Using Your iPod With The Car Audio


by Sarika Kabra - Date: 2007-05-09 - Word Count: 727 Share This!

It is natural for you to want to listen to music, as a music lover, anywhere and everywhere. One of your favorite places is likely to be your car, so you can relish the drive while listening to your preferred rock star. You can have the option to use the iPod you recently spent a small fortune on, to play your beloved music even in your car! In fact, I am going to talk about how to hook on your iPod to your car audio itself, freeing you from those pesky earphones (and the chance to book a ticket - using those earphones while driving may well be illegal in your locale) and add the thumping power of your car audio speakers to your music.

Using your iPod thus frees you from the shackles of conventional CDs and tapes since it allows you to download music in unlimited quantity from the internet. You can thus harness the explosive power of music software to enhance your listening experience. The free music software that comes bundled with the iPod would already allow you access to the plethora of songs/music on your PC, and get a fresh lot when you get bored with the old ones.

Some of you may be lucky and only need to pull out a cable to attach to the audio system - your car manufacturer may have been good to you and included iPod connectivity to your player. Go through the instruction booklet that came with the system. If you don't find the cable in the glove compartment, chances are you may have been provided with a dashboard jack. The iPod is controlled through the car's in-dash audio system, and even recharges while it plays! Alternatively, you may use the auxiliary input jack to hook on.

If you are buying a new car, make sure you check for the availability of this feature, or you may well end up paying a couple of hundred extra for the privilege of setting up the connectivity. Some car companies like Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, GM, Honda, Volvo etc have this feature pre-installed.

Already own a car but don't have the connectivity? iPod enabled audio systems are commonly available, and all you need to do is venture out and get a new one installed.

Now let us look at the options available for those of us who have already invested their surplus cash in the iPod and cannot afford to buy a new, compatible audio system. Make use of one of the several options enumerated here.

Making a direct connection between the car audio and the iPod allows you to use the full functions of your iPod, and is the recommended solution. Some car connection kits use a simple cable to connect the iPod (either of the dock connector or the earphone out jack) to the auxiliary input jacks provided. Others may utilize the CD changer port found behind several car radios. Added features with some of the kits are dock mounts, or auxiliary controllers and displays. The best way out, of course, is to leave the decision of best compatibility, testing and installation to an expert.

Coming to the car radios which include a cassette player, you need to invest in a cassette adapter. Typically, these adapters look like a tape with a cable attached, and work by transferring the audio output signal from the iPod to the read head of the cassette player. Switching to ‘Cassette', and pressing play will allow the iPod music to play over your car speakers.

The last but definitely less preferred method is to use an FM transmitter to transmit to your car radio, which uses an unused FM frequency to do so. While it enjoys the advantage of being wireless and easily portable, there is a definite loss in music quality. Another problem is finding a free FM channel in a busy city environment, though none of these deters this solution from being the most popular one as of date.

So go ahead and reap the benefits of technology by using any of the methods outlined above. Spread the good word, and meanwhile, appreciate that melody when you go out on the next long drive!


The author is passionate about everything musical. Check this to learn how to set up a home recording studio. Here are some valuable resources on music recording. You can learn new music terms here.

Related Tags: change, cassette, radio, ipod, car audio, tapes, music software, jack, cds, input, download music, fm, free music software, auxiliary, connection kits

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