On How To Pick An Ipod Car Adapter
December 15th, 2009 by Max Groom, under Travel and Leisure. 1 Comment
Do you want to listen to your favourite ipod play-list in the car? Are you bored with radio and listening to the same albums over and over again when you are travelling? Consider buying an ipod car adapter and listening to your music freely when you are driving around the town. There are a lot of different types, and depending on the sort of media dock you have in your vehicle, there can be options for you.
Obviously, it is usually the best option to just purchase the adapter that has been designed for your car and media system. You can find information on these on a variety of sites and compare prices. You can also check out the electronics store and see what they have to offer, and get an idea of the brands and differences between them in a real time setting.
If it is not your car or you are planning on using the adapter for a lot of different stereo situations (such as a car or playing music through a stereo at a friend’s house), you should just consider getting the appropriate radio adapter for your ipod. These are usually a pretty reasonable price. The only downside to this is that if you are driving through towns where you don’t have good radio reception, your sound quality can suffer as a result.
If you have a cassette tape player in your car, then you should consider a tape adapter instead of a radio adapter. You will not have any of the sound problems mentioned previously. You also get to make use of your rewind and fast forward buttons, which allow you to skip songs you don’t want to hear in your playlist.
For cars with CD players, you can consider using the RCA port that is located in the back of the stereo. This can take a little effort, however. You have to remove your stereo and then plug your ipod adapter in, one side in your ipod and the other two sides in the jacks that are in the stereo itself. You can usually get these type of adapters for pretty cheap.
Regardless of what you pick, you should consider whether or not it will work properly with the type of car that you have. Most adapters will list if they are universal or compatible or not. Also consider the other uses of the ipod car adapter that you may be purchasing.
In the past, if you had an ipod car adapter, it was mainly only to play your music in your car. However with new technology and other options, you can also charge your ipod from many of the same adapters while you are driving and listening to your ipod on the road. Sometimes these type of adapters can cost more, but they are worth it for people that are concerned their ipod might run out of battery life during long times on the road, or people that just want their ipod constantly charged. Consider all of the options available and try to pick what will give you the best sound quality for a decent price.
For people that are tired of listening to the radio or constantly using cds, many choose ipods in their vehicles. It can be a fantastic way to listen to the music you want to. But you’ll need to find an ipod car adapter. The inside scoop to all ipod accessories .
Jeremy Briggs on December 21st, 2009
Great article! I’ve been working with car stereos for a lot of years and have a little to add…
The adapters you mention that are best to use are called direct connect iPod car kits. These plug into the back of a factory radio just like the ones that come in some new cars. Most of them are made by Neo Car Audio http://www.neocaraudio.com
Most CD players do NOT have RCA inputs on the back of them. Some aftermarket CD players may have this option but RCA inputs are not on the back of any factory radios.