iPod Best Solution for iPod Audio in Car?

[jsbarone]

Hey, I'd like to listen to my iPod in my car on my way to work, but have heard some bad things about the FM Transmitters so touted by third party manufacturers. Is there a method (other than line-in) that you guys recommend? I want the best sound possible.

Links are great, too.

 

[SuperSnake2012]

Do you have a cassette player in your car? I bought a $10 adapter that goes in the cassette player and it works great.

 

[Philberttheduck]

Do you have a cassette player in your car? I bought a $10 adapter that goes in the cassette player and it works great.

I second this. walmart has a phillips tape cassette adapter for like 10 bux. its dualhead so if your cassette insert happens to be horizontal, you can change it with your fingernails/coin.

 

[itcheroni]

I want to do the same thing but I don't have a cassette play and I don't think it's worth it to have crappy quality sound with the tuners. I'm assuming I'm SOL. Someone prove me wrong.

 

[Gymnut]

I've tried FM transmitters and while they're fine for the most part, I would encounter problems with interference so I opted to purchase an aftermarket deck and an iPod connection kit. The iPod stays in my glove compartment charging and I control it via the deck. Plenty of car stereo manufacturers i.e. Clarion, Alpine, Kenwood, Sony, etc..,have their own iPod connection kits so if your stock deck can accomodate the kit I guess you could try installing it yourself or having a car audio tech perform the installation. The iPod connection kits typically run between $50-$100 and for the most part current aftermarket decks are "iPod ready" meaning they just require the connection kit. With my Kenwood deck, I can only control the iPod through the deck so it can be bothersome to navigate 40GB+ worth of music so I've had to use playlist to circumvent this. I have seen a Clarion touch screen deck/DVD player that mimicked the controls of the iPod so in theory I guess you would be able to navigate much quicker although at the time, which was in 2006, this deck was slightly over $1k.

 

[doctor pangloss]

I've tried the past two evolutions of the iTrip and have found them somewhat difficult depending on where you use them and the quality of the sound system you play through.
Lately I've just been using my Bose ANR headset directly into the ipod for the best fidelity.

 

[szsiddiq]

I just installed this in my brothers car:
http://www.isimplesolutions.com/products.asp

it was $100 at best buy.
works great! give you line out quality, and lets you skip tracks and fast forward from your stereo controls.

it hooks into your stereo's cd changer port in the back of your stereo. it also charges the ipod while hooked up. i thought itd be really complicated, but it took under an hour to do. there are some weird quarks in the controls, but so far its my favorite solution (i've tried cassettes and a wide range of FM transmitters).

 

[jsbarone]

Thanks for all of your responses. I've decided that I'm going to use a Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter (see here) for a few months when I can afford a higher quality iPod ready deck.

It's gotten fairly decent reviews, and it's only $30 so I don't have too much to lose. I'll make sure and let you all know how it goes for me. Thanks.

 

[Zwhaler]

I own both a cassette deck adapter (19 dollars) and the best of the best FM transmitter (Monster, close to 100 dollars). I am so dissappointed in the FM transmitter. It sounds so terrible I thought it was a joke when I first plugged it in. I have never once heard crystal clear sound when using it, and now the only thing I use it for is to charge my iPod while I use the cassette adapter. I would avoid those things at all costs.

 

[shipdestroyer]

I suggest skipping the iPod-enabled deck and going for a plain ol' auxiliary input. I've seen reviews of the decks as generally not-so-good, and very few things can compare to the iPod's UI.

Get a dash/cupholder mount for it, and it'll be better than any deck interface.