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Alpine's iDA-X305S brings Internet radio to dashboard

The iDA-X305S is able to control the Pandora app on a connected iPhone 3GS, streaming your user-created radio stations over a 3G data connection and out of your vehicle's speakers.

Headshot of Antuan Goodwin
Headshot of Antuan Goodwin
Antuan Goodwin Senior Writer, Electrified Cars
Antuan started out in the automotive industry the old-fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. He now has nearly 20 years of expertise and experience behind the wheel of hundreds of cars, including electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen, and traditional combustion vehicles. For each car he tests, Antuan covers more than 200 miles behind the wheel and evaluates driving dynamics; acceleration and braking performance; range; and efficiency. Antuan's goal is to use his extensive car knowledge to educate CNET readers and help with their next car-related buying decision. Whether you're EV-curious, an EV-enthusiast or a combustion-car loyalist, Antuan will bring you the unbiased advice, reviews, best lists and news you need. You can reach Antuan at antuan.goodwin@cnet.com
Expertise Nearly two decades of testing, driving, reporting on, writing about, reviewing, and editing content about electric and ICE cars. Category focus is on electrified cars, EVs, HEVs, PHEVs, ICE cars, EV infrastructure, EV chargers, EV adapters, EV news, auton Credentials
  • North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror
Antuan Goodwin
2 min read

Alpine iDA-X305S
The iDA-X305S is one of the first car stereos to interface with the Pandora iPhone app. Alpine

LAS VEGAS--Regular readers of the CNET Car Tech Blog will likely be familiar with the Alpine iDA-X305, one of our favorite car stereos for iPod users that distinguishes itself by completely omitting a CD drive. Besides adding an "S" to the end of its model name, the new iDA-X305S is a real evolution of the previous model, adding Pandora Internet Radio support to the mix.

The iDA-X305S is able to control the Pandora app on a connected iPhone 3G or 3GS, streaming your user-created radio stations over a 3G data connection and out of your vehicle's speakers. Users should be able to log in and access all of the Pandora app's functions using the X305S' 2.2-inch color display and double-action rotary encoder knob, including viewing album artwork and tracking metadata, changing stations, skipping tracks, giving a song the thumbs up and down, and bookmarking songs for later access.

Using the iPhone's 3G connection is a clever way to deliver in-car Internet radio, but it simultaneously leaves non-iPhone users out of the Pandora party. In a perfect world, we'd like to see support for the Android and Blackberry versions of the Pandora app, as well. However, given the iPhone's reasonable market share and the iDA series' heavy emphasis on iPod-iPhone compatibility, we don't really see that as too much of a stumbling block for Alpine--at least, for now.

iPhone users who are also Pandora users will be able to get a taste of Internet radio during their commutes when the Alpine iDA-X305S is released later this year. We don't have pricing or an exact release date yet, but we can't imagine it costing too much more than the previous unit's MSRP of about $350. Stay tuned for more details as they emerge.