[wallinbl]

I got a 10GB iPod for Christmas. I want to use it in my car, so I went down to the local Apple Store to get the cassette adapter. I figured that would be the best sound quality of the two. They don't even have a cassette adapter in the store - only two kinds of FM transmitters. I had an FM transmitter about 6 years ago, and it was awful - never would tune properly.

What's the best way to go on this? I can get a cassette adapter at Best Buy, or I can get one of the Belkin FM transmitters at the Apple Store. Of the FM transmitters, why is the "Belkin Digital FM Transmitter" $10 more than the "Belkin TuneCast FM Transmitter for iPod"?

I'm leaving on the 8 hour drive home tomorrow, and I'd love to use the iPod instead of channel surfing in south Georgia (country, country, country, rap, country, country, country, farm report).

I just noticed the Monster iCarPlay on Apple's website. That looks nice because it charges the iPod at the same time. It also doesn't require batteries like the Belkin products. Anyone use this?

[laseca]

I purchased the iTrip and was very disappointed with it. I took a long six hour trip and the reception was irritating. Other times the dead stations came alive and no others could be found. Even when I had a dead station, you hear the static and the music didn't have the fidelity. I had a cassette adapter for my portable CD player from years ago and wanted to go that route since I know it would sound better. Since my car has a CD/radio deck, I purchased an add-on tape deck accessory to solely use the cassette adapter with my iPod. It was $150 well spent even though I haven't played cassettes in years. The sound was pure and clear. I sold the iTrip. A direct connection to the deck is best versus listening music via airwaves.

Tip: When you do use a cassette adapter, turn up your iPod's volume to a little more than 3/4 and then use the radio's volume to control the volume. If your iPod's volume is set to low, you'll hear hissing with the music since there isn't enough output from the iPod going into the stereo deck.

[herbsman]

i agree. cassette adapter is the way to go because at least you get consistency. i bought the new itrip and while it's probably a decent product in some areas, for the bay area in cali its not that hot. we also have the 4th largest radio market in the country so that plays a big role.

[d4nth3m4n]

cassette adapter. been using it in my car for years, love it. little hiss, but thats only cause i turn off the dolby nr. cant max out the ipod tho, it clips. but at about 7/8 volume it wokrs great. get a head cleaner for the deck and youre really ready to rock.

[waffffffle]

I agree, get yourself a tape adapter. It doesn't need to be from Belkin or specifically for the iPod.

[Stradlater]

Any cassette adapter should do; I'm currently using a very old adapter with my 15-gigger that came with a Discman of mine quite a few years ago.

[stinkinsane68]

If you have an external amp, hook your iPod directly up to the amp, by using a stereo miniplug- RCA convertor cable. The sound is incredible... unfortunatly, if you do this, you can't use your radio's volume knob... so...

dammit.

- Ca$h

[curmi]

Bought an iTrip, and I find it sucks in comparison to the cassette adaptor.

[Mastrap]

Personally I've never got a cassette adaptor to work as well as my el cheapo FM transmitter from ebay. Just did a 5 hour road trip with no problems whatsoever. Crystal clear sound the whole way.

[MusicalTone]

I dont have an iPod (or a car) but noticed this forum which might have some more options for you:

http://ipodlounge.com/forums/forumdi...php?forumid=44

[wallinbl]

I bought a cassette adapter. I worked great, although traffic was so bad the trip lasted 11 hours, leaving me iPod-less for the last 90 minutes.

[SimeyTheLimey]

Does anyone know of a better made cassette adaptor?

I've gone through a Sony one, and a generic one from Radio Shack. Both of them make a lot of mechanical noises in the player due to friction between the spindles and the case of the adaptor. It progressively gets worse and after a while they get really loud, not to mention hot. Has anyone else had this problem?

[coitus]

I originally purchased a Link-IT which was such a joke it wasn't even funny. I was using it in conjunction with a 1997 Honda Civic. In the end, I gave it to a buddy of mine for the price of him buying me lunch. He has had great success with it due in part to the design of his antenna on his Honda Prelude. Apparently, the entire back window of his car acts as a giant antenna. He also uses it at home to broadcast from his iMac to the home stereo.

As for me, I had been searching and searching for a cheap stereo with an audio-input on the front. The only model I found was SWEET Audiovox (dripping with sarcasm). Anyway, it was an in-dash CD unit that cost $70 shipped to my door.

Though I didn't put much effort into it, I discovered very few retailers will install a car stereo that you do not purchase from them (here is where I point out my Honda is jacked up with some keyless-entry issue that causes you to dismantle the dash and keep the original car stereo, shove it back in the dash, and wire through it to the new unit or else you lose function of the keyless-entry. Thanks HONDA!!!).

Well, Ultimate Electronics told me over the phone it would cost $45 + the cost of the appropriate kit. When they were all said and done...they wanted $155.00 for the install. It was at this point that I asked him if I looked as if I regularly smoked crack because only a person who smokes crack would pay $155 to install a $60 stereo. I chose option #2 instead.

He found a Kenwood for $160 (there were also a couple JVC and Pioneer units) that had the AUX input on the back of the unit. I then purchased a Monster Cable iCable for iPod. The cable costs about $30 and is 7-ft. in length. They dropped that off the back of the in-dash unit and ran it under to the center console where it pops out with a few feet of extra cabling. I simply plug the cable in to my iPod, tune to AUX, press play on my iPod, and it works like a champ. Excellent quality...

It has definitely been worth the money to get top-quality out of my iPod. I am now in search of a good dash-mount to enable me to move my iPod off the passenger seat and make it easier to work.

coitus

[tfrantz]

Go with the cassette adapter.

I bought an FM (irocks?) transmitter and it sounded like I was on the outskirts of a town with a weak FM station.

Tried it inside with my stereo and it was worse.

Like someone said above, if you have a receiver with a jack, use that.

My only beef is trying to drive and browse songs at the same time.

[Eriamjh]

Cassette. I don't think the FM transmitters have the frequency bandwidth that the cassette does.

Mine sounds damn close to CDs in my car.

[andi*pandi]

got iTrip. so far, so good. Took awhile to find out which station would work best (turned out to be default 87.9) but then pretty good. Only a few moments of interference from outside as we drove past someone's house, who knows what they were broadcasting.

Would love to try to do indash solution, but ipod goes to both cars, so this was cheapest. Plus I'm curious to see what it's range is on the stereo/radios in the house.

[SOLIDAge]

i jsut got an iTrip and MAN does it rival my Cassette adapter...but thats probably because I live in the sticks of Connecticut ;-)

[JASnyder]

MacWorld did a review on the FM transmitters and the cassette adapters a few months back.

They were generally unimpressed with the various FM options (iTrip, iRock) and said that the cassette adapters were the way to go.

I got a maxell adapter at KMart for about $8, works fine.

Or you could buy a Honda Element which has a jack in the dash!

[jfischetti]

This solution worked for me --

I use the unused CD Changer input of my 20012Audi Allroad - Sounds great.


http://www.rcainput.com/