Technobabble

MP3 Car Adapter?

Posted by on Feb 9, 2007 | 3 Comments

Are you happy with your MP3 car adapter? My family gave me a little red iPod nano for Christmas … one of the most wonderful presents I’ve ever received in my entire life. But here it is more than a month later, and I still haven’t come up with a suitable MP3 car adapter. I had a FM transmitter from an earlier MP3 player, but quite honestly, I was never pleased with its performance.

Of course, the in-dash factory CD player is lacking an input jack. My car is a few years old and a simple input jack was an alien idea back then. (Hey, it’s a selling point, these days!) While I’ve thought about having an after market MP3 input jack installed, I probably won’t go that route right away. I can’t go with a cassette adapter, since the in-dash deck is CD-only.

So I’m looking at the FM transmitter units, once again … hoping that the current models are a whole lot more effective than my previous experiences. Amazon is currently running a special on the Kensington 33169 Digital FM Radio and Transmitter… the numbers are crazy … it’s only $9.99 after a $40 rebate. While the list price is $128.25, they have it listed at $49.99 with free Super Saver shipping.

The huge markdown has me wondering if it’s worth ten bucks …
[tags]MP3 Car Adapter[/tags]

  • Gavin

    At one time I used FM transmitters. I went through about 4 of them before finding one that was better than the average. Check out http://www.seidioonline.com/ for their fm transmitter. Even though it says its for the Treo its just a generic transmitter that I also used with my iPod.

    I recently bought a new car and installed a unit from http://www.usaspec.com/. This is definately the way to go. A direct line from your mp3 player into the stereo. Now my ipod sits tucked away in the armrest and I can control it through my factory deck. Its worth the money.

    A friend of mine also had the iTrip and I was impressed by the quality as well. They cost a bit more but you get what you pay for.

  • http://www.crutchfield.com/S-G37BlkEdyu7/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=234550&I=142FMMOD01 Mike Weiler

    Check the above link…while it does not increase volume levels it will get rid of the pops and crackles PLUS no more batteries! Really easy to hook up also…one power to radio power antenna lead if desired and rca to 1/8 headphone cabler (at radio shack if you MUST Cruthfield has these also) and you are ready to have his/noise free mp3 the way it shoudl be….an ipod only item seams like such a waste of time compaired to one you can use on any audio source!

  • Waterlillywing

    I have a new nokia business phone, gave away my i-pod and palm pilot. Now that I have music on the Nokia, I don’t know how best to convert the i-pod hook up installation in my car, that has the i-pod specific jack (that goes directly to display all info on my radio). Is there an easy way to unclip the module for the i-pod, and put an input output chord thing in there?