How to Connect Your IPod to Your Car Stereo

by lebowski

51K629

Intro: How to Connect Your IPod to Your Car Stereo

I have an older car that does not have a direct way to connect my iPod to my car stereo. I thought that the FM transistors were the best way to connect my iPod, but after wasting $50 on one, I thought it would be worth while to share my results in this Instructable.

STEP 1: Don't Buy an FM Transmitter

Unless you live in the boonies, you'll spend all your time switching channels to try and get rid of the static you're hearing. It works okay for long road trips, but still annoying.

Here's what I wasted my money on.

STEP 2: Buy a Cassette Adapter for $10

I bought this cassette adapter for $10 from amazon.

I'm really happy with it. It's no audiophile solution, but works just fine for my needs.

If someone would post how to hardwire your iPod to any car, that would be ideal.

29 Comments

Datawolf 12 years ago

What about building the cassette adapter yourself ?
It's so easy !
Maybe my first instructable...

jaxxster1 13 years ago

what if your car is too old to have a radio/cassette player/anything to play music, but has the speakers wired in? is there a way to connect an ipod to the wires?

BtheBike 13 years ago

my brother took his deck out completely . he plugs his mp3 player into the amp for music and radio. no deck to rip off .

skatelong 14 years ago

Yay! i got mine 4 $3.50!!!

cheeseman98 16 years ago

Another way you can do it, and get better sould guality is check out if your car sterio has an auxilary jack. It should say in the user manual. If it does you can pick up a cable for about $5 at a suplus store and then run it from the back of your sterio into your glovebox. The cable looks something like this:

JZ Price 14 years ago

i found some of those cable at a dollar store once.they were 6ft too.

JohnnyMelo 15 years ago

now tell me xD i Have a MD car stereo and no aux input... guess im realy stuck with the fm transmiter unless i buy the sony ipod adapter for that radio...

abadfart 15 years ago

ya i have an late 80s early 90s legacy with a tape deck

Mr. Squishy 15 years ago

I have 2 cassette adapters, an FM Transmitter and also a USB car stereo. Mom bought a CD player for her van that came with an adapter (this was because she had no CD player built into her stereo, then my sister got a CD player for her birthday with an adapter, then we got iPods. But Dads truck had no cassette in his stereo, so we bought an FM transmitter. But then his stereo stopped working so he bought a new one that has a USB port so we wasted money on an FM transmitter too.

Zuma07 15 years ago

What do you do if you don't have a tape player ?

cloudeporteus 15 years ago

I guess your stuck with the fm transmitters.

sound91 15 years ago

You can hard wire a cable by taking out your stereo and determining where the cassette player hooks into the stereo and soldering a 3-conductor wire with a 3.5mm stereo plug on the end. The only thing you have to watch out for is that you only use one at a time.

lebowski 15 years ago

That would be a great Instructable!

PSB Satellite 15 years ago

Simple but works a treat, I have been thinking about how I would get my MP3's into my truck. Well what do you know I have everything I need sitting around. Thanks for the shove in the right direction! Just tried it and at last I am able to play MP3's while Mobile. TY.

JordanMaster22 16 years ago

they make the transmitters for cars that don't have a working audio input or cassette player. u mustve got a bargain because where i live those transmitters cost $99!

bduffman 16 years ago

only thing i wana no is y do u have a 60 gig ipod wat ever if u dont even have a nice sterio in ur car thats sad ay rip that thing out spend $100 get a nice sterio spend another $10 and get rca jacks or audio jack to plug into the newer and better cd player

awoodcarver 16 years ago

I still have a 8-track what do I do? You could have saved $9 by looking at the $1 or $0.99 store
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