Excellent for the Price

I went looking for an iPod ready receiver to replace the Blaupunkt unit factory installed in my '03 Focus. I settled with the CDE-9872 simply because it offered the best price for my desired functionality. After several weeks of use, I am fairly satisfied with the player.

The interface is extremely clean and the text on the display easy to read at night. During the day, glare can make things much more difficult. The main display's text is very large and white on a dark background. It is only one line, so the amount of text that can be displayed is limited. that can be a hindrance when large song or band names are scrolling. The lack of a huge amount of buttons or the glowing and flashing lights found on some receivers was a major selling point for me; Alpine units are always simple and easy on the eyes.

The receiver's AM/FM tuner is excellent and easy to use. The presets are easy to set and access.

The receiver plays MP3 and CD discs, as well as WMA, I believe (I never use the format). Browsing folders and albums is very easy compared to my old Blaupunkt.

Because I have never used an iPod compatible receiver before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the 9872. I purchased the FullSpeed cable from Amazon, which connects to the iPod's dock connector. When connected, the iPod's screen displays the Alpine logo and the controls are disabled. The name "FullSpeed" is accurate, the receiver rarely lags or pauses when navigating the interface.

The navigation can be a little frustrating unless used correctly. The three buttons along the left side serve as the select, search, and back buttons when the receiver is in iPod mode. Those three buttons are probably the weak point of the interface, they are small and can be confusing to use until you get used to it. The volume up/down buttons are used to move up and down in a selection. Strangely, the up button moves down and vice versa. For instance, if the current selection on the screen is the artist "Biosphere" the up arrow will take you down in the alphabet to "Boards of Canada." A little odd at first, but I am used to it now. The interface starts with the standard Artist/Album/Genre/etc menu, and from there navigates predictably. For users with a long list of artists, the volume up/down buttons can be annoying to use. Fortunately the 1/2-3/4-etc buttons along the bottom skip in the alphabet. For instance, the 6 button will take the selection toward the xyz area of the list. The buttons also serve as the mix/shuffle, etc buttons when in normal play mode.

Overall, the iPod navigation menu takes a lot of practice to get right. I am still uncomfortable using it while in traffic.