Add an auxiliary (MP3/Ipod) input to your car's stock radio

Step 6 Burn your special "Silent" CD

Now, in order to play the audio from your MP3 player, we need to trick the CD changer into thinking it's playing a CD. The stereo doesn't know that the audio is really being supplied by your MP3 player instead of the CD changer.

In order to do this we just burn a special "silent" CD. It's got regular tracks, but there's no sound played. Download the 5 minute "silent" MP3 below and create a CD using your favorite CD burning software. I took the same file and added it multiple times to the CD so that I had many tracks. Just fill up the CD with these blank 5 minute tracks so even if you don't have the CD on repeat, you'll still hear nothing from the CD and everything from the MP3 player.

Once you've burned the CD, pop it in your changer, put it on repeat play, and you're all set. Turn on your MP3 player and test it out.

At a cost of under $10 and 1-2 hours (depending mostly on how easily you can get your radio out of the dash) it is well worth the great audio you'll now enjoy!

Comments

[shperka]

Thanks for the tutorial! I have a Chrysler Voyager 1995 stereo with a jack to 6 CD Changer, but i do not have the changer. Is it possible to play music via the CD Changer jack without CD Changer? I mean, is there a way to transmit audio signal only with a wiring that will lie the stereo it is connected to cd changer?
Thank you!

[flythesky]

(removed by author or community request)

[flythesky]

I don't have a CD changer but do have an Acura CD head unit with plug identical to the one shown. I'm wondering if it might be possible to open up the unit and insert the mp3 player signal into the main CD player output and play the silent CD in the main unit while playing the mp3 player?

[maso08]

So this is basically a 5 disc changer with mp3? If you still keep function of the changer, then that is so tight.

[aka_bigred]

Yes, that's exactly what it is.

[kris_sti]

Ok I really like your guide, It inspired me to try and do something simmilar, I just have a question before I do.

my car (07 Accord) has a built in cd changer, however on the back there is a cd-changer port, with more than 3 (gnd, lt, rt) pins, is there a way I can figure out which ones I need for audio.

my reasoning that this may work is that honda sells something called MusicLink all it does is hook up to the cd changer port and has an ipod jack, but it costs $230+, all theirs additionally supports is charging the ipod

[jp_pianoguy]

Why not make a 1 hour long silent track. Download the free program "Audacity", then click Generate->Silence... When it asks you how many seconds, put in 3600 for 1 hour. Then click File->Export as mp3 and burn that mp3 to a disk.

[aka_bigred]

That works also, I just created the short track so that people could download the "silent" track as a MUCH smaller file than a 60 min MP3. I used that same method to generate my silent track. Expert users such as yourself should feel free to create your own custom silent track.

One other consideration I had was that my factory CD player doesn't display track time, just track number. If for some reason I forgot to toggle the track repeat, I'd notice that my track count was going up and I could toggle repeat on then - with a single long track I never really know what point it's at in the track. I guess it's partially your personal situation/preference.

[philgenius]

will the audio output from the speakers skip temporarily as the cd changes to another track while the ipod is in the middle of playing a song?

[aka_bigred]

Mine doesn't skip - it plays continuously and indefinitely. The changer literally sends all the audio, so the head unit just plays whatever it "hears". You only hear a gap because there's a lack of sound being sent by the changer.

This could vary by setup, but I'm inclined to think it should be fine on most any standard setup.

[jp_pianoguy]

That's funny - I don't even remember a time when CD players didn't play track time. I guess I'm too young.

[aka_bigred]

Yeah, my factory CD player is a bit ghetto, but it works. I really can't complain much since at least it's a 6 disc changer - now with custom MP3 support :)

[rschulz]

If your cd player skips over bumps, will it still skip?