Barring some sort of bizarre catastrophe, in a few short hours, I will take possession of a brand new Ford Freestyle. It's got lots of nifty features that the Taurus doesn't have, but there's one thing it lacks: a tape deck.
This is important because I have become accustomed to listening to my iPod in the car, through a tape deck adapter. The new car doesn't have a tape deck, and it doesn't have an obvious "Aux. In" plug, so it's not clear to me how I will be integrating the iPod with the new ride.
The options would appear to be either an FM converter, or some sort of after-market automtoive iPod product, but I don't know much about those. I'm sure somebody out there in blogdom must know about the best ways to connect an iPod to a new car stereo, though, so please, leave a comment and tell me what I should do.
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I use one of those FM transmitter thingies, and it works mostly-fine. The key is to make sure your iPod channel is far enough away from any other station your radio can receive. This can be difficult in big cities, where the FM dial is crowded, but it should be much less of a problem in upstate NY.
Funny you should ask. I just answered a similar question over at Ask Metafilter. I suspect that my answer and some of the others will help you out.
I use the FM transmitter as well, specifically the Monster one that also has a cigarette-lighter charger built in so it handles both at once.
Only hassles: 1) the frequency selection is limited and in some markets, it's impossible to find an empty one in that subset (especially if you can't drop your antenna); 2) don't leave the iPod in the glove compartment if your car is in the sun. I fried the hard-drive that way.
I just ordered an FM transmitter (still waiting for it to arive in the mail). I guess that means I can't be of much help, but I got one that includes a docking station and charger all in one (plugs into the cig lighter). I'll probably only bust it out for road trips, considering that's the only time i'm in my car for long periods of time.
If you can do it you need to get one of the adapters for the head unit on your Ford. I got one for my Focus several years ago and it works wonderfully. Basically it plugs into the interface for an in-the-trunk CD changer and makes you iPod look like a single track CD. The sound is 100x better than FM even on my lousy stock stereo.
I had this exact problem recently. My solution was to get a manufacturer's aux-in jack installed in my new Honda. FM transmitters are apparently quite good, too, in some cases, but if you get one of those, MAKE SURE it doesn't run off it's own batteries - get one that uses your iPod's battery, or, better yet, get one that plugs into your car's DC adapter so it can charge your iPod.
The ones with their own internal power supplies eat batteries like crazy.
I use a Belkin Charger/Holder/FM transmitter and it works well, but if I was buying a new car today I'd spring for an IPod-ready in dash stereo. I've had an Ipod for almost 5 years and have used two FM transmitters in that time, and the sound quality just isn't quite good enough. On high volume songs it's fine, but during soft spots you'll catch a bit of static, and while driving you'll occasionally hit a hot spot for a nearby station and have the signal weaken.
At this point I've bought 6 Ipods for my family, so I'm damn sure I'm going to stay with the brand. I'm planning on getting a new car within the next two years, so I'm not going to do the upgrade at this point, but if you think you will have your car and an Ipod for at least 5 years, I'd spend the $350 (should be full outlay including installation) to get a new stereo rather than the $70 for a charger and transmitter. Plus the stereo lets you browse the menu from the dash which is pretty cool and safer than looking at the ipod to switch playlists.
I've had basically the same experience as many above, but I'll throw in my $0.02 anyway. I've had a Monster FM transmitter for about 3 years now. Locally, it's mostly very good; I can pick a clear station and stick with it.
On roadtrips, it can be more challenging to find a clear station. Many times I find myself trying to listen through stations breaking through -- because I know it will be a hassle to track down a clear station and then set the transmitter.
With that plus the sound quality, the line-in solution would be a big improvement. I'll stick with the FM transmitter for the life of this car, but when I get another, I'll definitely get a direct connection. Were I in your situation, I wouldn't hesitate to spend ~$400 to put in a new head unit that would offer this.
In related news -- I did buy a ProClip mount for the iPod and my Treo. Much better than having them kick around in my cupholders all the time. Pretty good quality though I wish they used bolts rather than screws to connect things together.
As with pretty much anything iPod related, you should take a look at related articles and reviews on iLounge before you make any decisions.
The big issue, AFAIC, is steering wheel controls. If you have them, and want to use them, then an iPod integration kit (usually via the CD changer connection) is probably the best option. After that, if your stereo can accept an Aux line-in connection otherwise than what is obviously not there, you can have someone install one for you. FM Transmitters are bottom rung as far as quality of sound is concerned, but they've gotten much better in recent years, and iLounge reviews them quite extensively.
Funny you should post this article as I have been thinking about nearly the same thing for the past couple of weeks. I have an older car with no aux-in jack too and have an FM transmitter for my ipod. Unfortunately, sometimes it does me little good here in chicago as the airwaves are already crammed. This also seems to depend on the weather a bit.
I haven't looked into pre-packaged ipod integration kits yet (and maybe I should), but instead I've been thinking of taking a different tact. My car stereo actually consists of two separate "boxes." The first is really the guts of the stereo (radio, CD player, EQ, etc) while the second is a tape deck that stopped working some time ago. I don't really care that it stopped working because I have since transferred all of the music I used to have on tape to CD's in one form or another (and now of course to my ipod). But now I've been thinking about doing a little bit of tinkering to remove the tape deck and use its connectors to the stereo unit to fashion a dock for my ipod.
Of course, it may be easier to just fix the tape deck for now and use a cassette adapter, but since I was also thinking of combining my effort with something resembling this, I just figure why not go all out.
We solved the problem on my wife's Honda CRV with an adapter that plugs into her XM input on the back of the stereo. It allows you to control the iPod using the radio controls. Other versions use CD changer inputs (like my VW) or an aux input on the back of the radio unit. These are available for many cars from online retailers and from stores like Circuit City.
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Interesting, i also use FM transmitter. Works well with the ipod. http://ddlbee.com
I'm guessing that this post has long been answered but thought I should answer anyway.
You probably don't want to go to this trouble but I would just replace the unit with one that includes the aux input. The included stereos don't sound that great anyway. Take the opportunity to upgrade the unit. My 2 cents.