Heatsink Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 I never seem to find the time to burn CDs for the daily commute, whilst copying MP3s onto a handheld player is very quick. I was wondering about an in-car set-up where I can play the MP3s from a portable MP3 player via my car speakers. I've got a CD/tuner with no audio inputs and was wondering what the best solutions are out there. I've heard of these items that send the music via FM waves.Spec me a system please!1. Player2. Power lead to cigarrette lighter3. Cradle4. Means of playing music via car stereoThanks in advance,Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 curries sell the radio line out jobbies ...but i would buy a car stereo online that has a line in (there are lots) ... then just plug in my mp3 player with a 3.5mm stero -> 3.5mm stereo ....wouldnt bother with a power supply as you are unlikely to be driving for more than 14 hours .....If you are a total homo though you would buy an ipod and an ipod connectable headunit ....other options are HD mp3 head units etc..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Checkout the headunits with usb inputs. Then you can just plug your 4gb flash disk (available quite cheap these days) into it. Some even support external hard disks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Problem is they, the ones with usb in etc tend to be crap. Pretty much any head unit that can take a CD changer can be used with a 3.5-phono cable for a aux input. Sometimes they require an adapter to trick the control part of the head unit into thinking you have a changer fitted, for example sony head units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 There's some pretty good USB players available now.http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/index.php?...0fc027599b82a64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Problem is they, the ones with usb in etc tend to be crap. Pretty much any head unit that can take a CD changer can be used with a 3.5-phono cable for a aux input. Sometimes they require an adapter to trick the control part of the head unit into thinking you have a changer fitted, for example sony head units.How? I have a cd player which has cd changer controls on it, im using a sony tape player with a cassette adapter to use my ipod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomR Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 How much you willing to spend and what mp3 player is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomturd Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 A few alternate options 1. Save yourself the hassle of fitting a head unit, and use the time you saved for burning CDs.2. Get an FM Transmitter - heres one selected at random - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LCD-200-CHANNEL-FM-T...1QQcmdZViewItem(edit: get one that plugs into the fag lighter though)Dont go for the cheapest possible - mine was a bit shit - i've head good reports about them if you spend a bit more though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatsink Posted November 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thanks for all suggestions, there are more options than I thought!It's one of those puzzles that is nice to think about, with the sensible approach of course being for me to just burn some MP3 CDs!It seems that a neat and relatively cheap solution would be to get a basic player for less than £50 and a decent FM transmitter for as little as £10 or less (if it's ever possible to know in advance if it's decent). The ones that plug into the cigarette lighter, turn off automatically so the battery doesn't go flat, and also keep your player battery topped up would be ideal.I found that Amazon had the widest range.I don't think I'll ever use a stand alone player, outside the car, and it could be a hassle to keep having to remove it from view/turn it on off. Maybe I think about these things too much!Cheers for your help!A few alternate options 1. Save yourself the hassle of fitting a head unit, and use the time you saved for burning CDs.2. Get an FM Transmitter - heres one selected at random - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LCD-200-CHANNEL-FM-T...1QQcmdZViewItem(edit: get one that plugs into the fag lighter though)Dont go for the cheapest possible - mine was a bit shit - i've head good reports about them if you spend a bit more though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Elding Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 My mums got this tape that you put in and a wire comes out of it and plugs into the mp3 player and just plays throuhg the tape player of the headunit.seems to work alright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 My mums got this tape that you put in and a wire comes out of it and plugs into the mp3 player and just plays throuhg the tape player of the headunit. seems to work alright Yup, mate had one for his iPod, worked fine. It relys on you having a tape player though, which is super old school. I'd just burn loads of MP3 CD's at once. As you can fit like 7 or 8 albums on, sometimes 9 or 10 depending on size and quality, by the time you've listened to whole cd, you don't remember that is now back at the start. Love MP3 CD's, just wish MP3 DVD's would either be incorporated into headunits, or be invented, not sure on status of either either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted November 14, 2006 Report Share Posted November 14, 2006 (edited) just wish MP3 DVD's would either be incorporated into headunits, or be invented, not sure on status of either either. been out for a while, not all that expensive either well, not unless you want a decent make like alpine, i think some of the lesser makes like jvc are down to the 270ish mark even cheaper than i thought, although the 1 i last looked at had a proper screen Edited November 14, 2006 by pauloliver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBProductions Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 line in > if im not mistaken will be a phono connection like on most stereo equipment very rare to have 3.5 to 3.5m. Jus get an normal headunit with line in and get an mp3 player and a cable. Other wise when your using your receiver near phones or other transmitters you will realise that it isnt that good of an idea and can cause on heck of an irritation and unles the transmitters are on uhf there will be interferance, even more so when someone out of sheer coincidence has the same freq dialled in for theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delusional Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 line in > if im not mistaken will be a phono connection like on most stereo equipment very rare to have 3.5 to 3.5m. Jus get an normal headunit with line in and get an mp3 player and a cable. Most head units I've seen have 3.5mm sockets as they're generally expected to have portable mp3/other players plugged into them. Also a lot of them are in the face plate for convenience and having a phono connection in the faceplate would take up a lot of valuable space.I'm using an FM transmitter at the moment (one I picked up pretty cheaply from eBay) and it's not too bad now I've got some decent speakers. It's never going to be as good quality as playing from direct cable, but as a head unit that has an aux in will probably cost you minimum of £60 and this cost me under a tenner it's an acceptable quality loss for now. I concur on the advise to get one that plugs in to the 12v socket though - mine can run from either 12v or batteries but with batteries it's really not worth using. This is the transmitter I'm using. There are probably better ones around, but this one works for me. Remember you'll lose a bit of volume as well as quality, so if you're stereo's a bit on the quiet side you may have more issues with one of these. Also it's well worth getting a phone holder that will take your mp3 player, before I got this I barely used the transmitter because it was too difficult/dangerous to control the music while I was driving (lifting the player out of the centre pocket, unlocking the keys, holding it all the time while choosing and changing tracks, etc), now that it's mounted nicely above my stereo I use it all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.