iPod in your car
Who here listens to the iPod in the car a lot? How do you do it?
I’ve gone through two FM transmitters in the last two years. The first one I left out in the car in the freezing cold and it never came back to life. The second one recently and suddenly stopped transmitting to the left speaker.
I don’t want to repeat my mistakes, though. I’m not going to spend another $80 or $90 for a car charger/transmitter, when I can just buy a new car stereo for a couple of bucks more with an aux jack in the front that I can plug the iPod into with a $4 wire. I can recharge the iPod at night. And I won’t have to deal with the static anymore this way. But in looking around, I also see other things available, like plain old iPod plug-in kits. I saw that there’s an iPod2Car unit available for my car that I could get. It costs a little bit more than a new stereo, but it would serve the purpose well.
I’d like to have my iPod accessible at all times so I can pause it, change tracks, etc. I don’t want to hide it in the glove compartment and have to fiddle with the stereo controls to get to the next podcast I want to listen to. So I’m a little wary of getting an iPod box put into the car. Chrysler/Jeep didn’t start building those in until the year after I got my car.
Does anyone have any experience with one of these things? Anything you care to recommend, or warnings you care to give?
24. January 2007 at 16:47
We listen to it on long trips. We use Sonic Impacts i-Fusion speaker/dock so we don’t have to worry about plugging it in anywhere (our plug-in tech is the GPS).
24. January 2007 at 16:48
I use one by Monster…they sell it at the Apple store. I just take it in with me when I’m home, but I’ll leave it in the car if I’m out. Do you use the ones that plug into the car charger and connect with the iPod through the USB section? Those ones have NEVER given me any static as long as it was like this one: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=A91226F5&nplm=TF894LL%2FA
I don’t understand how it got such bad reviews, as I’ve got phenomenal use of it here in mountainous Utah and all the way to the west coast and back.
25. January 2007 at 08:16
For one of my cars, I bought a cheap Sony Xplode stereo that had an aux input. Including installation it ran about $175. It worked beautifully. Then the car died and I didn’t want to go through the expense of removing and reinstalling the Xplode head unit, so now I’m deviceless in my other cars. I plan to install another unit with an AUX input when I settle on which car is going to be my primary mode of transportation.
25. January 2007 at 09:51
I used to use a Belkin FM transmitter, but the signal strength wasn’t great, and I had to turn the volume up very high to hear it while driving. I’ve switched to the Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/iPod Charger. It has better signal strength and it will transmit on 87.5 – 87.9FM, most other transmitters won’t.
If you own a Honda, PLEASE stay away from the Honda Music Link, it’s a total piece of crap. The interface is horrid, making it difficult (if not impossible) to select the song you want to listen to. The Honda radios don’t support CD-text so you can’t see track info on the radio. Honda’s workaround for this is to force you to install software that will utilize Microsoft’s text-to-speech (T2S) feature, and scan your iPod and generate text-to-speech files for each artist and album on the iPod. When you want to search for a track, you have to push the next track button on your radio, which then plays the T2S file for the next artist, you can then select that artist, then you have to cycle thru the T2S files for each album. But it doesn’t generate T2S files for the tracks, so you can’t select a specific track.
In Honda’s defence, they’ve been very good about refunding the cost to me, and they’re aware of the discontent and dissatisfaction with this product. Caveat Emptor!
25. January 2007 at 10:07
I live in Miami, where pirate hip-hop stations have pretty much clogged up every frequency on the FM dial. Thankfully, my Nissan has a combination CD/Cassette stereo, so I can use a Cassette adapter for my iPod. However, my girlfriend has an iPod and Sirius radio, but no tape deck or auxilliary input. We couldn’t go 5 minutes or so on a frequency until it started getting drowned out by radio. After trying stronger FM transmitters and a different Sirius receiver, we ended up biting the bullet and buying a Sony deck for her Acura, complete with a front Aux input. It works beautifully, and was well worth the investment (we got a higher end unit, but bought it online and had a friend do the install, total about $200 and dinner at the Outback). Now it’s crystal clear and beautiful.
The unit is both satellite-radio and iPod ready, with controls and display for both handled by the stereo controls and remote control. You can mount the iPod next to the unit with a separate bracket. In the end, we’re gonna keep running the front aux for now.
Either way, it’s been a VERY long time since I’ve danced.
