Yeah, to repeat what everyone said: You want hijack. Hijack good.

Agreed that its features can be overwhelming, but they are not activated by default. After installing hijack, the player should pretty much behave the way it always did.

If you want to go a little further, for starters, the features you want to activate are (names from memory, exact text may be different):

- Hard disk check on synch: Disable
- Restore DC/Car visuals: Enable

You probably want to experiment with the Auto Volume Adjust feature. My player has its in-car voladj set to medium almost all the time.