I just visited our local stereo place that works on almost all high end cars. (Beautiful 575 and Bentley were being worked on went I went to the back)
Anyway, I was investigating satellite radio and how to hook up an MP3 player such as an iPod.

In '02 and earlier cars it's easier, because there is no fiber optics.
I was told that if you leave the becker CDR head unit, to listen to other sources such as satellite radio, you have to actually leave the cd changer installed and hook up a switch for the source of satellite radio or MP3 player. The Becker unit won't recognize a source input without that changer hooked up to 'fool' it into thinking you're listening to CD.
Have others found this to be true?

If it is, I think the best option is to get an entirely new head unit, and then you can listen to MP3, Satellite, etc. without having to use an extra bay taken up by the satellite control, etc.

The problem is, I prefer the stock head unit look.

I have a long drive this weekend and this has made me think that I really need to do something with this thing, but I'm not sure what.

Any opinions? What have you guys done?