Car options for iPod

>Through a surprising turn of events, I suddenly find myself in need
>of playing an iPod in the car. (Perhaps it's more surprising that
>this hasn't come up before?)
>
>Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard? What
>about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?
>How about tape deck adapters? Then there's the car radio adapters,
>which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
>and of course the newer generations of radio head units.

If your car has a tape deck, get the tape adaptor.
They're dirt cheap, and work well.
Sound quality isn't great, but hey, it's a car, and you're listening to MP3s.

If you want to try a FM adapter, I have an iTrip you can try....
--
-- Marshall

Marshall Clow Idio Software <mailto:marshallidio.com>

It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed,
the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning.
It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.

On Sep 23, 2005, at 7:10 PM, Andrew Laurence wrote:

> Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard?

I've been extremely happy with my Griffin iTrip. I noticed that the
iTrip is now available in a model that has a knob on it that lets you
set the frequency; former iTrips used a sort of telemetry track to
alter the frequency. One of the problems in this area (western
Massachusetts) is that the radio spectrum is almost completely full,
and so most of the FM broadcasters are almost completely useless
because they don't offer that many frequencies. I suspect that if I
had a really high-quality audio system and a really soundproof car,
I'd find the sound quality objectionable; but with road noise and
motor noise and mediocre car speakers the iTrip works just fine.

If you can borrow an iTrip from a friend, or if the $35 is not a huge
chunk of change for you, I'd give that a shot first. It has a good
chance of being good enough, depending on how strong your audiophile
tendencies are.

> What about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's
> antenna?

Never used one of these.

> How about tape deck adapters?

Sound quality considerably worse than FM broadcasters, and a tendency
to be very finicky and fussy.

> Then there's the car radio adapters,
> which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
> and of course the newer generations of radio head units.

If I had enough money to pay for it (which includes enough money to
pay for all the things I want *more*) and I spent enough time in the
car to justify it, this is the way I'd go.

Charlton


--
Charlton Wilbur
cwilburchromatico.net

On 9/23/05 4:10 PM, "Andrew Laurence" wrote:
> Through a surprising turn of events, I suddenly find myself in need
> of playing an iPod in the car. (Perhaps it's more surprising that
> this hasn't come up before?)
>
> Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard? What
> about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?
> How about tape deck adapters? Then there's the car radio adapters,
> which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
> and of course the newer generations of radio head units.
>
> Antennas and tapes and radios, oh my!
>
> Any recommendations out here in TidBITSland?


The best inexpensive solution, provided your car stereo has an auxiliary-in
jack, is a direct connection. Many newer stereos have them on the front;
some have them on the back.

After that, a cassette adapter is the best, as it's still a kind of "direct"
connection; my favorite is actually from AVB, as its cable automatically
retracts into a small reel -- like the well-known Zip-Linq cables -- when
not in use. And it's under $10.

<http://playlistmag.com/products/complete/239-detail.php>

Griffin's $30 SmartDeck -- which lets you actually control your iPod via
your car's tape deck controls (including steering wheel controls) -- looks
promising; unfortunately, although it was announced in January, it's still
not available. However, Griffin has told us that they should be shipping in
the next few weeks.

<http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/smartdeck/index.php>


If you don't have an auxiliary input or cassette deck and don't want to
spend a lot of money, you're stuck with an FM transmitter. If you'll be
using the transmitter only in the car, my favorite is Kensington's Digital
FM Transmitter/Auto Charger. It's got a digital tuner with three presets,
charges your iPod, and provides the best audio quality I've heard in an FM
transmitter. (Of course, YMMV when it comes to FM transmitters, but others
have written similar sentiments.) It lists for $80, but I've seen it for
around $55 at places such as Buy.com.

<http://playlistmag.com/products/complete/249-detail.php>

If you want a transmitter you can also use outside the car, you've got a
number of choices, two of our favorites being Sonnet's PodFreq and Griffin's
new iTrip LCD.



Finally, there are the more expensive "integration" products. A number of
companies make these products that connect your iPod directly to your car
stereo's head unit and let you use the stereo's controls to control
playback. We haven't tested them all, but most work similarly, displaying
one or two lines -- if that -- of playlist/album/artist/track info. We
haven't been that impressed with the interfaces. However, we've been playing
with Harman Kardon's new Drive+Play and so far we like it. It provides a
five-line iPod-like display that can be mounted wherever you like, along
with a controller that mirrors the iPod's Click Wheel buttons (although it
rotates instead of "scrolls"). The screen actually looks and functions like
the iPod's own menu system. The Drive+Play can be installed so that it
connects directly to most car stereos (some require an optional adapter), or
you can use its built-in FM transmitter. The screen isn't of the highest
quality -- the text is a bit blocky -- but it's the closest thing we've seen
to replicating the iPod's own interface in the car. We'll be doing a full
review in the near future after we've had more time with it.

