Need car stereo which can support direct connect MP3 player - suggestions?

usignuolo

My OH has quite individual taste in music and has recorded a selection of his favourites on an MP3 player. He now wants to be able to connect this into his car radio/stereo system but it has no inline jack attachment (the car radio that is). So he is thinking he will have to buy a new car stereo system.

Requirements are: 1) as many wave bands as possible
2) RDS radio 3) CD player 4) support for direction connection of an mp3 player

Any suggestions?

googler

Depending on how far the car stereo is integrated into the vehicle electronics may limit him - for instance, Vauxhalls and SAABs link into separate displays to show source selection, tuning info etc - the display is no longer on the stereo itself.

You may want to look at inline FM modulators - these are connected between the aerial and stereo, and accept an input from the mp3. The stereo is tuned to an unused frequency. Same principle as the in-car FM transmitters, but they're hard-wired into the aerial lead, so don't have interference issues.

One thought - has he tried copying the mp3s to a CDR and tried playing that in the car? Some stereos will play an mp3 data disc.

usignuolo

He is completely non technical...I had to record the tracks for him. He could just about plug it into a compatible car radio but nothing more. Our existing car radio came with the car, which was second hand, and has no auxiliary input or jack points that I can find, and no manual. It is a bit dodgy playing CDs so we thought we would replace it. But I cannot find in the specs on the web, any relevant information to MP3 player compatibility. (I can of course always copy the MP3 tracks onto a flash drive if that is what it takes). The car is a 2007 Peugeot Partner

Lum

Is the radio a standard DIN size, like one of these:



If so then replacing it will be reasonably easy. If it's any other shape or size then things get a bit more complicated and you may want to get someone else to fit it.

usignuolo

Like the one on the left except it has no remote control but we were planning to get a specialist fitter to do it anyway, just want to know a good model to buy which ticks all the boxes

santer_2

You can get an adapter which slots into a car cassette player if you already have that

usignuolo

No it is just a bog standard radio and individual cd player

googler

usignuolo wrote: »

I can of course always copy the MP3 tracks onto a flash drive if that is what it takes

Copy them to a CDR, pop it in the car CD. If it plays, all good and well. If not, at least you tried.

securityguy

Dension make a range of adapters which will do what you want. I have one which pretends to be a CD changer (most head units with a CD player will also control a six-CD changer in the boot, although fewer cars have them these days) and presents the first five play lists on an iPod as CDs 1 to 5 (selecting CD6 gets you the setup menu). That was bought in about 2003 and is fitted to a 2005 Skoda; their more recent products do similar tricks for flash memory and so on, and also provide line inputs.

It's also worth seeing if your car radio will play CDs of MP3s (iTunes will burn one for you). That allows you to fit perhaps six or seven hours of music on one CD, sometimes with multiple folders and playlists. It's often not terribly well documented.

Mankysteve

http:// http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10001&productId=869073&categoryId=165474&langId=-1

I use this head unit in my corsa does the job for me.

usignuolo

Basically he was hoping he could plug his MP3 player into a new car stereo radio and play it as though it was on the MP3, so serially or on shuffle. I'm surprised this does not seem to be an option on the last in car stereos?