So any recommendations for aftermarket car stereos that have built-in iPod interfaces?

I tried a bunch of those last year and found them all to be very very slow. From Spidra's link:

I installed a cheap 3rd party AM/FM/CD player in my ride. It's got a line input which I plug directly into the iPod, which I can fix to the dash by Velcro. Sounds great, works well, and the aftermarket stereo & all materials cost less than the iPod itself.

I did something like that, but fancier -- an Alpine stereo and a TransPod iPod bracket that attaches to the data port and lets you charge from the cigarette lighter: [link]

I haven't made use of iTune's Shuffle feature before but it's really pissing me off now. I have it drawing on the entire library and it's actually playing them in alphabetical order. I hit the Refresh button a couple times with no change and I've switched out of Shuffle and back in again trying to make sure it's really in Shuffle mode. No dice.

quit itunes and try it again. I've never had that happen.

Thanks for the suggestion, le nubian. Unfortunately, my iTunes is stubbornly doing the same thing. I checked to see if I had the latest version and I do. Guess it's just a glitch.

That is bizzare. I have no idea what's going on.

Just out of curiousity, could you go to iTunes / Preferences / Playback screen, and see what it says for the Smart Shuffle settings? Also, is it set to Shuffle on songs, albums, or groupings?

Smart Shuffle is set to Random and by songs.

I have Comcast and a digital cable box, Betsy -- my one TiVo has integrated just fine. The other TiVo is set up for just analog signal, so I don't know what I'll do if more channels go digital.

From what I understand Alpine has the best aftermarket radios with iPod interfaces.

On the Digital cable issues, the Tivo S3 will be out later this year and it's supposed to support cablecards, which would allow you to get the digital channels without the digital converter box.

Alpine's iPod interface was the best that I tried, but it was still sssllloooowwww.

How slow is slow?

I was in a car last night that had an audio-in jack in its stereo which seemed...well, better than nothing.

I'm annoyed that with all the strange and techie things they're doing with cars these days, they aren't simplifying hooking up your MP3 players. I don't want an in-car MP3 player. I want my music to follow me to the car, and out of it. Not to mention frequent updates, including podcasts.