How Can I Use MY IPOD For a Music Source?

The dock is a much better way to go - it is a fixed output line out signal. Meaning that you need a volume control between the iPod and the amp - a small passive will do the trick.

There are a number of them on the market. Some key differences are:

1) Some are designed to also be simultaneously used as chargers, some are not.

2) Most are designed so that a mini jack then fits into the dock plug, a few are designed so that they can wired up directly to RCAs

Worth looking into the iMod from RedWine Audio. Vinnie does some tricks to pick off the audio out right after the DAC. Its a very sweet sounding rig.

Thanks for the info guys. I was quit underwhelmed when I tried using my iPod as my music source in my 2 channel system. I plugged it directly to my preamp using an Audience mini plug to RCA adapter. It sounded pretty in an A/B comparison.

It would make sense that dock connectors would be available since that is the way many car adapter work, as Ckorody said, simultaneously charging the unit.

Gunbei

The issue with the sound quality of your iPod may have as much to do with the integrity of the files on the iPod as it does with how you're getting your music from the iPod to your system.

You didn't say in your original post whether you're compressing the files and, if you are, by how much. An uncompressed or lossless file is likely to sound pretty good coming out through the dock as a line-out signal. In that case the quality of the sound is limited only by the quality of the digital to analog converter in the iPod.

If, on the other hand, your music has been compressed to 128 or 160 kbps, as most people do for their mp3 files, you've already thrown away enough data that there's no getting it back regardless of what you use to move it from the iPod to the system.

I'm using Apple Lossless and importing them through iTunes, so I was pretty disappointed when it sounded the way it did.

I have NAIM power supply for ipod - it helps.
If you use Apple Dock - the volume control on iPod works - so you won't need a pre-amp.