AZZenny
Registered User
I want to hook my ipod in to play in a car -- especially when I get a rental car overseas next month -- and if you folks have preferences of what type to get or not get, I'd like to hear it. Thanks.
ipod/MP3 player in car?
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I have both an MP3 Player and Ipod. The only difference between the two IMO is that Apples interface is a tad easier then many MP3 players. However, on the downside the Ipod has DRM and limits what you can play the music on and how many devices. MP3 is more forgiving with what you can do with your music.
It really depends on your preference. Either way don't forget to buy a Tape Deck adapter for your music player so you can play it in the rental car. Chances are your rental car won't have an MP3 or Ipod jack to plug it into.
BillsCarnage
ASFN Addict
Research FM transmitters for ipods based on your model. I have the old mini w/ FM transmitter and it works great, although the volume is a bit lower than normal.
Basically you dial the radio to the freq of the transmitter. I didn't get a car charger, but you can usually find combo's.
Basically you dial the radio to the freq of the transmitter. I didn't get a car charger, but you can usually find combo's.
AZZenny
Registered User
I have the ipod, the question is whether there's a brand people have had good (or bad) experiences with.
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Since its a rental car you choice of devices is kind of thin. The problem with the FM transmitters is that they're so feast or famine, even within the same brand. Get one that doesn't work so well and all you'll get is static and constant dropouts, very frustrating. If you go the FM transmitter route, I suggesting purchasing one before your trip from a place with a good return policy and trying it out prior to leaving for a while to make sure it works to your liking.
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I've had the best luck with the transmitters that plug into the cigarette lighter. Mine also charges the ipod at the same time.The transmitters that just plug into your ipod and are "wireless" WERE AWFUL. But I do think it has a lot to do with how well the car receives radio signals.
Mine is something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ac+-+iPod+Accessories-_-Kensington-_-55996058
Mine is something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ac+-+iPod+Accessories-_-Kensington-_-55996058
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The rental car (minivan) that I got had a AUX port that allowed us to use our Zune.
It depends on the car that you get.
It depends on the car that you get.
AZZenny
Registered User
So I should ask if it has an AUX port?
Chaz
observationist
Most new cars including most rentals will have aux ports now.
You may need a cable to connect it though.
You may need a cable to connect it though.
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Aux port is your best option if they're able to tell you if the car will have one.
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The cable I used to connect it cost me about $1 on eBay. If you need one, I know I have extras around the house. I'll send you one.
AZZenny
Registered User
So it's not just the normal ipod cable?
As long as we're at it, anyone have an external battery or battery-back-up for ipod they recommend? I'll have about 19 hours of travel time to fill.
As long as we're at it, anyone have an external battery or battery-back-up for ipod they recommend? I'll have about 19 hours of travel time to fill.
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It is a 3.5mm cable that plugs into the top where your headphones plug into. It is the same 3.5mm jack on both ends. iPods don't traditionally come with this cable.
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This device charges your ipod through the cigarette lighter and connects to the stereo via the aux cable.
http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Li...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1218238841&sr=1-35
AZZenny
Registered User
Thanks, guys -- dcr, I'll PM you about that cable. I think I'm going to get a portable back-up battery for the trip since it'll be useful on the plane as well. Plus my older truck doesn't have an aux port, so although the kensington device looks good, it wouldn't be useful to me here.
I am thinking about getting this to use with my Creative Zen Vision M. Looks like a good solution, as long as I can verify that they are compatible.
Kenwood KDC-MP438U
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Kenwood KDC-MP438U
Darth Llama
Rise Up Red Sea!
Ok, I have a question here, maybe I'm missing something..
That deck plays MP3 and WMA formats from CD. Why would you want to fumble with plugging in an external player when you can just throw a hundred or so songs on one CD and just play that?
100 or so songs on one cd?
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Sure, you can fit a couple hundred MP3's on one CD maybe. My CD player plays MP3's.
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A lot of times it is easier than burning CDs. Especially when some people have gigs and gigs worth of music to look through.
Ah, good question. I actually have video lectures that I want to listen to. I can download them to my Zen, but I want a way to play the audio through the car speakers. This seems like it would be the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
Darth Llama
Rise Up Red Sea!
Ah, good question. I actually have video lectures that I want to listen to. I can download them to my Zen, but I want a way to play the audio through the car speakers. This seems like it would be the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
I have to admit.. that's a pretty good reason.
That deck looks pretty nice, should be really good for what you're looking to do.
? What size CD? DVD, I could see, but CD? The most I ever fit on a cd was 21, I think.
Let's say you have a typical cd-r or cd-rw and you're going to use it to burn a collection of songs.
For this example let's use a 700MB/80 Min cd.
If you burn them as digital audio recordings (audio files) they are not compressed. Something like 30-35 MB each song - for the average 3 to 4 minute song - which is why you've only made cd's with about 21 songs before. Burning software starts with the maximum number of "minutes" you can fit and subtracts as you add audio tracks to your burn list. (While it displays the available minutes it is really using the file size to determine how much available space there is on the cd.)
MP3 format compresses a cd-quality song by a factor of 10 to 14 without noticeably affecting the sound. Now you are able to save a 32 MB audio file as a 3 MB data file.
So you could have 21 songs (700MB/32MB per song = 21.875) or 233 songs (700MB/3MB per song = 233.333) depending on which format you use.
Thank you for the explanation...
but I've always burned mp3's to my cds...not wma files, or anything else (at least, to the best of my VERY poor memory). Unless Windows Media Player converted them to wma or something when it burned it...that would make sense. I was going to sit & do the math later on it...
It still doesn't totally add up to me, anyway...my daughter could never fit more than ~90 - 100 songs on her ipod shuffle (1 gb)
but I've always burned mp3's to my cds...not wma files, or anything else (at least, to the best of my VERY poor memory). Unless Windows Media Player converted them to wma or something when it burned it...that would make sense. I was going to sit & do the math later on it...
It still doesn't totally add up to me, anyway...my daughter could never fit more than ~90 - 100 songs on her ipod shuffle (1 gb)
