Transmitters for MP3 Portables? 33
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.
Cheap FM transmitters suck (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Re:Cheap FM transmitters suck (Score:2, Informative)
I've owned several cassette adapters, and they all went bad. The main problem is the cheap quality of the audio cable they always use, so they break at the plug. The quality itself was great -- better than a tape since it's coming from a CD player and you don't have to worry about the quality of metal on the tape.
The point is, an FM adapter may be slightly more durable since there's less fiddling with the cabling. Less fiddling itself is a bonus, except that now you have to mess with the radio station.
Our experiences vary (Score:2)
I've been using a cheap cassette adapter for months with no problem. It's interesting to hear you point out the plug-cable connection as a point of failure. That is my experience with cheap headphones, because the cable gets jerked on a lot by the heavy portable device it gets hooked up to. But that's not the kind of stress you see for something that spends its life sitting in your car! Perhaps you are in the habit of disconnecting the cable by grabbing the slack and jerking? That would certain tend to break the cable in the way you describe!
Re:Our experiences vary (Score:1)
Okay, the REAL problem was that the cassette adapters were from Radio Shack, and should have been sold as the $2 pieces of s*** they were, not extortion to the tune of $20.
Radio Shack shit (Score:2)
Slashdot potential (Score:2)
too many stereos (Score:4, Interesting)
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!
I used a soundfeeder - no probs (Score:4, Informative)
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
SoundLink Wireless Audio Delivery System (Score:2, Informative)
I've not tried it myself but I'm intrigued. The only caveat would be that it broadcasts on 88.1 or 88.3 FM so if there is a station using that frequency in your area, you may experience interference.
Does it have to be wireless??? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Does it have to be wireless??? (Score:1)
aux input (Score:3, Informative)
Re:aux input (Score:1)
Re:aux input (Score:2)
Re:aux input (Score:1)
I think to use a radio transmitter in the car... (Score:3, Funny)
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)
Re:I think to use a radio transmitter in the car.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I think to use a radio transmitter in the car.. (Score:2, Informative)
I agree that you should avoid those cheep FM transmitter thingy's. You'll actually be lucky if they work most of the time, and when they do you don't want to annoy other drivers with your FM transmitter.
I would suggest an FM Modulator [uni-essen.de] that plugs directly into your antenna line. You will get much better quality and reliability from them than your average $25 transmitter.
Of course, if you don't mind spending money, just get a head unit with an aux line-in and use that.
MK-90 is Emerson EWT950 (Score:3, Interesting)
More info on the MK-90 (Emerson EWT950) here [jandr.com].
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.
for the very high end (and illegal in the US, too) (Score:2)
I assembled one of their exciter/coder kits (took about 2 hrs per kit to solder) and they say it puts out a whole watt (1 watt). this is what makes it illegal in the US - but ssshh - don't tell anyone and don't stay on the air for too long in one place!
if you run its output into a dummy load you'll reduce its range and perhaps be legal. but the neat thing about this kit is that the stereo coder is really good sounding and the exciter is PLL locked so you digitally tune the channnel you want to transmit on and it stays locked there pretty nicely - no drift.
Hack a Mister Microphone? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Cables aren't that bad (Score:1)
for the car, you can get a head unit that has aux ins on the back or many that come with disc changer controls have adapter units that will give u a pair of RCA inputs.
MP3 in the car (Score:2, Informative)
I've been looking at doing this lately with my PJB-100. In the past, I've tried both the cassette adapter and an FM modulator [123av.com] that goes between the antenna jack on the back of the head unit and the antenna lead. It's more direct than broadcasting over-the-air, and the sound is ok. But honest, the cassette adapters give you the best sound, and are simpler than the FM modulator (which has to be wired into the dash) or FM transmitter (which takes batteries).
If you're going to be using the MP3 as your main music source, check out new head units from Jensen and Aiwa that have front-panel 1/8" Aux inputs. The cheapest Jensen [crutchfield.com] is $120 at Crutchfield.
Works, more or less (Score:2)
The range was pretty good, though - maybe 100 feet or so. We actually set one of the laptops in the back window of the car on the drive back, running a Powerpoint loop advertising "FM 89.9" or some such, with a cell phone number for requests. We set another laptop on random play over the FM transmitter, and watched all the cars behind us pull up close to look at the sign, tune in their radio, and then jockey for position to try to stay in range of the transmitter.
Side thought (Score:2)