MP3 FM Transmitter

[marnold]

We're looking at getting a new (to us) car to replace my aging '95 Achieva with 260K miles. It's a 2003 Lesabre with 13K miles. I was looking at replacing the stereo with an MP3-capable one. Unfortunately, it would appear that it is non-trivial to install a new stereo in that car, so I didn't want to pay as much for the installation as the new stereo. So, I was looking at an MP3 FM transmitter. I'm considering this one. I can plug my phone into it and it will also use SD cards and USB drives. It also uses RDS so the artist and track names are displayed on the radio. Seems like it would do the trick. Any other suggestions someone might have?

 

[Eric]

That'd be big pimpin' in a 2003 Buick LeSabre, Rev. 'Round these parts, if you owned one of those you would have to tint the windows black and get a couple of special ladies, maybe a fur coat, etc.

I can't comment on that particular model of FM transmitter, but I did have one previously that was beyond horrible. I think they're rather hit-or-miss. If you have your antenna in the rear of the car, I think it could make things more difficult, but I imagine technology has advanced since the time I had one. They might be pretty good by now.

 

[marnold]

That'd be big pimpin' in a 2003 Buick LeSabre, Rev. 'Round these parts, if you owned one of those you would have to tint the windows black and get a couple of special ladies, maybe a fur coat, etc.

Actually I think I need an AARP card and a hip replacement. A 2003 LeSabre and a 2001 Windstar are NOT metal, despite being constructed of the same.

 

[Eric]

A 2003 LeSabre and a 2001 Windstar are NOT metal, despite being constructed of the same.

You could paint some flames on them and be halfway there...

 

[bcdon]

Like Eric said, those little FM transmitters are not the greatest, especially if you live in an area that has a lot of radio stations. Does your car have a cassette adapter? If so, you could buy one of those old-school tape adapters (that is what I use with my iPhone).

 

[marnold]

Like Eric said, those little FM transmitters are not the greatest, especially if you live in an area that has a lot of radio stations. Does your car have a cassette adapter? If so, you could buy one of those old-school tape adapters (that is what I use with my iPhone).

Unfortunately, no. There is one version of the stereo with CD and cassette and another with just CD. This one has the latter. I use one of those adapters to use my phone as an MP3 player in my van. The Amazon reviews of this (and another similar product from the same company) generally say that the FM quality is surprisingly good.

 

[bcdon]

Unfortunately, no. There is one version of the stereo with CD and cassette and another with just CD. This one has the latter. I use one of those adapters to use my phone as an MP3 player in my van. The Amazon reviews of this (and another similar product from the same company) generally say that the FM quality is surprisingly good.

Looks like the FM transmitter is your only route then. Just make sure you get one that has a wide frequency spread (e.g. 87.x - 106) that way you can find a frequency that isn't surrounded by other stations. I used a FM transmitter in my car for years and it works just fine, I just prefer not having to deal with the frequency adjusting which can become a pain during long road trips.

 

[marnold]

Looks like the FM transmitter is your only route then. Just make sure you get one that has a wide frequency spread (e.g. 87.x - 106) that way you can find a frequency that isn't surrounded by other stations. I used a FM transmitter in my car for years and it works just fine, I just prefer not having to deal with the frequency adjusting which can become a pain during long road trips.

Yeah, this one can set up to four stations over the whole spectrum. Guess I'll just have give it a shot.

 

[Ch0jin]

Little out of the box perhaps, but as a last resort you can always look at getting someone to mod the existing deck. I ripped the factory unit out of my car, traced out part of the circuit and basically added an external input in between the preamp and power stages and ran that out to a 3.5mm stereo jack. You don't get any fancy titles or anything on the deck, but I can plug an ipod or whatever straight in, and I have zero interference issues AND the sound is better than FM or tape adaptors. It is a PITA to have steering wheel stereo controls and not be able to use them with my ipod, instead having to use the ipod itself, due to the fact that I've basically just hijacked the power amp section, but it was still cheaper than a sexy new Alpine

 

[marnold]

Yeah. Unfortunately, I'm not very handy with that and I don't know who would be. It seems that Buick/GM did something really stupid with this model. Punch this car into Crutchfield and EVERY replacement deck they list comes up as "does not work with this vehicle." To add insult to injury, the transmitter I linked to will only play MP3s by order of creation date. Tell me how that makes sense. I don't know how this thing could have gotten that many positive reviews with that critical problem. Basically that means you can't play an album in track order unless you go through and manipulate the creation date for all of them. Feature.

I found this GOgroove Flexsmart X2 which would also charge my phone and work as a hands-free device. I just wonder if the charger could keep up with the battery drain since Bluetooth would be going full-time.

 

[R_of_G]

We had pretty good luck with an FM transmitter. Periodically the reception would be iffy, but the vast majority of the time it worked without incident.

I'm speaking of it in the past tense because though it worked just fine, it was constructed mostly of interlocking plastic parts (that formed a shiftable arm coming out of the cigarette lighter adapter). Problem is, this is Florida and apparently the heat was just too much for it to endure. It lost all structural integrity and we've yet to replace it. I suspect months of overbearing heat and humidity won't be as much of an issue in Wisconsin.

I do have a cassette-type adapter also as our other car had a tape-deck when we got it used. That setup has worked perfectly from day one.