mp3 player in my car

John_M_Business

Couple of points to make...

1. FM modulators ARE illegal in this country - you currently need a licence for any FM transmission. Now, in practice, you're not going to get 'done' for this - sort of like recording live radio / TV - but you should be warned.
2. What are car radio makers - dumb or just stupid? Instead of just putting a simple 'jack' on the front of their machines they think it's EASIER to provide an MP3 CD-player... so you can't just plug your player in, you HAVE to burn from your player onto a CD - thus wasting time, energy and causing waste in the long-term AND losing all the functionality and choice you get with your player...

Bonecracker

billinge wrote:

Many car stereos have an auxiliary input, which usually comprises two photo connectors (red and white). Connect a lead with 2xphonos to 3.5mm plug an your are laughing.

Billinge

Yeah I have this on my MD player but I was thinking more of a thing where the 3.5mm jack plugs into the car audio box as this is possible with MD and cuts down carrying bulky crap around.

haveagoade

The best way to get a car radio updated and ply anything is a fm modulator, it cuts down on the stuff you have to carry, and instead of looking for that 3.5 jack on the car radio you have one on the modulator instead.

I'll post a link to the one I have, I dont particularly recommend the seller as it the first one I found, its just an example.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MP3-USB-WMA-CD-DVD-Car-FM-Modulator-Transmitter_W0QQitemZ9718075175QQcategoryZ73839QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

as you can see with a usb flash pen drive it can become a mp3 player, so you don't even need an mp3 player as well.
This way you wont need a power supply for your mp3 as the flash drive is powered by the modulator.

And the major advantage is nobody will want to nick a your old clunky car radio! Stick a new radio in with usb drive and its a magnet for the thieves!

haveagoade

ok I've been outside in my car and done some testing. I have the luxury of a car cd player with a 3.5 jack input in my old Escort. So I could compare. I have just compared the fm modulator method with a direct 3.5 jack input method. The result was the fm modulator was not as good as the jack input, you might expect this, but it wasn't much in it, BUT this was on the basis of not changing the source (mp3) player outputs.

To get the best form the fm modulator method I had to turn the sound level down on the source(mp3) player and the sound up on the car radio. Also a juggling of the equalizers on the mp3 and car radio .

The reason I have the fm modulator is becuase I also have a Ford Focus dual width (ie Twice width of normal din apperture) and its a 5 disc multichanger. The idea of replacing this to get a 3.5 jack input seems crazy, hence I went for an fm modulator. (And a cd has no cassette adaptor option anyway)

So the conclusion is , you MAY have to adjust your relative settings of source player and radio to get the best from a modulator.

The other alternative is an inline aerial lead modulator as used by some boot changer multi cd players, but then you'll have more work to do, and it may or may not be any better (and a usb pen drive won't be an option).

suffolkb

My local Tesco (BSE) has the cassette/MP3 thingie for £4.97.It works fine in my ex`s car.

espresso

Or get a unit that will play MP3's.

dickibobboy

This is what i have and it works, i have my mp3 player and i just plug the headphone jack from the transmitter into my mp3 player and turn on the radio and tune it into one of the 4 frequencys and away you go, very good, i sometimes use it on batterys as i use it in the house aswell and in the car most of the time on the cig lighter. you should get one they are only about £8
not even that http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&satitle=CAR+RADIO+FM+TRANSMITTER+4+iPod+MINI+NANO+PDA+CD+MD+%09

niceguyrichy

given how cheap flash based mem has got, if keeping bulk out of your bag/pocket is a priority, you should buy a stereo with USB and/or SD slots.

I've had this one for about a year now, and trust me, combined with the flash drive dangling from my keys it's the easiest thing in the world to load up a couple hours music from my comp before I have to nip out

no cd's, no burning/finalising...etc, click , drag, 20 secs you're away.
(and you'd never know that usb drive was on your keys, it weighs nothing. I'm managed to not step on mine yet, so I think it's great)