I have a few long road trips coming up and while I enjoy listening to the radio I don't particularly care for the idea of having to find new channels every few hours. Cd player in the car only takes 1 cd and I don't have an Aux input.

I have an iphone 4 and my road trip companion has an ipod touch (not sure which generation) that i would like to use to play music on but hear it through the car speakers. Never really looked much into it but I don't imagine using it much outside of road trips so don't want to spend enormous amounts of money on it. Road trip is on the 24th so would need to have in house by the 23rd preferably. +1 for Amazon prime.

Any suggestions for $50 or so? Obviously if a $5 thingy does the job then I would like to save the money for other things. Dont care for the technology use - bluetooth vs fm vs whatever else is out there. Something that charges the phone at the same time would be a cherry on top but not a necessity - I can do without the charger if a plane old transmitter is cheaper.

Thanks

If your car stereo happens to have a cassette deck, these things are pretty damn convenient:

Edited November 11, 201114 yr by Voltron

Don't care for the technology use - bluetooth vs fm vs whatever else is out there.

Can you clarify this part?

Al the car does have a cassette player.

John I meant I didn't care for whether the connection between the car and the unit was one via bluetooth or if the unit physically attached itself to the phone.

I would try one of those cassette adapters because it takes radio out of the loop. And you use the headphone jack so you are able to charge separately too.

Edited November 12, 201114 yr by Voltron

After using few FM transmitters, I'd take a cassette adapter over them every time.

Yup, cassette adapter is what I use in the wife's pilot. My suzuki has an aux jack.

Cassette adapter it is. Thanks guys.

Just tried the adapter. The moment it goes in the deck it makes a constant clicking noise. I tried an old cassette I had and it makes the same noise but only on one side. Tried the adapter in moms car and it makes the same clicking noise but not as loud. I turned off the Dolby feature as instructed.

Adapter bad? Deck bad? Send adapter bad?

There are tutorials on taking a certain part out of the adapter but there are no screws. The thing is glued shut. Prying it apart will probably break it.

Suggestions or thoughts are welcome.

Try plugging it right into iPod's headphone out. I've had problems with iPod LODs and tape deck adaptors.

some tape decks don't like some cassette adapters. They need both hubs moving to know the tape isn't broken.

it was plugged into the headphone out haj.

it would probably be cheaper to just get an fm transmitter than to get a new stereo head unit for the car.

any other trouble shooting suggestions or just try my luck with a fm transmitter.

Personally, I'd rather just burn bunch of CDs than deal with FM transmitters. They really do suck (unless, of course, someone has come up with a spectacular one in the last couple of years).

Edited November 17, 201114 yr by Salt Peanuts

Try returning and replacing the adapter. It should not click, but I think I might have experienced that on occasion. I think it means the tape heads are not engaging fully or something.

Back to amazon it goes.

It's a well documented issue with cassette adapters. The decks think that the side is over and tries to auto reverse it which engages the gear inside the adapter that makes the clicking sound. I'll try another one.

How brave do you feel?

http://www.instructa...uotauto-revers/

Edited November 17, 201114 yr by Grahame

Of all the FM transmitters I've tried, the Belkin and Griffin don't seem to be strong enough in my cars with hidden antennae. The Monster ones are the only ones that consistently have the power to get through, but their digital displays fade with age until you can't hardly read what channel it's transmitting on when the sun is shinning.

But you can set the presets to three different stations, so as you move out of range of one station you can try the next preset without needing to read the display (we have one channel we use in Denver and another for Colorado Springs, with a spare preset we haven't needed).

Grahame I read that but my unit is the one al posted a picture of. It is glued shut and I'd rather get one with screws and try the DIY route instead of cracking the shell on the current one rendering it useless.

I use a FM transmitter (Logic3 I think) and it works just fine in my VW Passat. The noise floor is pretty high but that's given with these things.

If your car stereo happens to have a cassette deck, these things are pretty damn convenient:

I just picked up one of these on Saturday at an estate sale for $1.50

Works great w/ my iPhone 4 other than a slight hiss which doesn't really bother me for what I mainly use it for (audiobooks).

I had tried a couple of FM transmitters but they were terrible (the one I have for my Zune works really well so I use that for music).

Edited November 21, 201114 yr by MoonShine

got a replacement unit of the same model but the problem persists. will try an fm transmitter from best buy since i leave on the 24th =/

got a replacement unit of the same model but the problem persists. will try an fm transmitter from best buy since i leave on the 24th =/

Why didn't you get a different model cassette deal?

Why didn't you get a different model cassette deal?

Because that wouldn't follow CJ logic.

Adding on to what others have said, cassette adapters work great if you can get them to work with your car. Sometimes hitting the flip side button works to get the clicking to stop.

As far as FM transmitters, I have tried over 20 of them and finally landed on one that I have used since 2008 with great success. It is the iRiver AFT 100. Works great. You can find them on eBay for BIN for $15-$25 now and again. Not sure if you can source locally but these units do work more consistently and with better sound quality.

Try returning and replacing the adapter. It should not click, but I think I might have experienced that on occasion. I think it means the tape heads are not engaging fully or something.

i misunderstood your advice. thought you meant try another sony unit thinking you meant that you had one that worked and i might have just gotten a bum unit.

anyhow...

Edited November 23, 201114 yr by crappyjones123