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Transmitters for MP3 Portables?
kwerle writes "I have just received my new iPod, and am now faced with the issue of how I should hook it up to every stereo I own. For the car, I could just get one of those cd-to-cassette converters, but that just doesn't...feel right. What experience have you had with mp3/cd player transmitters (like this one from Arkon or the MK-90)? Any suggestions?" Don't forget about the iRock
Update: 04/24 07:46 GMT by C : Errors in the URL for the iRock have been fixed. My apologies.
My experience with casette adapters is pretty good (though I have bad hearing, so I'm no judge of sound quality). Anyway, they cost almost nothing, so why not just try one?
I've owned various FM adapters. Unless you're willing to pay a bit of money (in which case it's cheaper to just add an input plug to your car stereo), they're worthless. To work, they have to be carefully tuned to slot not occupied by a local FM station. And for $25, you're just not going to get a tuner that's sufficiently precise and reliable.
Here is an approach which has worked well for some: listen to mp3's (on your so-called "pod") while jogging, CDs while in your house, and talk radio while in the car. This is tried and true, and prevents you from getting boring. Your friends will thank me!
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I bought a Lennox Sound feeder to hook my NAPA MP3 CD player up to the stereo on a thousand KM trip a few weeks ago. I would have just bought a cassette adapter - but the stereo in the MU doesn't have a cassette player.
:-)
Anyway, it took me all of 30seconds to setup, and I only had to adjust it 3 or 4 times (which takes about 5 seconds of "fine tuning" with the dial, one handed in the dark while still driving) through the trip. This is mostly due to driving into range of a radio station directly on top of the transmitted signal (if it's strong it'll interfere, if it's not so strong the soundfeeder pretty much overrode it).
Sound was great, and it was very nice to have my collection of quality MP3 programming in the car.
My only complaint with it is that the DC out on it didn't have a voltage to match the NAPA MP3 player so I had to keep the ol' batteries charged.
The NAPA is very nice also by the way, although rough single roads tend to out-do it's buffer a little
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The best solution it seems is to get a car stereo with an aux input. I noticed several at Crutchfield. Then you can use just about any device (iPod, laptop, old tape player, etc...). The only drawback is having to buy a new car stereo...
you should have to have a bumper sticker or something.
The last thing I need is to be driving to work in the morning, listening to my favorite radio station, and I stop by your car at a stop light and hear some god damned Punk Rock music or whatever you kids are listening to these days over MY radio!
What ever happened to the days when people listened to The Eagles?
(Note: It's a joke, and I like the eagles, and I don't drive to work, and as long as your "Punk Rock" can't stop my 2pac CD, I'm happy)
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
More info on the MK-90 (Emerson EWT950) here.
I remember having something like this in 1972. The aftermarket 8-track player in my Dad's VW squareback bolted under the dash and transmitted to the OEM AM radio. We eventually got an FM insert for the 8-track (plugged right in like a tape cassette). Voila, FM radio with 8-track-via-AM quality. Ahhh, good times.
This would be decidedly Low Fidelity, but you could buy generic Mr. Microphone type devices at Radio Shack for I think $5, or possibly get a used one at Garage Sale/Thrift Store for about a $1.
Disassemble the thing take the wire leads going to the microphone itself and solder them to a mini-DIN headphone jack. Stick the jack in your MP3 player headphone or lineout port, turn on the stereo to the instructed station, and you're ready to roll.
The advantage to this system is that it is battery powered and so doesn't require you to be in the car, so that any radio would pick up the signal whether its the car stereo, your bedside alarm-clock radio, or the radio of the guy in the next cubicle in the office.
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