and the same applies to the control knob. Everything you need is included for power source and the three different input options. The FM Transmitter is the best I have experienced, it is a perfect stand-in until you preform a more permanent install. I would recommend this product to anyone who is looking for a straight forward, easy to use, reliable iPod interface.

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• 6 stars

  Great idea but the wireless fm transmission sound is not great

  by barglancy on January 10, 2008

  Pros: Ipod like controls in a sleek package

  Cons: Wireless FM transmission is not great

  Summary: First off the video cnet has up here is for the Drive and Play 2. That product retails for about $400.
  I recently got the Drive and Play 1 (NIB)
  ...

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  Summary: First off the video cnet has up here is for the Drive and Play 2. That product retails for about $400.
  I recently got the Drive and Play 1 (NIB) for $21 (including shipping) on ebay. I installed it myself using the cigarette ligther for power but there is an alternative to the cigarette lighter providing power however I'd recommend a pro installation for that.
  It's a monochrome screen and the control wheel is wired. However it works great just like the ipod trakwheel.
  I will be purchasing the wired fm transmiter to see if it improves sound quality ($29.99 at Crutchfield). The people at Crutchfield are very helpful for tips when doing an install on an item like the plug and drive.
  Overall it looks great and works great but the sound quality will make audiophiles cringe.
  The following are links to Drive and Play 1 reviews on youtube
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1EfcJIZUV4&feature=related
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWe38mHvy9s

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• 5 stars

  A good concept that needs to be expanded on.

  by timacx on May 13, 2007

  Pros: Similar interface to the iPod. It's the closest thing to a heads-up display for iPod control.

  Cons: The software is poorly made. If you have more than 50 artists, the scrolling function is absolotely horrible. No option for podcasts on the top menu! I had to make a playlist for them.

  Summary: If you consider buying it, plan on mounting the display to your dashboard. Mine slid off of the dash a few times and the wire pulled out of the back....

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  Summary: If you consider buying it, plan on mounting the display to your dashboard. Mine slid off of the dash a few times and the wire pulled out of the back.
  If you're a podcast fan, you'll have to constantly update a playlist with podcasts, as the interface does not have the option.

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• 8 stars

  Great and easy to use - software could be better!

  by jfs777 on September 23, 2006

  Pros: Great sound; adequate control system; Main pro is that it stops me fiddling with my iPod whilst driving!!

  Cons: Control doesn't emulate iPod exactly - some features annoyingly missing; poor display.

  Summary: Essentially this is a great product with a few minor flaws. Much has been said already in other reviews but my main issue is with the browsing & shuffle controls. ...

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  Summary: Essentially this is a great product with a few minor flaws. Much has been said already in other reviews but my main issue is with the browsing & shuffle controls. A small irritation is that there is no equiv to the "Shuffle Songs" main menu item ala iPod - you can do this by setting the shuffle setttings feature on/off but this seems annoying and fiddly to do each time. However, my main gripe is with the browse feature which does not appear to let you play all songs by a specific "artist" or "genre" (as does the iPod); in both cases the menu path forces you to select an album and song to play. A real shame this - unless anybody knows how to work this better than me! I guess it would also be nice to update the firmware...

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