<http://www.harmankardon.com/drive-1/default.aspx>

On Sep 23, 2005, at 7:10 PM, Andrew Laurence wrote:

> Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard? What
> about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?
> How about tape deck adapters? Then there's the car radio adapters,
> which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
> and of course the newer generations of radio head units.
>
> Antennas and tapes and radios, oh my!
>
> Any recommendations out here in TidBITSland?
>
> --
> Andrew Laurence
> atlaurenuci.edu

I use a tape deck adapter that we had gotten with a cd player. It
works fine, but it does have some background noise from the drive
spinning around (I only notice it when no music is playing). If I had
to buy a new adapter, it wouldn't be a tape deck adapter.

I also wonder how long cars will come equipped with tape players,
though they probably will replace them with some sort of mp3 jack.

Malcolm

At 04:10 PM 09/23/2005 -0700, Andrew Laurence wrote:
>Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard?

I bought a Griffin iTrip to go with my iPod, and found it basically
unusable. I had the old one that required playing a sound file to change
stations; this was really flaky and virtually impossible for a driver to
do. (And not something I'd try to get my wife to do.) Even in Tallahassee,
I could never find a clear enough station for it to work without
interference. I thought driving through rural Georgia would be better, but
it never would go more than ten or twenty miles without needing to be
changed. No surprise that it was even worse in Los Angeles -- the only
surprise is that the difference wasn't greater.

The things are just too weak as transmitters. I suppose I need to sell mine
while it's still worth something -- the new iTrip is enough more convenient
to make mine worth a lot less on the market.

>How about tape deck adapters

Then I bought a car with a tape deck ... got an adaptor, works great. Any
loss of fidelity is far less than the loss just from being in a car. No
more reason for the iTrip except in rentals, and it's just way too much
work for too little effort. The only down side is the wires -- lighter plug
to Firewire cable to iPod to adaptor cable to tape deck. Strangulation
city. I haven't tried Griffin's newer device which allows some control of
the iPod via the tape deck controls.

Edward
Art Works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

At 4:10 PM -0700 2005/09/23, Andrew Laurence wrote:
>Through a surprising turn of events, I suddenly find myself in need
>of playing an iPod in the car. (Perhaps it's more surprising that
>this hasn't come up before?)
>
>Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard? What
>about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?
>How about tape deck adapters? Then there's the car radio adapters,
>which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
>and of course the newer generations of radio head units.

        I've had the two original iTrips (they have a new one with
LCD, which should be a big improvement), and wasn't happy with the
sound, probably at least partially because I tested in a car with
antenna on the trunk, much farther away than those mounted on the
hood.

        I have the original XtremeMac kit, with a cassette adapter
and car charger, and that works well. Today I'd wait for the (way
overdue) SmartDeck, which adds sensors for tape head motion from the
car deck and converts that to REV/FF.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/smartdeck/index.php

        In truth, though, ever since the empeg car (early HD-based
player kit), I've recognized that if/when I ever get a car, I'm
probably going to spend as much as necessary, even if it's much more
than the iPod, to get a good head unit with decent integration. It
will probably be far enough in the future that they'll be cheap
and/or standard by then...


                                                Chris
PS-In some of our Zipcars (Scions), the CD player handles audio CDs
burned from iTunes. This was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, they
don't agree on how to group albums, so the player thinks it's a
single long playlist/album.
--
Chris Pepper: <http://www.reppep.com/~pepper/>
Rockefeller University: <http://www.rockefeller.edu/>

On Sep 23, 2005, at 6:10 PM, Andrew Laurence wrote:

> Through a surprising turn of events, I suddenly find myself in need
> of playing an iPod in the car.

<snip>

> Any recommendations out here in TidBITSland?


I tried countless FM modulators and was always less than pleased.
(I was also continually disappointed with cassette adaptors)

Take a look at an auxiliary audio interface such as Blitzsafe:

<http://www.blitzsafe.com/blitz_catalog/blitz_aux/blitz_aux.html>

This will give you an auxiliary input jack like the one found on
newer head units.

The device plugs into the cd-changer port on the back of your car
stereo, and gives you a direct connection...to your stereo, the iPod
just looks like a (huge) cd changer.

I've had one in my car for the past several years, and couldn't be
happier.

