[lagerstarfish]

I'm looking at getting an mp3 player for my van as the 10cd changer doesn't seem to keep everyone happy( ). I don't want to spend a fortune (£50ish). My idea is to buy a second hand ipod and a car charger and connect it to my stereo by using either an adaptor that goes into the tape player or an FM transmitter.
I would value any advice on buying a second hand ipod (thinking 20G) and any advice on connecting it to the existing stereo (radio & tape player, no input sockets). I'm not a stereo-nazi, so perfect sound quality isn't too important.
Anyone else done this?

Cheers

[Plattsy]

A couple of mates use the radio frequency connection for there ipod and complain a bit about losing the connection etc.

It's more than you want to spend but as an alternative approach I bought one of these (has an input connection) and an ipod to stereo cable. Not as slick but works a treat.
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_376771_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSelectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_31516_crumb_31265-31371_parentcategoryrn_31516#

[Bubba]

I drive a lot of miles using one of those FM thingys and though they do work pretty well, if you're going a long way expect to have to retune it every so often as you drift in and out of range of local stations (or as the main frequencies for the big stations move). It's a bit of a pain. If you were driving around Brum/London or anywhere with a lot of local stations then it would be a real pain.

You can also get adapters that use the cassette/cd slot of the stereo - not used them tbh but last time I used a portable cd-player to cassette slot one the quality was pants.

A stereo with a line-in is the best option as Plattsy has linked above. Better quality, no tuning issues, etc.

[philo]

i use a fm transmitter and it works amazingly well, dont ever get it fuzzing or need retuning?
if anything tho get one that locks it in, like the chargy thing you get with it,
some of the cheaper ones have a device that slides in and can easily be knocked out which is really annoying especially if it goes back to the main menu too.

[neil h]

just find your local kev car radio specialist, I went down had a full alpine unit instaled, with a ipod adaptor hidded in the glove box, so you never have to worry about charging it ever again, ipod is controlled through the head sterio, the whole lot fitted was £110


bargain

[Simon S]

Try a belkin ipod connector kit. They give better quality than when connected to the headphone socket and charge the device at the same time.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Belkin-iPod-Car-Home-Audio-Kit-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ260280246079QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260280246079&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

I've had one for a number of months now having been recommended one on another forum and its far better than just using a casette input alone.

[lagerstarfish]

Result! 

I scored a 20 Gig 3rd gen ipod with car dock (looks same as yours Bubba) and an itrip fm transmitter - all for £8.25 off ebay. Low price due to the battery only able to last for a minute or so, but this doesn't matter since I will be using it with the car dock. Arrived this morning. Works fine in the van and with the radio in the living room.

Thanks for your advice everyone

Happy Lagers 

[Bubba]

Nice one! Bargain.  Mine's a 4th gen but the only thing different is the buttons I think.

You can get a new battery for under a tenner and fit it yourself - I put a new one in and get about 10hrs out of it. If you go for that let me know and i'll dig out the place i got it from; there's a lot of cheap crap ones for sale on ebay.

[dontfollowme]

I read something on another forum about people replacing the hard drives in Ipod with CF cards. Sounds like a nice way to prolong the life of an ipod for a bit of hassle.

[Jim]

This is in Aldi next sunday

sorted

[GCW]

Not like you to botch your BB, Jim.
Plus that link says:

The offer/content you have requested is no longer available.

[lagerstarfish]

Mrs Starfish had a knackered ipod, so I took the battery out of that and put it into my newly aquired one - works great - only problem is that she has now run off with it for her own entertainment   
Now, I just need to find a cheap, working hard drive for a 3rd gen ipod and we will have one each and a car dock and fm transmitter.

[lagerstarfish]

Mrs Starfish had a knackered ipod, so I took the battery out of that and put it into my newly aquired one - works great - only problem is that she has now run off with it for her own entertainment   
Now, I just need to find a cheap, working hard drive for a 3rd gen ipod and we will have one each and a car dock and fm transmitter.

Turns out that Mrs Starfish's hard drive did have something wrong with it, but so did her data cable, so the problem seemed unsortable - HA! I got the computer to detect it via the cable that came with the ipod from ebay and reformatted the little fucker. It works 

[lagerstarfish]

You can get a new battery for under a tenner and fit it yourself - I put a new one in and get about 10hrs out of it. If you go for that let me know and i'll dig out the place i got it from; there's a lot of cheap crap ones for sale on ebay.

I'd like to get such a battery, please. Where'd you get it?

[Bubba]

Here we go

[lagerstarfish]

Ta.

£9.99 and a very sensible £1.99 p&p.