[1997gtx]

^ Thanks. I think it's the aux that is causing the issues, as I can hear sound, just very faintly and very very staticy. When I move around the part of the cable that goes in to the aux jack, I can hear the sound crackling, etc... That just lead me to believe it was the aux port. I really have no way of knowing if it's the usb side that's faulty.

I am not thinking it's the ipod, since I listen to music all day long from it, and the sound quality is great. No matter if I'm using head phones or plugging into my stereo at home. I'll try the compressed air anyway, though.

how does a new miniplug help? How do I use that with the ipod and the y-adapter? Or, are you saying to just go from the headphone port out of the ipod to aux-in for the car? If so, aren't those both 'audio in' jacks?

thanks for the tips.