Music fuels our lives and many people keep a lot of their music collection on their ipods. At one time, personalized playlists and “songs on demand” were limited to headphones. Today, we can play our private music selections in our cars. There are three main ways to play an ipod in a vehicle.
The first way to play an ipod in a car is to use a built-in connector. If a person owns a newer vehicle, they may have a jack that that was installed by the vehicle’s manufacturer intended for the use with an ipod. This route provides the highest sound quality, but it’s limited to newer cars. To determine if a car has an MP3 player jack, look at the radio controls. Look for a jack that looks like a small headphone jack or maybe a dock for an ipod. It’s possible to have after-market radios installed which will enable people with older cars to connect their ipod directly to their car stereo. If the jack is headphone jack and not the wide thin jack that’s a docking station, the consumer will need to purchase an adapter. This adapter will have a headphone plug that connects to the ipod and a headphone plug that goes into the jack in the car radio.
The second way to play an ipod in a car is only applicable to those who have a tape player in their car. If a person has a CD player in their vehicle, this way will not work. There are MP3-to-tape adapters that connect ipods to tape players. These are similar to the cd-to-tape adapters that were popular when CD players were new technology. One end of the adapter looks like a headphone jack and this goes into the ipod or other MP3 player. The other end looks like a tape without the magnetic strip. The tape is inserted into the tape player. This provides good sound quality.
The third way to play an ipod in a vehicle is through the use of an FM transmitter. This is the most common way to play an ipod in a car. The sound quality widely varies. Some FM transmitters provide a solid and clear signal while others provide very poor sound quality and transmit a weak signal. It’s best to thoroughly research an FM transmitter prior to purchase and one should look for reviews that mention the sound quality. FM transmitters send sound from the ipod to the car stereo via radio waves. One sets the FM transmitter to an unused FM radio frequency and plugs the other end of the transmitter into the headphone jack of the ipod. When the car radio is set to the same frequency as the FM transmitter, the ipod can be heard through the speakers in the car. Some FM transmitters only transmit on certain frequencies and some transmit on a variety of frequencies. It’s wise to double check and make sure the FM transmitter transmits the signal on an available frequency prior to purchase. If the FM transmitter only transmits on 87.3 and that frequency is already in use by a radio station in the purchaser’s locale, the FM transmitter will not work properly.
Whether ones uses a built-in jack, a tape adapter, or an FM transmitter, there’s a way to play an ipod in every car.
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