Need advice on XM Radio vs. MP3 Player

For a while I've been thinking about purchasing an ipod for use at home and in my 330 (by connecting it with an adapter hat uses the CD changer input). Recently, however, I've also started considering XM Radio. After going back and looking at some of the clean XM installs posted here I am very tempted. I know XM Radio and a portable MP3 player both have advantages and disadvantages. Ideally I'd like to have both. I think I'd use XM most of the time, but I'd like to be able to connect a portable MP3 player too. My question is this: Since portable MP3 players and XM radio both connect by virtue of an adapter that hooks into the CD changer harness (I have in-dash CD BTW), would it be possible to connect both. Essentially the XM radio would be connected full time, and so would a wire which would sometimes be connected to the MP3 player.What do you guys think? Perhaps I'm being gready and should just choose one or the other...feel free to give me your opinion about which you would choose.

You've read through some older posts, so perhaps you know about the Blitzsafe adapter many of us are using. Blitzsafe makes one specifically for use in BMWs and Minis, and it allows the Pioneer XM tuner to be used in conjunction with an M-bus CD changer (Alpine).

I have heard that Alpine makes a CD changer that can read CD-Rs with MP3s on them, and I would assume that your stock headunit can control it. Failing this, perhaps there's a straight-up MP3 device that uses M-bus, which would make your installation a piece of cake.

Oh, and there's also a Blitzsafe adapter that has the IP bus plugs for the XM tuner and RCA inputs for an extra audio device. That would work too, if you had a way to control the MP3 player without going into the trunk.

The Blitzsafe with the RCAs sounds like a good way to hook the iPod in. Just run a signal cable to the dash someplace where you might mount the iPod (using a cellphone mount, maybe).

AFAIK the only MP3-able Alpine changers are all the current Ai-Net bus. Some people here have had some problems using the combination of the AiNet->MBus adapter and another one to convert to the BMW bus.

Excellent! Thanks for the info guys. The Blitzsafe with RCAs sounds like exactly what I'm looking for.