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[bridegur]

I'm thinking about getting an Ipod, but I need a way to play it through my car stereo. I have a tape adapter, but I've been wondering if something like an Itrip would give me better sound. Does anyone have any experience with these things?

Also, how many CD-quality songs can the 40gb model really hold?

 

[boredJonathan]

IBIR (In Before I-River)

Anyways.. I have the Griffin iTrip. Works pretty well as you can set it up to broadcast to any FM Station worldwide. Bound to be one that doesn't give off too bad a signal. Don't be fooled though, it will always sound like it is coming from an FM transmittter. Another downfall of the iTrip is that in order to program the device to play on whichever frequency you want, you have to load up a bunch of 'songs' that tell the device to change to whatever station. These little 'songs' are like 3 seconds of static bookended by a higher pitched beep. Not a huge deal, till you start shuffling songs across the entire iPod and you end up with a few of those in a row.

However, if you are not driving to far, you can always find a good couple of stations and just leave those frequences on there. That's what I did. Works well for me.

 

[SteveMeister]

IBIR (In Before I-River)

Anyways.. I have the Griffin iTrip. Works pretty well as you can set it up to broadcast to any FM Station worldwide. Bound to be one that doesn't give off too bad a signal. Don't be fooled though, it will always sound like it is coming from an FM transmittter. Another downfall of the iTrip is that in order to program the device to play on whichever frequency you want, you have to load up a bunch of 'songs' that tell the device to change to whatever station. These little 'songs' are like 3 seconds of static bookended by a higher pitched beep. Not a huge deal, till you start shuffling songs across the entire iPod and you end up with a few of those in a row.

However, if you are not driving to far, you can always find a good couple of stations and just leave those frequences on there. That's what I did. Works well for me.

Yep. I also created a smart playlist called "All Music", that excludes all of the iTrip station "tracks", so I can shuffle play on that and not have the frequency tracks come up.

 

[DJ Sl4m]

All wireless ar crap ATM, I have the iTrip (which sucks total ass, even at 5" away from the reciever) and the iDock thing that plugs into a cigarette lighter plug in a vehichle which isn't quuite as bad, but it's still faulty to the point of having low sound and some background noise.

The iTrip is absolutely RIDDLED with background noise, it kills the iPod battery life even more than normal (oh god no) and is very inconsistant in the signal strength.

But it if you just HAVE to find out for yourself, but honesly I can tell you from personal experience it's just another shitty over priced peripheral for the iPod, which like the iPod itself simply doesn't live up to expectations.

 

[RevenantKioku]

I got an iTrip and I've been happy with it. Then again I have shitty stereo in my car so I don't care that much, haha.

 

[nitewulf]

i'd recommend the iriver as it has audio outs, just better if you wanan use it in your car.
just my 2 cents.

 

[StrikerObi]

i'd recommend the iriver as it has audio outs, just better if you wanan use it in your car.
just my 2 cents.

Because all cars some with audio-in jacks? More like pretty much almost none of them. Besides, if you had an audio in jack you could just get a dock connector to minijack cable and use that (in other words, the iPod has audio outs also, through the dock connector), or you could use the iPod's amp and run a dubbing cable from the headphone out to the car's audio in.

 

[nitewulf]

well, i assumed anyone serious about their music would install a car stereo with an audio input. they are pretty cheap nowadays. anyway, it doesnt matter, i just think the iriver is more friendly in that regard. no need to start a fight about it.

 

[DJ Sl4m]

well, i assumed anyone serious about their music would install a car stereo with an audio input. they are pretty cheap nowadays. anyway, it doesnt matter, i just think the iriver is more friendly in that regard. no need to start a fight about it.

This is true, an FM modulator is usually around $50.00 for a pure signal without all the background noise and signal dropping the iTrip has it's a great baragin and can be VERY appreciated.

