Icelink gives you control. I don't care about using the head unit's display if I'm going to be stuck with something as minimal as that Alpine.

Personally, I tihnk the Sony and Rockford models look way better than the Alpine. Clarion units usually look much better than Alpine as well. Anyway, I'll say it again, Japanese manufacturers, in general, don't know how to implement a good UI in consumer electronics. The best interfaces generally come from European and North American designers. That said, these companies are largely catering to the poor taste of the American market.

Anyway, I feel Alpine has always had this interface problem. Some of the others aren't even worth talking about - like Pioneer. Ugh. I'm done with head units until someone comes out with something to properly integrate a removable MP3 player with a full-sized, graphical display (able to show more than the 6 or 7 characters available on the Alpine).

I'll be using the empeg alone in my car when I get around to re-installing it. And I'm hapy about that.

Bruno