Decent FM transmitter mp3 player to car stereo

[JeRkY]

I've had a few and found them all to be pants. iTrip, Belkin and some other one. They work best if you can find a clear section of airwaves towards the centre of the FM band. Unfortunately in this little isle of ours the FM band is pretty chocked.

Best use I ever got out of one was in the back end of no where is Spain, where there was almost nothing to be tuned into on FM.

Personally I would rather use a cassette adaptor than another one of these. In the end I spent £175 on a Ipod adaptor kit that wired into the CD changer port on my head unit, allowing track info to be displayed and the pod to be controlled from the stereo controls.

 

[Supratada]

Jerky. Thats probably the best option, as I've found controlling the iPod or phone or whatever mp3 player to be really distracting. Much more so than just using a phone.

 

[brocklanders023]

I got a cheapo one from Play.com and it was ok. Did the job for not a lot of cash. Changed in the end for a hard wired system with ipod display and control. 1,000,000 times better but obviously costs more.

 

[legrandefromage]

ANY Pioneer head unit with the blue multi disk CD socket can either be fitted with an AUX in lead from ebay for about £2.99 or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-CD-IB10 ... B0007YPOAA

I still use high end cassette head units from around 1997 - even my car stereos are retro...!

 

[JohnH]

...I've found controlling the iPod or phone or whatever mp3 player to be really distracting.

I connect my Mark 1 iPod Shuffle (£10 from eBay) into a MacAlly car stereo adapter (about £5 from eBay). Even when I'm driving, I can reach down to the Shuffle and control it without looking because it only has 5 buttons.

 

[trickylad]

Friendly offer

I've got one I bought for a holiday and never used again. Worked Tibet and you can have it if you cover the postage.

TL

 

[rosstheboss]

The fm transmitter thingys are fine if you stay in the same area - I travel around a lot and the one I had kept having to be retuned, which can be a real headache - trying to find the opposite of what your stereo thinks you should be looking for when you're driving along i.e. no reception!!!

Hardwiring it, if possible, is by far the best way - the sound quality's a whole load better too

 

[ape]

Ooops not been on for ages, thanks for all the replies, my original idea was to just use a cassette adapter thing I even brought one and then found out the cassette player bit is broken, hence why I was looking at an fm transmitter. Its not all bad as a month after I'd got the car I realised it's got a 6 disc cd player thing under the seat but its a pain having to swap cd's all the time. I think after seeing comments from here and somewhere else I might just replace the head unit maybe with one with usb so I can cram every album on my external hard drive and stick it in.

 

[drcarlos]

If you hurry up Lidls are selling a Silverline with Bluetooth, Aux, USB, SD and MP3 CD support for £50, not the last word in sound quality (but it's not bad at all) and the SD/USB control is not that wonderful but for £50 I can't complain (well the wife won't ).

Carl.

 

[legrandefromage]

Ooops not been on for ages, thanks for all the replies, my original idea was to just use a cassette adapter thing I even brought one and then found out the cassette player bit is broken, hence why I was looking at an fm transmitter. Its not all bad as a month after I'd got the car I realised it's got a 6 disc cd player thing under the seat but its a pain having to swap cd's all the time. I think after seeing comments from here and somewhere else I might just replace the head unit maybe with one with usb so I can cram every album on my external hard drive and stick it in.

what make is the headunit? if it has a 6 disc player attached, that means that the same socket can double up as an 'aux in'. FM transmitters are not very high audio quality and tape adaptors are even worse. Both top out at around 15 - 16khz if you are lucky.

The cables available for the aux in can be as little as £2.99