(Temporary) Alternative Way to Play MP3s in Your Older Vehicle

by Kris T.

2.0K77

Intro: (Temporary) Alternative Way to Play MP3s in Your Older Vehicle

I'm liking more and more the idea of carrying my music with me wherever I go, particularly because I don't like leaving my physical copies unattended in my truck. I had thought about making copies of my CDs to leave in my vehicle (that way if they got stolen, who cares), but having so many CDs floating around would get crowded really fast, especially when you drive a Ford Ranger.

At the moment I cannot afford to buy a new player for my truck, and Birthday and Christmas are still a ways away, so for the time being I've cobbled something together.

STEP 1: Materials I Gathered...

*Glue gun (not shown)

*Long strip of elastic band

*Scissors (not shown)

*Portable speakers

*Small, skinny box

STEP 2: Placement...

There's a slot just below my radio that is wasted space. I believe it was intended for CD storage, but even when crammed in, they'd fall out at the slightest inclination. However, it's in a prime location to mount my portable speakers to: not in the way of the radio, easy to reach, and won't obstruct my view.

STEP 3: Making Sure It Fits...

The box I managed to find was perfect! It fits nice in snug. It's not going anywhere while I drive but at the same time it's relatively easy to pull out if need be.

STEP 4: Nope...

I wish to share my fail on this project.

Initially I was going to try and use some magnetic clasps used for purses I had laying about. They are pretty strong magnets for clasping, but not with the weight and angle of portable speakers.

So, plan B..

STEP 5: Hot Glue...

I cut the elastic, wrapped most of it around the box and glued them together on the back and broad sides, leaving a "measured" loop for the speakers to slide through in front. In hind sight, I might not have needed to wrap it all around the box, but maybe that'll strengthen it more?

Because my speakers are shaped irregularly, I made one loop larger than the other.

And hey, look at that, I think this just might work!

STEP 6: Moment of Truth...

Success! The speakers are in place and not going anywhere.

I may not be able to pump some mad bass, but I can at least enjoy having my music with me, without worry of the speakers slipping out and tumbling to my feet.

7 Comments

idrawupay 10 years ago

Hey man great solution to the problem.
But you may not need a new radio. Your radio looks like It's fairly new and I'm willing to bet that Panasonic makes a line in adapter that plugs into some sort of expansion port in the back of the radio. Or for about 20 bucks or so you can pick up an RF modulator that you install in line with the antennae that will let you play your mp3 player on a empty station. These modulators cut out the antennae so there is no or minimal interference so you get pretty decent sound quality.

Kris T. 10 years ago

Hey thanks. I had tried an RF modulator once before, and it was horrible. It was cheap though, so that might have been the issue.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll take a look and see if there's an adapter of some sort available for the player I have.

bigdwinn 10 years ago

That's cool and all, man, but I can tell from the picture that your cd player plays MP3 discs. Why not just burn some of those? An MP3 disc can hold 150+ songs. More if you don't mind converting them to a bit lower quality. I convert all my stuff to Varible Bit Rate with an average of 96Kb/s and can fit 200+ on a 700Mb Cd. That's 15 - 20 albums.

Kris T. 10 years ago

I had done that previously, but I have accumulated a LOT of music in the past 2 years (not counting what I've owned fifteen years before that), and it's still growing. About 8 discs filled with the minimum of 150 songs would be roughly 1,200 songs.

That might be okay in the beginning, but like I've said, I have a small truck, so if I keep adding discs it's going to get crowded fast. My little MP3 is 8 GB, which holds roughly 2,000 songs, but I also added an extra 16 with a mini SD. It's this reason that I've decided to start carrying my songs digitally.

Kris T. 10 years ago

Forgot to mention, yes, I could cram more songs onto an MP3 disc, but I'm not fond of how most songs sound at a certain quality. And while it would take longer to accumulate those CDs because of more songs added to them, I fell it would still be inevitable that I'd eventually have no room.

Kris T. 10 years ago

*Feel. Darn, I thought I was doing so well.