iPod question

[Shell]

ok, first off...i know NOTHING about car stereo shit ....this is actually the first time i think Ive ever been in this section...anyway...

what i want to know is, if i were to get an MP3 player which would be an iPod (being a Mac chick and all)...is there any way I can just plug it into my car stereo somehow????

basically I want to put all my MP3s on the iPod and also be able to play them in my car...

is this possible, or do you need a certain type of head unit?

I don't know if it's any help but here's a pic of my stereo...

any advice very gratefully appreciated!

[2rismo]

Just buy a little FM transmitter and tune that sexy-as-shit stezza into the right frequency. They cost about $40. I can sell iPod if you want it a bit cheaper too.

Adrian

[ferni]

newer/better headunits have an AUX input which you can plug things into..

or you can use the FM transmitter 2rismo is talking about

or you can just a tape adapter thingie

AUX will give you best quality, then probably the FM tramsmitter and last the tape adapter

[Charly]

I see you have an MD light on your head unit. I will assume that this is an Auxilary input. This means that you should have some leads sticking out the back of your head unit all you need to do is go to tandy and buy some leads to connect to the back of your head that plug into the headphone out of the ipod.

[Shell]

Charly, i assumed MD button was for mini disc? so you mean some leads that are for hooking up a mini disc player can be used to hook up an iPod too??

Adrian...got the FM expander....just sick to death of shitty Canberra radio!!

[cLoWn]

at the moment in my car i have a nomad creative 1.5 gig mp3 player hooked up through my head unit i would stick with a simple in car adaptor i have the one that plugs into your earphone plug and then a cable onto a cassete and its got great sound i got mine for about $10 and its easier than trying to find your aux input

[ferni]

shell - the fm trasmitter adrian is talking about is something that plugs into yoru IPOD then broadcasts the signal via a FM station....

[Shell]

cLoWn - yeah i had the same kind of set up when I had my old car (Laser) - it didn't have a CD player so i used a discman with a car kit.

ferni - hehe yep just found that out!! i got an iPod on Sunday (for my birthday) and was told straight away that you can get a thing called an iTrip?? which works like you said... apparently it has to be 1.5metres from the arial though, so might have to chuck the iPod on the back seat??

[siksII]

get an ipod mini! i wanted one when it was meant to come out in april, then apple pushed it back 3 months !!!

[Charly]

Shell, don't waste your money on something just because it has the trendy apple logo on it. Rip out your head unit and get some $10 leads and plug them into the minidisc input for your head unit.

have you ever plugged an Aux into your head unit I don't think so? I don't even know what an Aux is.

[Chewy]

I agree with Charly. When I installed my head unit a few weeks ago, I put in pair of stereo leads leading from AUX input at the back to a headphone jack in the glovebox. Cheap, easy, and it works great.

[ferni]

not all stereos have an AUX input... only newer/better ones do

[LukeR33GTS]

i have the itrip and its good sometimes not so good other times, but on sony head units with cd changer control can the rca inputs for the changer be used on there own or do they require the bus input aswell (the fatter multi pin cable that controls the changer)

[JiMb0]

Shell, don't waste your money on an iTrip, I had mine installed for 10 mins before I went and purchased a tape adapter because the quality sucks and too much interference when driving through different areas. IMHO if you don't have the option for AUX IN, or it aint easy enough to work out, grab the following -

* a tape adapter from tandy or k-mart ($15 max)

* Belkin TuneDok Car Holder (I squeezed my plastic cuppy thin upside down and it holds it good) ($30)

http://www.macmall.com.au/mall/customer/pr...d4cf55f300e102f

* Griffin PowerPod ($32)

http://www.macmall.com.au/mall/customer/pr...d4cf55f300e102f

Stripped the power pod down to the circuit board, wired it in behind the console, and bobs your uncle, you have a neat solution and only visible wiring really is from the ash tray (where I have a boost controller and turbo timer anyway) to the tape deck.

I'll grab some piccies on the weekend.

I mean whilst that's $77 instead of the $69 you'll pay for an iTrip, you'll get much better sound, no interference and hey if you want you dont have to get the holder and save $32

[Shell]

jimbo!! you're alive!!

well, I have a car kit (tape thingy) from a Kenwood discman.... tried it today in the car for the first time... awesome!! problem solved!

dunno why i didn't think of it in the first place, but i didn't think you could use them with mp3 players :Oops:

won't be bothering with an iTrip or pulling out my stereo to find cables - this is good enough for me, and it costs me nothing

just wish I had better speakers (crap factory ones)...

[Shell]

ps. does anyone know where i can find good troubleshooting advice for iPod?? For some reason it won't up download all of my iTunes library to the iPod and gets an unknown error (-36) ...

[funkymonkey]

*sigh* blardy mac users...

use this website as your bible...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=9805

Error -36 is an IO Error, ie the file could not be written to you iPlod. This is caused by 2 things...

scenarios a) your iPlod's storage is damaged, throw it away and buy yourself a USB based flash ROM mp3 player.

scenario b (and most likely case) the MP3 that you are transferring has either a corrupt header, or it is using a bitrate/encoding that is not recognised by the iPlod's OS. It actually checks em before writing em to storage.

Transfer your MP3's one by one and you'll come to one MP3 which gives you that error. Delete the MP3 and hop on some filesharing program for a mac and download it again, making sure its not the same one as you just deleted.

[JiMb0]

Shell, course I'm alive !! :headspin:

If you havn't invested in the power pod thing yet (just powers the ipod from your ciggy lighter, do it .. you'll get pissed off on trips longer than 4 hours otherwise.

The thing is that alot of people say a tape adapter isn't as good as AUX in etc and they are quite right, but for the sort of stocky speakers most have it's not like you notice the difference ...

As for using iTunes, use Ephpod instead, much better and optiosn to skip bad files etc.

Few places to check out with respect to your new found pod -

www.ipodlounge.com

www.ipodhacks.com

and to show you how much effort some go to install an ipod in a car --

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=509131

Enjoy babe !!

[P1E]

Can you connect power to the iPod so you can leave it in your car?

Also, I have an iPod in the For Sale section if anybody's keen.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=41442

[JiMb0]

P1E, thats what the Griffin Power Pod is ....

Basically it's a converter from your ciggy lighter to a female firewire port. Then you just plug in your regular firewire - ipod / dock cable .....

I have dismantled my Power Pod so instead of plugging it into the ciggy lighter, it's hardwired in behind the ciggy lighter and all cables go under the trim and come out the side of the trim around the little storage thing behind the gearstick.

As mentioned I'll take pics on the weekend to show you what I mean .... Only took 20 secs and a soldering iron.