Cassette adaptors, FM transmitter, etc. Any ideas?

[randombs]

Getting my bro's Toyota Carina for the year (it's our old family car) and it's got a cassette/radio in there which doesn't bode well for my iPod (30gb video) and CD (little sony jobby) collection.

I don't really want to try replacing the unit just yet, so looking for a stopgap in the meantime.

So I've been wondering - these cassette thingies that have a headphone cable on them, are they any good? Do you lose any/much quality using them? I know cassettes in themselves aren't that great but I figured that's more to do with the actual cassette tape itself, and as this basically fools the player into thinking it's a real tape, maybe it'd sound better.

Also, FM transmitters, are they any good? At least it'd be less messy, keeping the iPod in the glove compartment or something, but I'd imagine the sound quality would suffer quite a bit.

[VR46]

I'd go the FM Transmitter route, got one I use for the PSP, gives excellent quality sound. Argos and the like sell them, sure someone can suggest some good iPod ones.

[randombs]

Cheers, I'll see if we have any lying around at work I can borrow and test out for myself

[CMcK]

I use a cassette adaptor with my car hi-fi and iPod / iPhone. Sounds way better than FM. I suppose it depends on what bitrate the tunes are on your iPod and how good the head unit etc is in the car.

I'm using Apple Lossless on my iPod and iPhone so I don't want to lose quality using an FM transmitter.

[randombs]

256/320kbs. I don't do lossless as I can't tell the difference yet and prefer mp3 for the size and battery life.

I guess I can't go wrong either way, really. The adapters on eBay are really cheap and I'm worried, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if the more expensive one from Maplin isn't just the same thing

[belmondo]

I used to use a tape adapter in the car for a discman, the quality was good. More recently I tried an FM transmitter (Belkin) for my iPod, it was rubbish. I think this was primarily because I couldn't find anywhere on the spectrum where there was nothing broadcasting, there was always interference.

[funkydan]

I used to use a cassette adaptor in my car stereo but it snarfed it up. I don't think it's a common complaint but it did happen - my car is a Toyota (Yaris) as well. But my Griffin itrip is ace (check them out on Ebay is you can pick them up cheaper on there, especially the US ones - they work fine over here )! I don't use the radio for much else in the car, so I unscrewed the aerial to cut down on interference and found that 98.0 works well. Maybe get both, and an ipod in-car-charger so that when the itrip (which runs off the ipods battery) runs out of charge, plug the cassette adaptor into the headphone socket and pop the in-car-charger in the cigarette lighter and t'other end into the dock at the base of the ipod and charge away! itrips generally plug in at the base of the ipod so you can't really charge your ipod at the same time. Unless you use one of these:



But be careful as it can shag up your cigarrette lighter. It used to short out the stereo in my car and I had to carry spare fuses around with me which were a bugger to fit! So if you intend on using one of those, you have been warned!

Hope that's helpful

[VR46]

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5347122/Trail/searchtext>GRIFFIN+I-TRIP.htm

Griffin i-Trip is half price at Argos at the moment if you decide to go that route ...

[charlesr]

By the time you've bought one of these jobbies, you could have put it towards the price of a 2nd hand stereo unit with cdmp3 and line-in. Allegedly. Maybe.

[charlesr]

Like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SILVER-TEVION-CD-WMA-MP3-RDS-USB-SD-MMC-CAR-STEREO_W0QQitemZ320286560589QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320286560589&_trkparms=72%3A3270%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1308&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[VR46]

Line-in car stereo's (talking 3.5mm jack) seems pretty rare nowadays, only saw one when I bought a new stereo six months back (around fifty quid mark I think).

[randombs]

Well I got the car, planning on hopefully heading down to Halfords this weekend to buy some touch-up paint and all that jazz, and maybe I'll have a look at the stereos. As it's my new 'cool thing' (last 'cool thing' was my laptop which I sold all my 360 stuff to help pay for), I imagine a few gaming goodies will get put up for sale in which case I can spend a bit more on the stereo.

Besides, after chatting to him, he doesn't need the cassette player anyway and would prefer a CD player in there, so I guess cassette adaptor's out regardless.

So I guess now I'm trying to decide between a single CD jobby and a CD changer thingy, but either way it'd need an iPod input (either 3.5mm or a proper iPod interface which would be better, I think)

[CMcK]

A CD changer is redudant if you have a well stocked iPod. Concentrate on getting a head unit with an easy to use UI. I have an Alpine unit in one of my cars and trying to naviagte around the stuff on an 80GB iPod is a mare. Usually just leave it on shuffle.

[JB@XL]

I'd go the FM Transmitter route, got one I use for the PSP, gives excellent quality sound. Argos and the like sell them, sure someone can suggest some good iPod ones.

Can you tell me the make you use.I have go explore coming but i suspect the psp volume will be too quiet to hear properly so i have been looking for an FM transmitter.

[VR46]

Forgot to reply sorry. Was this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WIRELESS-FM-TRANSMITTER-FOR-PSP_W0QQitemZ120302069658QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item120302069658&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Argos were knocking them out for £4.99 six months back. All their stock is gone now.

PS. I'm using an old phat PSP, assume they are compatible with all models.