Griffin Technology Inc. on Friday announced they’re shipping the SmartDeck Intelligent Cassette Adapter for iPod. The SmartDeck lets you control your iPod through your car stereo. It costs US$29.99.
The SmartDeck plugs in to the cassette deck on automobile stereos and plugs into the headphone jack of iPods. But it’s more than that: The SmartDeck connects to the remote control port on third- and fourth-generation iPods and iPod minis. Griffin said that it’s working on a SmartDeck that works with the iPod nano, which it expects to ship in November.
Through the remote control port, the SmartDeck allows you to control iPod navigation through your car stereo, using the fast forward and rewind buttons, pausing and stopping iPod playback also. And if you switch your stereo input from cassette to radio, or hit the Eject button, the SmartDeck will pause the iPod.