How to play an iPod in your car
From BluSkyPedia
There are a number of ways you can play an iPod in your car. Some work better than others. In this article we'll look at some of the different options.
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Headphones
This is possibly the worst thing you can do. Driving with headphones is a very bad and very dangerous practice, so please don't consider this as an option.
External speakers
You could hook your iPod up to external speakers and play it in your car. This is doable, but it doesn't take advantage of your existing stereo and speakers. Further, it means you are going to need some type of power source for the speakers which might become problematic as well.
Tape adapter
If your stereo has a tape deck, there are adapters that look like a tape with wire and headphone jack. Some people have had success with these, but they are often fickle and rarely will you get high quality sound from them. Still, in some situations it can be a very good option--particularly if the quality of sound is less important like when listening to audio books.
Auxiliary Input
This is an ideal solution. If your stereo has an input jack you can simply plug your iPod into the jack using the headphone output. This produces a good quality sound and it is easy to setup. You also retain full control of iPod so you can use its controls to select play lists, etc.
The downside is that the iPod doesn't know anything about the car. If you stop the car, the iPod plays on and you'll need to manually start and stop it. So for running a lot of errands around town, this option is a bit on the annoying side of things. For long trips it works very well.
Radio transmitter
There are small devices you can hook to the top of your iPod that will basically turn it into a mini radio station. You tune your car radio to the correct frequency and you can listen to whatever you play on your iPod. These transmitters don't seem to work with every car depending on the location of the antenna and the build.
This solution also has the problem with not stopping when you stop the car. Still, it can be a convenient way to listen without having wires running out of your stereo.
Stereo integration
This is the Holy Grail of iPod car integration. Your stereo hooks directly to the iPod and you can control the iPod through the stereo or the controls on your steering wheel. One of the reasons this works so well, is that the car can tell the iPod when to stop and start. Also the stereo usually powers the iPod, so you don't have to worry about it dying when the batteries go out. Often you can keep the iPod in the glove compartment or some other out of the way place to keep it protected and out of sight.
One downside of this setup is that you often don't have the same level of control that you do with the iPod. Your car stereo may let you only select play lists instead of sorting by every possible way the iPod is capable of. This usually isn't too much of an inconvenience once you get use to it, but you should be aware of it.
Aftermarket integration
If you have an existing stereo that doesn't have iPod integration, you may be able to find an aftermarket kit to give you many of the same capabilities. Specifically there are kits that will hook into the CD changer connection and give you access to 5 or 6 playlists in the way that you would normally change between 6 CDs.
Obviously this limits you. You can only choose the playlists that the stereo knows about. This is usually don't through naming them 1 through 6 or something like that. Still, six playlists are better than nothing at all and with a little planning it isn't much of an inconvenience.