Well I just got a new car and I'm considering trading my empeg for a Karma. (I can't find a good spot for the empeg in the car so I figure a Karma with an aux input to the factory stereo is a good compromise)

So that being said, I have some questions about using the Karma in my car:

1. Docking cable/car kit?
The iPod has a docking cable that provides power in and audio out through a single docking cable that connects at the bottom of the player. (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Product_Id=149006) I haven't seen a cable like this available for the Karma, but I assume it's technically possible, seeing how the cradle already duplicates this functionality. Does anyone have any advice on building a cable (similar to the Belkin model) for the Karma? My intent is to have a single connector, hard-wired cable that's ready to connect to the Karma when I'm in the car.

2. Auto shut off, power on...
First off, I don't know whether this is possible and this may be a long shot, but as mentioned above, I'm hoping to replace the empeg with a Karma and want to make it act like an empeg as much as possible. Optimally, I'd like to see the Karma shut off when aux power is removed, and auto turn on/continue playing when power is restored. This means that it should turn itself off shortly after I shut off my car (it loses external power) and then turns on/continues playing once I restart my car (restore external power)... I haven't seen a Karma in person to test this myself, and haven't found anything online that describes the functionality to this detail, so any comments from Karma owners about these functions are really appreciated!

My intent is to have a single connector, hard-wired cable that's ready to connect to the Karma when I'm in the car.

If you can even set up an aux-input on the factory stereo at all (the basic prerequsite for this to work in the first place), then I recommend just keeping a 1/8" cable in the glove box and plugging the karma's headphone jack into it.

That's what I do in my wife's car, and it works like a charm. No docking station needed. One wire, no clutter. Since the Karma playback lasts 15 hours, there's no need to connect power or anything else to it.

The Karma isn't a car stereo no matter how hard you try to make it one, so if you want a real harddisk MP3 car stereo, figure out how to the get the empeg in there in place of the factory stereo. Otherwise, I think you're going to too much trouble just to make a Karma car dock.

Until Rio markets a remote control device for Karma (and there is a connector for one next to the headphone output), you're pretty well limited in achieving your desires. I agree a car kit would be fantastic, and I'd probably buy one if it came available.

-Zeke

a car kit would be fantastic, and I'd probably buy one if it came available.

Same here.

Right now my wife is using an FM modulator and she thinks it sounds just great. I don't, but I'm not going to try and convince her otherwise! As long as she's happy I see no reason to start tearing apart the dash . . .