I had one in my truck, untill some assclown broke into my truck and stole it along with my radio. (of course he didn't steal my iPod or Creative Zrn Xtra, I'm not quite stupid enough to leave either in my truck

 

[Maxwell House]

The fidelity on FM Transmitters suck horribly. You basically are listening to your MP3s via FM quality, ie total crap. The bass response is especially bad when you use FM bands to listen to anything.

You need to just get a car receiver with stereo inputs so you can hook your IPOD up to it via wire. You won't lose any quality whatsoever that way.

 

[BigJonsson]

The fidelity on FM Transmitters suck horribly. You basically are listening to your MP3s via FM quality, ie total crap. The bass response is especially bad when you use FM bands to listen to anything.

You need to just get a car receiver with stereo inputs so you can just hook your IPOD up to it via wire. You won't lose any quality whatsoever that way.

Some people don't have the means to do that and the iTrip gives acceptable sound quality

 

[Freestyler]

I've got a Belkin TuneCast II, which rocks because you can set the station on it instantly from the unit itself (a little backlit LCD thing). One thing that sucks about it though is that it requires 2 x AAA batteries, and doesn't take its power from the iPod itself.

I find the quality totally acceptable, but then again I'm not an audiophile.

 

[Jim Bowie]

I've got a Belkin TuneCast II, which rocks because you can set the station on it instantly from the unit itself (a little backlit LCD thing). One thing that sucks about it though is that it requires 2 x AAA batteries, and doesn't take its power from the iPod itself.

I find the quality totally acceptable, but then again I'm not an audiophile.

That sounds great! How much is it?

Oh, and to the originall question, I have 9400 songs and still 6 gigs left.

 

[bionic77]

The fidelity on FM Transmitters suck horribly. You basically are listening to your MP3s via FM quality, ie total crap. The bass response is especially bad when you use FM bands to listen to anything.

You need to just get a car receiver with stereo inputs so you can hook your IPOD up to it via wire. You won't lose any quality whatsoever that way.

I would love to have a stereo with stereo inputs, but I think most stereo replacements look like ass.

I have to say the iTrip has worked flawlessly for me. It was a enormous pain to find a station that worked on my car in the DC area, but once I did it has been invaluable. I also highly suggest a car adaptor as well, the iTrip goes through your battery like a mofo.

 

[Freestyler]

The TuneCast II is probably about $35 USD, I'm not sure as I don't live in the USA.

Check http://www.ipodlounge.com/ - it's the best iPod site bar none.

 

[bridegur]

So will the FM Transmitter sound better than a tape adapter?

 

[Freestyler]

No.

 

[fart]

both sound like crap.

for the record, i use the tape adapter.

 

[SteveMeister]

both sound like crap.

for the record, i use the tape adapter.

I used a cassette adapter at first, but the sound quality was horrible and in cold weather, the adapter's spindles would stiffen up and the car's tape player would think it had reached the end of a side and flip to "side B", which didn't work. So I got an iTrip and have been pretty happy with it. YMMV of course -- it varies wildly depending on where you are, how crowded the frequencies are, and what kind of car you're driving (since the antenna is usually in different places). It works REALLY well in my convertible, because the antenna's in the windshield.

I like the idea of the units that have their own full-frequency tuners built-in, like the TuneCast 2 or that other one that includes a dock. And it's always preferable to use the line out built into the dock connector -- you'll get better sound quality than anything that connects to the headphone jack (like an iPod).

There are a number of other options. The IceLink connects to standard CD changer connectors that are built-in to many cars, and even allows some control over track selection from your head unit. Or you can get Alpine's KCA-420i, which interfaces with many of Alpine's head units and gives you much more control over the iPod through the head unit, even displaying playlists and track information. Alpine's having a sale on the unit right now.

 

[ChumsGum]

How about this Transpod?

 

[DJ Sl4m]

That's the car charger I have, it charges the iPod while playing and has a MUCH stronger signal, but it's $100.00 and the signal isn't as nice a an FM modulater.