25. January 2007 at 13:31
Elayne – Interesting choice. I just like my car speakers too much to bypass them completely. I like having the sound surrounding me.
Arune – That’s the one I’ve been using. My biggest problem is that I’m in the NYC media market. Most of the FM stations are taken. Even the lower ones have signals coming in from college radio stations in many cases. I’m used to switching between two different stations on my way to and fro work, although I do see where the new Monster cable will automatically find the best frequency for you now, too. It’s another $10 or $20, though. When the station is clear, the signal is great, but when it’s not the static drives me nuts. And it’s too difficult to tune into another station that’s not one of the three pre-sets.
Overworm – That’s my other worry — I’ll spend money installing a new radio into the car and have the car die the next week. ;-)
Preacher – I started out with a Griffin FM transmitter and learned my lesson quickly. Never use an unpowered transmitter. If it’s only plugging into your iPod, you’ll never get a good signal through. Thankfully, I have a Jeep. That Honda solution sounds painful.
Matthew – Sounds like you have a similar problem with radio clutter as I do. I wish my car had a cassette deck in it. My last car did. I’m always one off from the perfect solution. Instead, I have to install a new one, it looks like. I just wish I were handier about installing these things myself.
25. January 2007 at 14:44
Augie,
Every now and then Best Buy or Circuit City will have “Free Installation” specials. Should definitely check those out. But that Front Aux basically did the trick. She keeps her iPod down by the gear shift, and usually listens to her Playlists on shuffle anyhow so she doesn’t do a whole lot of fidgeting with the iPod itself.
The only real issue is the wire clutter. There’s a wire to the separate Siruis unit (suctioned to the windshield), and the wire leading down to the iPod, the wire from the Sirius unit to its antenna, and the wire from the Siruis to its power source (cig lighter). It’s manageable, but eventually we plan on adding on a Sirius tuner and iPod jack to the receiver so that everything is controlled by just one source.
Well, it’s either all that or listening to terrestrial radio again… shivers
25. January 2007 at 18:53
The wire clutter issue can be cleared up rather inexpensively. I asked a manager at a local auto audio specialty shop (those expensive shops where kids hang out with tricked out cars) about installing an AUX further away from the radio. He said most decks have AUX inputs on the back of the deck, and that they could install the input hole anywhere in the car I chose.
For instance, they could run the wire behind the dash to the left side of the steering wheel and allow me to velcro my MP3 player there and have a jack to hook it up. With the installation of a new stereo, it would run only another $25. I thought it would have been a lot more. Don’t know how much it would cost to do this to an already installed stereo.
26. January 2007 at 18:39
I’m fortunate to have a cassette deck in my car still and use a cassette adapater. Sounds great with my 1st gen iPod (click wheels are cool!).
I personally had no luck with FM Transmitters like everyone else due to the number of radio stations in Los Angeles. When I could get the Belkin one to work, it just sounded like crap.
I’d suggest talking to some car audio places in your area and see what they would charge to install a 1/4″ plug. Likely far better quality than you’ll get any other way and doesn’t necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg.
26. January 2007 at 23:09
I use a $12 cassette adapter intended for portable CD players. Works great.
30. January 2007 at 12:51
Coming in a bit late to the discussion, but…
I originally had one of those FM transmitters, but the reception was so erratic it was more annoying than anything else. I moved up to the IPod plug-in that goes in the glove box last year. That was great; although I was somewhat annoyed I couldn’t access the IPod while it was plugged in, it wasn’t that big of a deal since I usually listen to podcasts in the car and they’re usually at least 30 minutes long, so there wasn’t much fiddling in the glovebox. Plus it was constantly charged. I just got a new car, however, and lost my IPod specific plug in for the more generic MP3 plug in. I do like that I can now change my IPod selection (or rewind, FF, etc) without unplugging it but am already missing the charging capability my prior plug in offered, and have been caught twice now running out of juice while on the road.
2. February 2007 at 02:18
I don’t have an iPod… but if I did I would use the same cassette car kit adapter that I use with my CD player. so I am like Beau Y and JW.
19. May 2007 at 19:54
Here’s my solution to the iPod-in-the-car problem:
http://www.musanim.com/iPodAdapter/
Stephen
19. May 2007 at 22:58
That’s seriously cool. Nice job, Stephen!