It's simple enough.  In this day and age of peripheral audio devices, you want to control your music in your differing environments, including your vehicle.  Since the time of CD players, there's been call for adapters to pipe your playlist into existing stereo systems.  The cassette adapter gave way to the FM transmitter, but a reliable alternative, especially on overcrowded big city airwaves, it was not.  Static issues were solved with in-line modulators, but the cost was almost as much as the radio or external device itself, and still left quality to be desired.  Desiring a hack of my own for my Xterra's stock deck, I came across an interesting mod discussed and developed by some other Nissanites enabling a true Aux-In.  By utilizing the unused CD-changer port on the back of the radio, one could trick the deck into its "hidden" Auxiliary mode.  A couple companies devised their own adapters for external player hook-ups, but learning on XterraOwnersClub.com that it could be done for a couple bucks worth of parts if you had the right factory stereo, I opted for the more challenging path of making my own.

The hunting and gathering stage of my new project led me to Radio Shack and Fry's Electronics for a few needed supplies.  At the Shack I nabbed a rocker switch for my dash (part# 275-731 / $3.99).  I then headed over to Fry's and picked up the necessary 8-pin din plug  (# DIN-46000-8P / $0.59), a RCA Y-splitter ($1.59) and a little something extra I hoped would make my install a bit more custom and seamless.   I already had plenty of wire, a donor RCA cable, and a soldering iron waiting at home.  When my friend Steve heard what I was doing, he asked if we could mod his Frontier's stereo too, so I had him pick up some supplies of his own.