Using an iPod with a Car Stereo

Being able to take all your music with you on an iPod is cool everywhere, but no place more so than in your car. Forget trying to carry CDs with you (if you are like me, you never have the one you really want to listen to anyway). Just grab your iPod and you are ready for the open road.

Getting Sound from an iPod to a Car Stereo

There are two basic ways to get the output from your iPod to your car stereo: use a cassette adapter or use an FM transmitter.

Connecting an iPod to Your Car Stereo with a Cassette Adapter

A cassette adapter looks like a standard cassette, but it also has a wire coming from it that ends in a mini-jack. You connect this plug into the iPod's Headphones port. There are many brands and types of cassette adapters, and you can obtain one through most electronics retailers.

You then insert the cassette into a standard cassette player that is installed in many cars and use the car stereo's controls to play it.

When that is done, you can control the music from the iPod, just as if you were listening to it with headphones.

Cassette adapters are convenient, but don't be surprised if the sound quality doesn't seem as good as you get when you listen to a CD or an FM radio station. These adapters often cause music to sound a bit muted. If this bothers you, try an FM transmitter instead.

The other issue is that cassette players are going the way of 8-tracks and other obsolete devices. Once common, cassette players are seldom installed in new vehicles because CDs are better on all counts.

Connecting an iPod to Your Car Stereo via FM

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Combined with a good frequency, broadcasting your iPod's music over FM results in the best sound quality. In fact, it might be so good that it will sound much better than it does when you use headphones.

You can also use an FM transmitter to broadcast your iPod's output. Then, you use your car's tuner to tune into the frequency you are broadcasting on. At that point, you can play your iPod and listen to its output over your car radio.

Many types of FM transmitters are available. The best units provide the ability to transmit over all available FM frequencies, power the iPod while it is broadcasting, and hold the iPod securely. My current favorite is the Digital Lifestyle Outfitters TransPod FM All-In-One Car Solution (see Figure 8.4). This unit includes a variety of attachment devices, including a solid boom that plugs directly into your car's power outlet (in the old days, this used to be where the cigarette lighter was installed). The unit holds your iPod securely and recharges it whenever you drop it into the TransPod's iPod bay. It has a digital tuner so selecting any FM frequency is a snap (it also enables you to memorize your favorite broadcast channels). When you use the boom to connect the unit to power, you don't have any wires to mess around with. Just drop the iPod into the unit and you're ready to play.

Figure 8.4. The DLO TransPod enables you to listen to your iPod in the car while powering it and holding it securely.

Powering and Charging an iPod While You Are on the Road

You can power and charge your iPod while you are on the road by obtaining and using an auto power adapter. These devices plug into the 12-volt power outlet that is available in all cars and connect to the Dock port on your iPod to power it. Many of these devices are available, too.

If you use FM to broadcast your iPod's music, try to get a unit that also powers your iPod. Otherwise, you'll need a separate power adapter. If you use a cassette adapter, you'll likely also want a separate power adapter to keep your iPod charged when you use it in the car.

Mounting an iPod in Your Car

Finding a good spot to place your iPod in your car is probably the most difficult part of using an iPod in a car. You need the iPod within arm's reach, but you don't want it sliding around or falling off the dash. So, you want it close to you but want it held firmly, too. Let's see, what is designed to keep something in place but needs to be close enough to reach? Yep, you got it. A cup holder. It is likely that you have one or more of these near your radio and within arm's reach. The odds are that one of these is a good place to keep your iPod while you are driving.

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If you use wires, such as a power and cassette adapter, be sure you route them such that they don't interfere with any of your car's controls. It is easy to get them wrapped around something without knowing it until you are in a bad spot.

You can just drop the iPod in a cup holder. Depending on the size and configuration of the cup holder and the size of your iPod, this might work just fine. However, in most cases, you should put your iPod in a holder or case before doing this to protect it from scratches and to keep it from bouncing around. Several devices are designed to hold your iPod in a cup holder securely, such as the Belkin TuneDok Car Holder for iPod.

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If the cup holder you use is in plain sight from outside the car, make sure you remove your iPod and put it out of sight before you leave your vehicle. An iPod in plain sight will tempt any thief who happens by your car.

In what is probably a familiar song by now, if you use an FM transmitter, get one that also holds the iPod securely. The TransPod does this and so does the Griffin Technology RoadTrip.

Controlling an iPod While You Are on the Road

If there is one dangerous topic in this book, this is it. Playing around with an iPod while you are driving is not a good idea. It is very easy to get focused on the iPod instead of where you are going, and your day can suddenly be ruined. To practice safe iPodding while you are on the road, consider the following tips:

• Choose the music to which you are going to listen while you are stopped The iPod's screen is just not large enough to be able to see it clearly and look around you at the same time. Choosing music is at least a one-hand and two-eye operation. That doesn't leave much left for driving. So fire up your iPod, connect it to the radio with a cassette adapter or configure the FM transmitter, choose your music source and play it, place your iPod in its holder, and then drive.

  caution

  

  Take the information in this section seriously. Listening to music is not worth risking your life or property, not to mention the others who share the road with you (myself included!).

  
  

• Consider creating playlists for driving You can make these long enough so you never have to change the music that is playing while you drive.

• If you must fiddle with your music while you drive, at least use a remote control You can't change the music source with these devices, but you can change the volume, skip to the next song, and so on.

• Remember that you don't need to change the volume on the iPod itself Set it at mid-level and leave it alone. Use your car radio's controls instead. (If you use an FM transmitter that connects to the iPod's Dock Connector port, you don't need to bother with the iPod's volume control at all.)

• Keep your iPod secure, as explained in the previous section Nothing is more distracting than the thought of your precious iPod flying around the car as you drive. If that does happen, remember that fixing you and your car (plus other people) will cost a lot more than a new iPod!

• Remember the road rule of the day: Road first, music last.

The Absolute Minimum

Using an iPod with a home or car stereo is easy to do and lets you listen to your iPod's music in many situations. Perhaps the best way to do this is to use an FM transmitter so you can tune in your iPod's music on your car radio or receiver's tuner. If you do this, check out the following pointers:

• Don't worry about other people being able to listen to your music when you use an FM transmitter. These devices have very limited range. If you are in a vehicle, someone might be able to pick up your iPod station if his vehicle is right next to yours; however, as soon as you separate even a few feet, he will lose the signal.

• Because you move around a lot when you drive, finding a good (meaning never used) FM frequency to use while you are on the road can be a challenge, especially if you are in a large metropolitan area. If a frequency isn't being used directly, it still might suffer bleed-over from stations on other frequencies. If you choose a frequency that is being used or has bleed-over, your iPod's music might be interrupted occasionally. For best results, select a station you think is unused and listen to it for a while as you drive around. (Yes, you will feel kind of silly listening to static, but hey, it will help in the long run.)

• When you find a good candidate for an unused frequency, set one of your radio's buttons to that frequency so you can easily return to it. If you use an FM transmitter in more than one car, you might want to set it on the radio in each one.

• Don't be surprised if you still have occasional static while using FM, even if you find a good unused station. Hopefully, you will be able to find a station with which this is a rare occurrence, but it is likely to happen once in a while. If you can't find a frequency/transmitter combination that works satisfactorily, try using wires or the cassette adapter method instead.

• Remember that, as you move among different areas, there are different radio frequencies being used. You might have to use different frequencies in the different areas in which you drive.