Added benefit: the kids can plug in the audio-out from their iBook
and watch movies with much better sound than the little built-in
speakers.


Keith Jackson
(not associated with Blitzsafe, just a satisfied customer)

I just bought a Scion xB and I got it with the iPod adaptor. Sad
thing about it is that it does not charge the iPod while it is
playing. I wonder if the other "solutions" have this same problem.
So, I bought an additional FM/Charger unit for the longer trips to
make sure that I will be able to continually run my iPod from
Sacramento to Las Vegas!!

I hope that the Harmon/Kardmon system will charge then as well when
running. Never read yet that it does . . .

Anyse

No one, including me, thought to mention that the usefulness of an FM
transmitter probably varies greatly from one car to another, and possibly
even with the particular sound system installed in the car. So it may be
worth trying in a different car even when it fails in one. My experience in
Florida and Georgia, recounted in previous email, is based on a '99 Mazda
Protegé.

Edward
Art Works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

Just incase no one mentioned it, I found the TransPod to work well on
our trips. Left it at 106.9 and worked 789 miles one way and to every
county I traveled in WI last summer.

Nanc

On 9/23/05, Andrew Laurence <atlaurenes.nacs.uci.edu> wrote:
> Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard?

No, but they are certainly the last choice.

> What
> about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?

Sounds kinda invconvenient, but if you ahve a stereo with CD only and
no aux input, it's your best choice.

> How about tape deck adapters?

Cheap. Work. What's not to like?

The one from Griffin Technologies looks very very very cool.

<http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/smartdeck/index.php>

If my tape deck worked even half-way decently I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

> Antennas and tapes and radios, oh my!

It's so 1930's.

--
<http://2blog.kreme.com/>

On 9/24/05 10:35 PM, "Anyse Joslin" wrote:
> I hope that the Harmon/Kardmon system will charge then as well when
> running. Never read yet that it does . . .

Yes, it does charge your iPod while connected.

On Fri, Sep 23, 2005 at 04:10:23PM -0700, Andrew Laurence wrote:
> Any recommendations out here in TidBITSland?

Here's what I have in my truck. Direct connect, and it charges the iPod while
it's in the dock. I highly recommend it.

http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0193543

On 24-09-2005 01:10:23, Andrew Laurence wrote:

>Through a surprising turn of events, I suddenly find myself in need
>of playing an iPod in the car. (Perhaps it's more surprising that
>this hasn't come up before?)
>
>Do the wireless FM broadcasters suck as badly as I've heard? What
>about wired FM hookups that jack straigh into the radio's antenna?
>How about tape deck adapters? Then there's the car radio adapters,
>which seem to drive the iPod as though it were an external CD player,
>and of course the newer generations of radio head units.

Tape adapters are finicky. The playback head in the cassette must be aligned precisely
with the head in the player. If it's 1 mm off, playback will suck (volume way too low,
lots of noise). I've had to modify my adapter several times to fit a particular player.
Also, some modern tape decks will detect that the cassette does not contain a tape (the
spindle speeds will not match the capstan speed), and they'll refuse to play.

The missing option is a line-level input on the head unit. Good aftermarket headunits have
these as standard. For many others you can buy adapters that plug into the CD changer
input, and provide a line-level input there, but this generally only works if you don't
have a CD changer already. The simple adapters provide only the line input, more complex
solutions allow you to control the iPod from the headunit.

A line input gives the best quality, especially if you use the line-level output of the
iPod (but that may require using a dock).

This had been talked about in TidBITS Talk before:

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=1948>

and in various TidBITS articles:
<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07191>


Harro de Jong

I have used cassette adapters, they are ok. The smartdeck I ordered in May is still not here...

FOr my new Lexus I bought an expensive interface that mimics a CD changer and promised to display info on the dash LCD display but it doesn't. It just shows the playlist and track number (and it can do shuffle). It does charge the unit but has some line noise because of the electrical hum. I ran it to my glovebox so it is nice to have the iPod out of sight and just play as a radio sometimes.

But if the iPod is in the glove compartment how do you see it's screen? I'll let you into a dirty little secret that is not always clearly advertised for these devices (many are available on Crutchfield.com for example). They typically blank your ipod screen when connected (God I hope the smartdeck doesn't do this!) So the screen view is useless when truly integrated with my car (ie. so my steering wheel contrals change tracks on the iPod for example)

When I want to see the screen controls I unplug the dock connector and go through the Aux input that thankfully the VAIS technology device ALSO provides for my iPod (or any aux input such as an XM radio).

SO: Caveat Emptor!

