Alpine IDA-X305S Pandora Radio/iPod Reciever

I thought I would miss having a CD player in the car, but with this radio and Pandora, iPod or smartphone capability, I'll probably never go back to a CD player again. Though this unit has satellite capability too, remember that to use Sirius, the unit must be paired with a satellite tuner and a subscription must be activated. I have not re-connected with Sirius yet, but I am considering it (I miss a lot of the news & entertainment channels). For now Pandora does the trick, music-wise. Overall, the Pandora feature, the removable face plate and the big knob for easy control and Alpine's reputation were what sold me. There are precious few aftermarket radios out there that are Pandora-ready, but I suspect this will change soon.NOTE: You will also need a bluetooth adapter if you wish to use bluetooth to hook up a smartphone to this stereo. Though sometimes my Alpine bluetooth adapter can be a little slow to connect, overall I am happy with the way that device works with the iDA-X305S. When I get a call, Pandora cuts out and the phone answers through a microphone on the sun visor (audio plays through the car speakers). When the call completes, the radio goes back to playing Pandora. The stereo even displays who the call is to/from. I recommend pairing this with the Alpine bluetooth adapter for seamless integration.Some people think the aftermarket car stereo world is dead but for high dollar custom jobs. I certainly hope this is not the case, as units like this can really bridge the gap in crappy stock systems versus going all out and spending thousands on a custom installation. Alpine is exclusively a car stereo producer and their years of experience shows. Great product!

Installed this last weekend and love it!!All my music is on my iPhone so I wanted a head unit that functioned well with the iPhone. Songs load quickly and scrolling through the head unit interface is easy - very similar to the iPhone itself. I love the artwork display - looks very good on the LCD screen.Sound quality is good although I probably need to upgrade from factory speakers to really take advantage of it.The detachable face unit is a plus for deterring theft.Being that it is expandable it is nice to know I have the option to add bluetooth, HD radio, CD changer or satellite radio down the road if I want. I'm glad these weren't included because then the overall cost would be higher and right now I'm not using any of them.Bottom line: If you are an iPhone / iPod music person and don't need CDs, this is the head unit suited for you.***********Update 12/23/101. Just found out I can play RHAPSODY through this which is AWESOME. Now you can listen to any song on demand, anywhere! You can't control the iPhone through the x305s when you're using Rhapsody but at least it works!To use rhapsody make sure the X305s is on iPhone USB connection and then just open up Rhapsody.

I purchased this item together with the Bluetooth module. While the sound quality is very good I believe it provides very little value:- The iPad and Pandora user interface is extremely slow- The screen is small, has significant glare, and is away from the driver- When cycling through sources they are: ..., iPod, Pandora, BT Audio, ...The problem is that once BT Audio is selected you can not activate iPod and Pandora sources again - you have to disconnect the iPhone and reconnect. Quite a pain while you're driving. This slight problem is mentioned in a documentation add-on - nowhere on any web site before you purchase the item of course.Because of these issues I'm ending up using the BT Audio feature and using the iPhone to control the music directly. It has a larger screen then the radio, it's user interface is faster, and it can be brought up near the driver which makes it less distracting.Good source quality but the main selling features are unusable.Oh - and a side point is that installation of the two modules is rather intricate (turning things on and off in particular order) - though I got through that (the professional installer had issues). The problem is that it is still flaky after installation. I regularly get "Error 01", "Error 03" messages - a rather annoying thing in a car radio.

Alpine's iDA-X305S is a beautiful radio. Controls are pretty straight-forward once you've grasped the concept. The main reason I bought the radio, based on information provided in a C-Net review, was to hook up a Zune HD (16Gb). While the Alpine iDA-X305S recognized a USB Flash Drive right away and immediately started playing songs stored on it, the connection to the Zune was never established (the display indicated "searching" for hours). My initial thought was that this was because the high number of songs stored on the Zune needed to be categorized and/or organized, but the "search" never stopped.In the end, I bought an iPod touch, since the Alpine iDA-X305S, like so many other electronics, is designed specifically for iPods. As soon as I connected the iPod, everything worked as advertised: the display scrolls the artists name as well as the song and the album info and album art is displayed.If you are looking for a radio to hook up your iPod or iPhone to, this is an excellent option. If you have a Zune, look elsewhere.