Seriously an FM modulator is only $50.00

 

[Ninja Scooter]

So will the FM Transmitter sound better than a tape adapter?

FM transmitter is actually far below a tape adapter as far as quality goes from the reviews i have read. They aren't meant for quality as much as for convienience (for people who don't have audio jacks or tape decks in their car stereos).

 

[Fatalah]

I think there are gonna be alot of new ipod owners this holiday season and most of them are curious about the whole ipod-in car thing.

That's my situation. I wish I had a tape deck in my car! I definitely don't want to use an FM transmitter, especially since I live in NYC (queens).

I have to ....somehow....create an AUX jack in my stock Saturn radio. Thats like.....the only thing I can think of. Besides spending 200 bucks on a whole new radio.

 

[Trakball]

i proudly rock the ipod through a wire into the cassette adapter

 

[yoshifumi]

i've got an iTrip, but i think it's much easier, cheaper, and sounds better to use to cassette adapter. (if you don't have a line in jack in your stereo)

 

[Craig Majaski]

I use Monster's ICar. It has worked in extremely well in most cases. If you're listening to "normal" music it almost always sounds great. If you're listening to instrumental or videogame tunes then you will sometimes hear some static, but it's still not bad. You can change the stations (which are preset) to the one that gives you the least amount of static. I've tried it in 3 different vehicles and it worked great in all of them. It also hooks into the bottom of the Ipod and charges the Ipod while you use it. It is spendier though...like $70 or so, but worth the money, IMO.

 

[Maxwell House]

If you have a good car system, with subs etc, than having your IPOD working through an FM Transmitter will absolutely not work. Streaming your MP3s through the FM bands totally takes all the bass response out of your music. Everything sounds hollow and non thumpy...musakized in other words.

You can get a $110 AIWA CD car receiver that has auxiliary inputs. It is worth it to listen to your MP3s in cd quality the way they were meant to be heard.

 

[Dilbert]

I have an iTrip, but I only use it when I'm on travel for work -- poor sound performance isn't a problem in most crappy rental car stereos.

Although it would be tempting to have some kind of car mount for my iPod, I don't have a line-in to my stereo, and I'd also be concerned about having it stolen, to be honest. I usually just drive around with a CD case, and that works fine for me.

 

[nitewulf]

I think there are gonna be alot of new ipod owners this holiday season and most of them are curious about the whole ipod-in car thing.

That's my situation. I wish I had a tape deck in my car! I definitely don't want to use an FM transmitter, especially since I live in NYC (queens).

I have to ....somehow....create an AUX jack in my stock Saturn radio. Thats like.....the only thing I can think of. Besides spending 200 bucks on a whole new radio.

my friend lives uptown (west side) and uses a generic FM transmitter and is perfectly happy. just look around a bit and try to get a transmitter that gives you a wide range of bandwidth selection. you'll definitely find unused frequencies even in nyc.
unless of course, you dont mind getting a new stereo.

 

[StrikerObi]

The fidelity on FM Transmitters suck horribly. You basically are listening to your MP3s via FM quality, ie total crap. The bass response is especially bad when you use FM bands to listen to anything.

You need to just get a car receiver with stereo inputs so you can hook your IPOD up to it via wire. You won't lose any quality whatsoever that way.

I agree with this. The thing is, my car stereo isn't tricked out, and neither are the speakers. Had they been, I probably would have opted for the slick ass Alpine setup. That is the idea for me. As I said though, I've got speakers that are slightly above stock, and a stock radio. I'm using the iTrip because I hate cassette adapters. I want something with no wires.

I was thinking about the TuneCat II but I chose the iTrip in the end because.

A) I prefer to have it power itself, even if it does cut the life of my iPod. I won't be taking any long ass trips so I don't need super battery life, and I charge my iPod all the time at home.

B) It was on sale in Apple's online store on Black Friday and the TuneCast II wasn't.

I will report in when I get it (which won't be for awhlie as it's a Christmas gift).