I use headphones. It has the double effect of drowning out the screaming pedestrians.
I use earbuds. You can get a universal FM adapter that you can plug into your earphone jack and it transmits over the Radio to any empty FM station you wish. The cost a pretty penny thouh. I stick with earbuds.
Check your local laws on this. Such is frowned upon by police here in Las Vegas.
Agreed. Based upon Fenatic’s location tag, this may be best. RadioShack sold such previously although I cannot attest to that today.
If $40-80 is a pretty penny, then I would not worry about a transmitter. A key issue is finding a clear spot on the FM dial. There really isn’t such here in the Las Vegas metro while up north in rural Ely the spectrum is wide open. In a major urban area like NYC, using an FM transmitter is basically a non-starter.
Yeah, my car does have a tape deck. I would rather not use headphones while driving.
I’ll probably go with the tape adapter as the radio transmitter is fairly expensive. I was just wondering if there were any other technologies that I was unaware of.
EDIT: Anyone have a specific brand of tape adapters they like?
And yeah, around here the FM dial is pretty full.
Thar be humor in my postings from time to time, yaaarr.
I actually use buds.
I’m kinda surprised that Scar is not mp3 ready. FM transmitter is how I roll, but finding 2 or 3 consistently clear stations in Orlando is a challenge. Belkin works well.
I’m kinda surprised that Scar is not mp3 ready. FM transmitter is how I roll, but finding 2 or 3 consistently clear stations in Orlando is a challenge. Belkin works well.
My other car is scar. This one is just a Camry. :rolleyes:
The FM transmitters are okay if you have iPod, but problematic if you have iPhone. The phone signal cause interference. I eventually got tired of it and had a iPod connector cable installed in my car.
If your willing to replace your radio you could always get one with a ‘line in’ on it and just connect using 3.5mm cable.
On a somewhat related note, can any those radios with a USB play music from a 2.5" harddrive in an external case. Some hd cases do power themselves from the USB. I ask because my old mp3 player is mostly dead and the only thing I use it for is the car. I think that a huge hard drive attachable to the car would be better than a new mp3 player.
Or own a car with that already built-in at the factory. 
The tape adapter is really such a simple technology that it really doesn’t matter brand. You’re not gonna notice a difference from one to the other.
I’ve tried FM transmitters and haven’t had good luck. I would find myself constantly having to adjust it or try different stations. And as you travelled from place to place you have to adjust again.
Stick with the tape deck adapter.
I pay homeless people 5 bucks to sit in my passenger seat and sing to me. Life-like sound and voice-activated interface. You just can’t beat it for the price.
Hmm… That sounds cool. What sort of playlist do the homeless have? And can I sync them with my iTunes? :eek:
I’ve been planning something similar myself but it’ll be a while before I get to it. Bascially what I want is a small PC with a pretty big hard drive. But my plan involves hooking it up with a wireless card so when I pull in up to my house I could synch my current music collection with the cars. I’m fairly sure that’s possible. There is the same issue with hooking it up to the car speakers but I’m sure it’s possible.
I don’t really require all the various PC function I’d be happy with a car radio with a hard drive and wireless access. It must be possible to to fit all that into one unit to replace a regular radio.
Oh, yeah, they are 100% iPod compatible. They listen on earbuds and sing along. Some of them even watch the music video and dance along, it’s fantastic. If you have iPhones, then they function as hands free interface as well.
It’s really a win-win situation for everyone. I get to drive in carpool lane, and they get to explore exotic, far away parts of the city that’ll take years for them to get to on their shopping carts.
A key thing to consider, though, is whether or not the tape will actually load correctly in your player. Car cassette players can take tapes in one of two orientations. If your orientation is for the width rather than the height, it might actually be hard to find a proper adapter. The best thing to do is know your car and then look very, very carefully at where the cable is coming off the adapter.
Now for something a little technical. FM receivers are fun things as the passband is usually pretty wide. What you have to avoid is co-channel interference. On a channel you pick, there must not be any FM signals adjacent. If there is, you get a wee bit of splatter and no recoverable tunes. In the US, the spacing between channel centers is 200 kilohertz and normal allocation of station spots involves ensuring that 200 kilohertz above and below the station’s assigned spot are clear. Unless your transmitter was inductively pumping a signal straight into the car antenna, you will not be able to easily overcome co-channel issues.
Now, if you are okay with tearing open your dashboard, you should check for an auxillary input on the back of your radio. If there is such and it has RCA jacks, you can wire up a cable running from that to the interior of the vehicle containing an 1/8" plug to hook up your Nano. This solution takes the most work but might be the most satisfying. BMWs have this sort of thing built-in to where all you need is a 3’ patch cable with 1/8" plugs on both ends but depending upon how things are set in your vehicle you can make it yourself.
It’s outta stock right now, but this was my answer when I finally got the 944 running:
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=300&i=500IDAX300&tp=5684
It’s pretty reasonable ($150), and ditches the CD drive for iPod and USB functionality. Unlike the $200 iDA-200, the cheaper iDA-300 ships with the expensive iPod dock connector and you provide your own cheap-ass USB cable. You end up with a USB jack AND a dock connector in the glovebox, so you can jack in your iPod plus throw separate stuff on a low-buck USB key.
I use the USB keys kinda like burned CDs – except they hold more and are re-usable.
I know this isn’t the cheapest solution, but if you’re in a position (like I was) where you have to buy a stereo anyway, it’s a really easy solution. Works great!
So I got my Sony Tape Adapter, but when I put it in the car, it makes this ripping noise about once every second. I tried it with a regular tape and sure enough, same thing. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Not having used the tape deck in about 4 years I probably should have tried it out first. I think the problem is in one of the gears. It might be rubbing on something or have a faulty motor. Has anyone had a similar problem?
I think I found a work around. When I was using the regular tape I found when it played the ‘Side B’ there was no noise. Unfortunatly the tape adapter only has one side, and you can’t physically flip it over and have it fit in this deck. So insted I had to flip the tape the long way so the side with the wire points in and fold the wire back over the tape. It just bearly fit in the deck, but it works with no noise!