Ron

I installed a Dension IceLink for my sister and was impressed with the sound quality. It plugs in to the back of a compatible car stereo and emulates a CD player.

You slip the iPod in to a cradle which has the standard iPod dock connector to take the audio signal and also charge the iPod. The normal CD player controls on your stereo (or steering wheel) control the iPod for moving to the next track, etc.

The Ice Link is available in lots of different models for each make of car or after-market stereo. It's a more expensive option at about US$ 200 (I paid about GBP 110 in the UK).

http://www.densionusa.com/ http://www.dension.com/

One warning about Dension: I found their technical support to be, well, non-existent. I contacted them through the support web site (and later by email) several times and never got a reply.

On 9/24/05 at 10:35 PM, edwardpaleo.org (Edward Reid) wrote:

> No one, including me, thought to mention that the usefulness of an FM
> transmitter probably varies greatly from one car to another, and
> possibly even with the particular sound system installed in the car.
> So it may be worth trying in a different car even when it fails in
> one. My experience in Florida and Georgia, recounted in previous
> email, is based on a '99 Mazda Protegé.

This is probably as good a spot as any to make an addendum to my
AirPlay/iTrip review, having recently switched to a new car. When I
wrote the review, I had a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire; at the time and in that
car, I didn't notice any difference in sound quality between the two
units. My new car is a 2005 Chevy Cobalt, with the stock speaker system,
and with that stereo there's an arresting difference between the two.
The iTrip has a much louder, punchier bass sound than the AirPlay; in
general I like the iTrip's sound better in the new car, though it's
occasionally too loud to the point of overwhelming the midrange.


Travis Butler
tbutlermac.com

I researched iPodding my car for many weeks via the internet and also talked to several car stereo places who offered nice, but expensive solutions. I had used two of the small, inexpensive FM transmitters and had trouble with both of them - they are fiddly to use and strong FM stations easily overpowered them. My solution was the DLO TransPod FM at $80.00. (I bought mine at Target on sale but they are also available online from many suppliers.) It is steady as a rock and never seems to get overpowered by other stations. An added bonus, it charges the iPod while I drive. It fits the big iPod and the Mini, looks like the Nano will fit as well. Highly recommended!

[I have to say, owning a TransPod as well, I'd disagree with this strongly. I absolutely detest the TransPod. Yes, it works for FM transmission and charges the iPod, but physically, it's a nightmare. It uses clumsy arms that fit together badly, don't stay firm, and bounce all over. And that's if you can get it into a good position to start. Good idea, terribly industrial design. -Adam]

--Curt

On Sep 30, 2005, at 9:19 AM, crblanchard wrote:

> My solution was the DLO TransPod FM at $80.00. (I bought mine at
> Target on
> sale but they are also available online from many suppliers.) It is
> steady
> as a rock and never seems to get overpowered by other stations. An
> added
> bonus, it charges the iPod while I drive. It fits the big iPod and
> the Mini,
> looks like the Nano will fit as well. Highly recommended!
>
> [I have to say, owning a TransPod as well, I'd disagree with this
> strongly. I absolutely detest the TransPod. Yes, it works for FM
> transmission and charges the iPod, but physically, it's a
> nightmare. It uses clumsy arms that fit together badly, don't stay
> firm, and bounce all over. And that's if you can get it into a good
> position to start. Good idea, terribly industrial design. -Adam]

I think the Transpod is quite good, Adam. I suggested it some time
ago. I NEVER use the "extended" arm pieces. My husband is going to
mount the transpod holder on the glove compartment. It will be out of
the way. As for that little white cigarette piece sticking out, it's
no hassle at all. fits above a box I have setting there and has never
been in the way. I do admit those extended arm pieces would be a
pain, but why use them when you don't have to? Of course, I suppose
that could depend on your vehicle, too.

Nanc

I got my FM transmission iPod adaptor from Cyberguys on Monday just before a 10 hour trip to Las Vegas from Sacramento. I also just had my battery replaced on my iPod Applecare plan and received it on the dame day as well.

We took off for Vegas and at the 7th hour the battery on the iPod was almost dead. Well, I hooked it up to my new FM transmitter/charger and it was automatically set to 88.1 and it sounded so well that I could not tell the difference between my Scion iPod option that cost me 269 bucks! The only difference was that I then had to control my iPod from the transmitter in the cigarette lighter in stead of the radio controls. Since Cyberguys only sells one of these, there is no name of a manufacturer on it at all! Yet it worked flawlessly.

So, down and back to and from Vegas I was proud to listen ONLY to what I wanted to hear. It was marvelous!!

Anyse (CA)