did quite a bit of research and turns out that those who have an IPOD in their MAX have an aftermarket headunit.or have a 6th GEN maxima and hooked it up another way.
have any 5th gen owners done any splicing or custom cable making to make the IPOD cable work so that when you hit the CD/CHNG button you can hear music through the ipod?

 

looks like i just answered my own question.

 

i think it can be done as AUX input, but not sure, i added AUX to 5.5 gen bose instead of tape player, cuz we dont have separate CD changer

 

i have a soundgate adapter. it converts the CD changer into an Aux.

 

well good news. i just called crutchfield and they have a variation of part# 581PA11NIS which taps into the CD/CHNG port in the back and allows you to plug in your IPOD/IPHONE and also gives you an additional AUX port as well. all for $149.99 and free shipping.

 

That is exactly what I have on mine. Works very well. Highly recommended! There's a how-to for the install somewhere around here.

 

YES, YOU CAN ADD AUX CABLE TO THE 5TH GEN BOSE UNIT!!!!!
Over the weekend I took out my Bose single cd unit and added the cable, the only down side is that you have to take the unit completely apart, everything must come off.
You start with the top and bottom cover, then move to the side covers, then you remove the front face.
Second step is slowly removing the cd player, it will not come completely apart, you will just have to slide it out and lay it upside down in front of the unit.
Then you get complete access to the tape player, 4 little screws hold it, you take those out and lift the tape player out of the unit housing, it is connected with pins to the base of it.
On the back of the tape player you will find the positive, negative and ground point to which you attach the aux cable wires.
It is a very time consuming process and there is a lot to take apart, but it does work....

 

Like I said it could be done, I did it and it works great, the sound quality is amazing... You just have to take your time with taking apart the unit....

 

i just use a fm tuner/adapter..and it works great. Sometimes there will be static here and there..but if so I just change the frequency and problem solved. This might be something you want to consider if you want do it on the cheap....just fyi. :-)

 

For what its worth, I was out shopping at Walmart, seen the as seen on tv junk section, and saw the Jupiter Jack(phone thru fm adapter). It was like 10 bucks and i figured if it works for phone calls it'd work for music. Hooked it up to my G2 and all my songs play perfectly through the speakers, no static and sounds fine. And of course call quality is good too, i think it was quite a good purchase.