I have one.
Guys,
I bought the P.I.E. iPod interface about a year ago, it also requires you purchase an additional wiring harness to make it plug and play, I got both from Crutchfield (like I said about a year ago) and the pair including shipping was right around $100.00. I don't have the part numbers handy, but if there is interest I'll dig into my car parts filing cabinet and get them.
The installation is fairly easy if you have the Ford radio pulling tool (also available at Crutchfield or Wally-world for 5 or 6 bucks). It took me about an hour and a half including time to cut off bit of plastic from behind the factory head unit away using my dremmel, this step is not be required but the adapter harness is very bulky and to get everything to fit and not bind up the wiring I thought it was the better way to go. I just cut part of the corner of plastic housing from the defrost venting (I think that is what it is anyway) be careful not to cut into the vent. There is a lot if extra material in there and removing some makes much more room.
Once the factory head unit is out you unplug all if the wires, plug in the adapter harness and then plug in the P.I.E. unit. find a place for all to extra wiring and slide the radio back into its slot. no fuss and relatively no mess. I put the unit on top of the transmission tunnel behind the console gauge cluster.
Make sure you unplug the factory CD change in the trunk if you don't the MP3 player wont work correctly. I just unplugged the trunk mounted unit and taped the plug up and left both the wire and changer in the car. Just incase I decide to reuse the CD changer in the future.
Once installed you plug the iPod into the new adapter end (the supplied cord is around 6 feet long so there is lots of places you can stash your iPod). The adapter allows control of the iPod and provides power. I ran the wire along the bottom side of the console and sort of jammed it up under the edge of the console, so it doesn't really show. I put the iPod in the center console and run the wire up between drivers side of the console and the drivers seat , you really don't see it unless looking for it. Now on to control....
You take your iPod to your computer and plug it in and create the required playlists on the iPod using the names of FORD1-FORD6 then load your favorite music or whatever into your choice of the FORD(1-6) named playlists.
You can access them as CD1, CD2 and so on from the factory head unit display. To switch to a specific songs within each playlist they are chosen by track up and down bottom and displayed as track1, track2 etc.on each FORD(1-6) playlist. It is kind of funky but functional. There is no way to display to song titles.
You can change the song, or playlist, increase or decrees the volume and switch the iPod on and off from either the head unit controls or the steering wheel controls.
The only bad things I have to say about the adapter are; once plugged in the iPod's controls are disabled, the display reads FORD, locked or something like that and you cannot use any of the iPod's buttons. I can live with this, but it is a pain in the @$$.
Second and probably the worst is; The unit produces a background hum, if you ever wired in new speakers and inadvertently created a ground loop, it sounds just like that. I think the adapter harness created the ground loop, I called Crutchfield and they replaced both parts but I believe it is a design flaw or something inherent to the adapter. I cannot figure out a way to eliminate it and it can be annoying.
The bottom line is the adapter is not perfect, it has its faults but it does function. I drive a lot, and like to listen to audio books when travelling. Prior to this adapter I used a power plug in the cigarette lighter and a cassette adapter, too many wires running around. I also tried the FM transmitter, still had to plug the iPod in somewhere for power and the FM signal would come and go, especially in large metro areas. The P.I.E adapter does hum a little and the display on the factory head unit is kind of funky but it is the best way I have used thus far to hear you iPod through the factory speakers as well as provide power to the unit.
For a cost of around $100 it isn't all that expensive, it provides power to the iPod, the ability to listen to the iPod via the cars audio system as well as change tracks and turn the unit on and off via the factory head unit (or steering wheel) controls. It isn't perfect but it works. If anyone is really interested, I can get the part numbers, and shoot some photos as well as type up more specific installation steps. If you are just let me know.
Happy New Year to All.
