Question about MP3 Player hook up for cars without one...

[thelittlemermaid]

DH and I just bought a 2006 Chevy Trailblazer. Unlike his 2008 Chevy HHR that has a hookup for a MP3 player the Trailblazer does not. When my DH used the MP3 player in our Voyager he used what looked like a cassette tape for the player to work. The Trailblazer doesn't have a cassette player so I can't use that.

I found what is called a FM transmitter that can be used for MP3 players and think this is probably the way I will have to go. But I wanted to see if anyone else has this problem and uses one of those transmitters and how well they work and is the sound of good quality?

DH thinks I'm silly for even worrying about it since the Trailblazer has XM radio, but I like to listen to my music when I want and what song{s} I like. I'm not big into the satellite radios.

TIA!!

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

Mine works well when I am not around a big town or city. Out in the middle of nothing it works with no problem. It is hard to find a frequency not in use around towns sometimes.

 

[dfchelbay]

You need to buy an FM transmitter. Best Buy has them. They will send your MP3 audio thru the car speakers. Best Buy has them from $22.00 to $50.00. Mine was about $40.00. It works great. It plugs into the cigarette lighter for power, tune your car radio to 88.1 FM. Plug it into the headphone hole of your MP3 player....voila it's coming out your car speakers.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Check and see if the head unit has an "aux" plug-in where you can connect an aux cable. If it does, you buy a $5 aux cord, plug it into the headphone jack of your mp3 player, plug the other end into the aux port of your head unit and you're good to go.

If you don't have an aux port and don't want to buy a new head unit, then you'll have to go with a transmitter. There aren't many good ones out there, and I didn't like the one I bought and used about 5 years ago. But I did my research and recently bought a Griffin iTrip auto FM transmitter for iPods and love it. It's different because you can set it to "International" mode and lock in on the 87.7 frequency, which is not used here in the US. If your radio goes down to 87.7, you'll be guaranteed a static-free signal. Griffin also make them for non-Ipod mp3 players.

 

[wall*e2008]

I bought an expensive transmitter and I can only use it away from cities. It was so frustration that I got the cassette instead. You may need to get one of those kids (DH has it for his HD radio) where you interrupt the antenna input with your input. It does require some work in the dash. Basically it is a switch box that has two inputs - external antenna and MP3. When the MP3 is on the switch picks it, otherwise the antenna is picked.

 

[DisTwix]

Hey there - I have the transmitter.... I believe mine is the Belkin, and I got it off Amazon for around $40. I've been using it for a couple years - I live in Columbus, OH and have travelled with it to Orlando, driven to NY, taken it to Vancouver, BC and I have NEVER had trouble finding a station that works.

 

[CarolA]

I have used two types of FM transmitter.

The cheaper one had just a few stations. Did not work at all in Atlanta.

The more expensive one plugged into the cig lighter, had a holder for the IPOD and had the full range of stations. It worked fine.

 

[stczt]

The CD player in my car does not work. So We were @ Marshalls and for $10.00 each we got the ones that fit in the cigarette lighter. I have a Zune and put the radio on 88.1 no problems. Dh has the iphone and he got this whole docking thing and his goes into the lighter also and he works all over Atlanta from Athens to Lagrange and all between including downtown with no problems.

 

[thelittlemermaid]

WOW! Thanks so much for all the input!

I was looking on Ebay at the cheap ones, but I will have to look into the ones that were mentioned in the thread.

You would think since the Ipods are so popular and were popular back in 2006 also that a jack would have been put into the radio for one.

Oh well, just got to do what I got to do. LOL!!

Thanks again!