If you are the owner of a recent manufactured car, you usually won’t experience any trouble playing iPod through your car radio. Mid level factory fitted car stereos are usually equipped with iPod dock.
This enables you to control the iPod through audio functions on the car radio like enabling track selection and shifting to the next track.
Certain models are able to retrieve the details data of a song like track name and info. They the display the information on the radio display.
If your car is fully integrated with iPod you may not need to take your hands off the steering wheel for changing tracks.
Because there are buttons on the steering wheel that are provided for your convenience. You may use them to control the iPod.
But if you are the owner of and older car, you too have several options to enjoy iPod using your car’s audio system.
Play iPod Through a Cassette Deck
It’s a rare sight to find cars with tape players these days. But believe it or not it’s one of the easiest way to listen to music from your iPod. All you need is an iPod cassette adapter.
What it basically does is injecting the audio signal from iPod into a dummy cassette. So the tape player reads the signal as if an ordinary cassette tape were being played.
However the quality this iPod cassette produces is pretty average. But in our opinion it’s a fair deal due to its affordable price and practicality. Most of these tape adapters don’t require any batteries in order to operate.
Car Cassette Adapter For Apple iPod
Play iPod using FM Transmitter
You can listen to music from your car’s audio system that captures the signal generated by a small FM transmitter.
This FM transmitter is plugged into your iPod and behave like a small FM radio station inside your car. It constantly shoots ultra-short FM radio signal that can be captured by your car radio.
Most cars, old and new are equipped with car audio systems that have a FM radio. So this FM transmitter can work nearly universally on each car that is equipped with a car stereo.
The nice thing about this gadget is wireless. Especially if you don’t like to be annoyed by all the wires. It’s also a good solution if you drive a rental car that isn’t equipped with aux jack or iPod jack.
You need to set the FM transmitter to a blank spot on the dial. When driving on long journeys you should be aware that a blank position of the FM dial in one area, city, or place may be filled in another.
If this happens, you’ll experience an interference on playback like music from the local station overlaps with the music from the iPod. So this gadget perhaps is more suited for local journeys.
Scosche FMDT1 Shifter Style Digital FM Transmitter with USB Port
Griffin RoadTrip FM Transmitter for iPhone and iPod (Black)
Connect Your iPod Using an Auxiliary Input Jack
Some car radios are equipped with an auxiliary input. This can be an input brought out to the wiring harness at the back of the stereo or a 3.5mm jack on the front panel.
In the first case, You need to find a way to bring the lead out without it getting in the way too much. This situation is similar to the aux input of a hi-fi system and you can use a similar way to patch in an iPod.
Now, if your stereo provides a 3.5mm input socket, all you need is a normal 3.5mm jack to jack lead. That’s all.
Due to its nature, this auxiliary input jack is immune from interference problems of the FM signals and gives you an excellent audio quality.
3.5MM JACK CAR AUDIO AUX AUXILIARY CABLE FOR IPOD TOUCH
InCarCables Car Stereo Ipod/mp3 Auxiliary Aux-in Input Cable 3.5mm (4ft)
Play iPod Through a Bluetooth A2DP Connection
IPod is able to stream audio wirelessly to a car stereo using Bluetooth. You may use an adaptor that’s plugged into the iPod.
However, in order to work you need to make sure that your car is equipped with Bluetooth interface and supports A2DP ( Advanced Audio Distribution Profile ). Your car radio must also have the regular handsfree support for mobile phones.
It would be a good advantage if your car also supports AVRCP (Audio Video Remote Control Profile). This feature enables you to switch tracks using forward and back buttons of your car radio.
Earlier iPods can also use Bluetooth connectivity by adding devices like Griffin’s Bluetrip or other similar tools. However, A2DP support in your car radio is a must have for these devices to work.
Sony Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for iPod (White)
Motorola D650 Bluetooth Stereo Headset Adapter for iPod
JVC AAT100BT In-Vehicle Bluetooth iPod Wireless Transmitter
Here’s a quick conclusion on Different Ways of Connecting your iPod to a Car Radio.
Car Radio with iPod connector
It has integrated track selection capability and offers the best convenience and result
Cassette Adapter
It’s one of the most affordable solution, needs no batteries, no installation required. The only drawback is it produces average sound quality.
FM Transmitter
It offers “Universal connectivity”, almost all car stereos on the planet have the ability to capture FM radio signals. However, you may need extra batteries and it’s vulnerable to interference.
Aux Input Jack
Perhaps it’s the cheapest solution if it’s already provided by the car radio. It generates excellent sound quality.
Bluetooth
It offers the best sound quality among other wireless connections. You are able to control track selection from the radio car buttons.
IPod is a better choice over tapes and CD. Because it has the ability to store a much larger amount of music, without any need to change the media.
But one thing to consider is the way you interact with the iPod itself while driving. Because anything that can distract your focus from the road should be highly avoided.
So in our opinion Bluetooth with AVCRP and iPod dock are better options to enjoy iPod while driving. Because you can control the music selection and options without having to sacrifice your attention from the road.










































































