Photos: Gadgets we're thankful for, part 1

by ZDNet Author | November 20, 2008 4:04am PST | Image 1 of 6

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Alpine CDA-9884
When is it time to get a new car stereo? When your 7-year-old factory-installed CD player rejects Bruce Springsteen. It first started editorializing earlier this year when it dismissed the new album from Destroyer--not to everyone's taste, I admit.

Later, it regurgitated the latest from the Raconteurs--more mainstream and hard not to like. Next, it said no to the Boss. The only thing to do was replace the stereo.

Enter the Alpine CDA-9884. Not surprisingly, it accepts all CDs (I have simple needs). It's satellite-radio-ready, and it's Bluetooth-ready, so it's a stereo I can really grow into. But best of all, it enables me to access the music collection on my 30GB iPod right from the stereo.

The iPod connects--and charges--via a hidden cable (about $30 extra) that runs from the stereo to the glove box. I can hook up the iPod, toss it in the glove box, and forget about it. A seemingly endless menu of music is at my fingertips.

Add to that the fact that the guy who installed the stereo goes by the name "Goose" (it even says so on the receipt). Makes me wonder how I ever got along without it.

--Anne Dujmovic

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