I’m interested in being able to listen to my iPod through my car’s stereo system.
Anyone have any advice on how to do this? Is it just a matter of going and buying an adapter-type thing?
Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks folks!
I have an iTripAuto made by Griffin. I got it for my birthday last month, and I haven’t tried it out yet. I’m sure it works great. I had another, simpler iTrip last year, but I left it in my car on one of those below zero nights last winter. It stopped working. The new iTrips come with a car lighter plug-in because they draw a lot of power from the iPod battery otherwise. Just an FM transmitter works well. Years ago, I found that FM transmitters always had lots of intereference from the FM stations, but now they work great. They must have worked out the bugs. If you have a tape player in your car, one of those tape adapters would work. I vouch for the FM transmitters. Make sure you buy one specifically for iPods. They have them for most MP3 players, but they all say iTrip on them.
If I get a transmitter to attach to my iPod, does it still plug into the cigarette lighter?
I may end up getting a transmitter anyway so I can listen to Purdue football games this fall if I’m not in my car or apartment.
One end plugs into your iPod and the other end plugs into your cigarette lighter. There is a station selector thing on there to find the clearest frequency. It just transmits whatever is playing on your iPod to a particular FM station. My old iTrip without a cigarette lighter plug worked on any FM radio. I’m not sure if the new ones work only when plugged into the lighter. They do not actuallly pick up an FM station and play it through the iPod. I don’t know of anything that does that.
I have an AUX plug in my stereo.
Bought a cable for 10 bucks that runs from that plug into my headphone jack… works beautifully.
I don’t believe I have an AUX plug in mine. Standard Hyundai stereo.
Hmmm, thanks for the advice Eli. I will see about iTrip. The only time I listen to CDs anymore is in the car, and now that will end once I do this.
I have the same Griffin itrip and it works sweet in the sticks. You find a station that nothing is being broadcast on, set the itrip and away you are on your magical tune-filled ride. I use the lowest FM station available (87.9 I think) and will occasionally get minor intereference from passing trucks. It plugs into the docking port of the iPod. I will second that it draws much more battery than usual, ~7-8 hours as opposed to 17+(found that out last week on our way to Rothbury and back).
I assume no tape player, because I would just go for the tape to iPod connector (we used a CD player one, worked just fine) and you can pick one up on the cheap.
I honestly would look into getting a new car stereo with a line-in jack. I’ve tried all of the FM transmitters and it seems like no matter which one it is, and no matter what the cost, you still can hear the radio static in the music. And that gets annoying really fuckin quick.
I’ve got a Pioneer stereo in my car which does not have a line-in. Pioneer makes this special little Ipod adapter which charges the ipod and sounds incredible. The only problem with it is once you plug your ipod in, you have to use the car stereo buttons to control it, or unplug the ipod, pick a new band/song, and plug it back in. Its a good idea in that it keeps people from changing tunes on their ipod while driving, but its kind of impractical because its a pain in the ass to change songs while driving. Catch 22 I guess.
A stereo with a line-in is what I’m working on acquiring the funds for. You get perfect sound without any extra noise and you can control you ipod as you normally would, with the little scrolling deal. The only down side of the line-in junts is that they don’t charge the ipod. No loss, you could just charge it at home like everyone.
Those are my thoughts on the subject.
I don’t think a new stereo is an option, as I’m trying to stay as cheap as possible. That said, though, I’d rather not hear a bunch of static when I’m trying to head-bang on the interstate.
And I’d rather not have to use the car stereo buttons to scroll and stuff. But I can see how unsafe it would be to fiddle with an iPod whilst driving.
Decisions, decisions…
I will say there is some static with my iTrip. I can ignore it, but my girlfriend hates it.
I think you can get an AUX plugin installed on any radio. Look into it… it is worth it.
i use one of those old tape adapters, works great. easy. great sound.
Look for the Monster Cable at Best Buy.
the one that charges your Ipod while plugged in is a bit less than $100, the one that doesn’t charge your Ipod while plugged in to the cigarette lighter is about $50
I got the $50 one and it works just fine.
I’d be wary of Monster Cable. Most of their stuff is incredibly overpriced (like twice as much as it should cost). And the quality you get from it is minimally better than the competition.
I’m with fluffy. If you have a cassette player get a tape adapter for 10 dollars. No static bs.
I do not, in fact, have a cassette player.
I just want whatever is cheap that will not produce static.
So…you’re saying look into a Monster Cable?
You should probably just drive around with headphones in your ears if you are going to be a smart-alec about it.
you could build a pirate radio station at your house with an antenna powerful enough to cover all of your daily commute
then pray that the FCC doesn’t catch you