PPC as Car Audio Device?

[Islander]

I would love to be able to utilize my A716 in my car, play audio books, or listen to mp3's... Is there a way to hook it to my sound system... I have a factory CD player/radio, good speakers. This may be easy for you audiophiles :? - but my PPC and my car are both new :mrgreen: (Dammmm, I'm lucky! ...and very happy...see, I want to join all my joys...music, driving and PPC'ng) -I have numerous cd's burned, but with a 512 MB card I should be able to put alot more music files on *that* than I can burn on a cd..at least one that will play in my CD player...non mp3 type.

Any ideas are very welcome. I am off to register my PocketPlus..drat it, it died last night, timed out, and I sure miss it.

[Radimus]

FM transmitter module... plugs into the headset jack (on any audio device) and turns it into a Mr. Microphone.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=310840&pfp=BROWSE

they go for about $30.00 or so.

[Mobile_Bear]

I used to have long and pleasant countryside drives during the weekends.
I bought a Radio FM Transmitter: lets you transmit your audio output from your regular PPC audio jack to any regular FM Radio:

http://www.pocketpctechs.com/detail.asp?Product_ID=ARKN-SF250

My only problem is that when driving through the city it gets a lot of interference. There are other devices alike, but not sure if they have the same problem.

[Supaiku]

http://www.blitzsafe.com/ is supposed to have some sysetm for putting in direct hookups that you just plug into, but chances are it's more invoulved and expensive than an FM thing - but maybe not, you should look at least.
If you'r headunit has RCA out's behind it you could have a place install some somewhere also, but since you don't have an aftermarket headunit thats unlikly.

[yanathin]

Don't the FM transmitters only end up playing on the radio in FM quality though? FM quality is pretty bad in my opinion...

[Darius Wey]

Don't the FM transmitters only end up playing on the radio in FM quality though? FM quality is pretty bad in my opinion...

You can get interference occurring so at times, the sound quality may not be all that great. However, it is bearable on most occasions.

[Radimus]

FM quality is OK, esp as the MP3s are probably encoded pretty low... I have them at 64k on my ipaq.

I suppose if you are using a 4gb CF or HD based mp3 player, you could have a 128 bit encoding or so...

[maximus]

I have numerous cd's burned, but with a 512 MB card I should be able to put alot more music files on *that* than I can burn on a cd..at least one that will play in my CD player...non mp3 type.


A year ago, I was actually having the exact question with yours. Tried the FM transmitter and the cheapo audio-out cassette, etc. And none of them works. The quality of the sound is definitely not acceptable to me.

So I installed a 12CD changer with mp3 capability in my trunk (JVC brand, $120). And I have been very happy with that decision ... 12 x 700 megabytes of mp3s anywhere I (my car) go :D

[pgm]

i found the best option is to get a stereo with an 'aux' in, and then plug your ppc in:)

[yanathin]

i found the best option is to get a stereo with an 'aux' in, and then plug your ppc in:)
That's what I did. Works and sounds beautifully; no loss of quality at all. In fact, every morning I watch a few episodes of Family Guy in my car while I'm waiting in the parking lot. Parking at my college is horrible.. I gotta get there over an hour early. I dunno what I'd do without my Pocket PC and sound system in the morning

[frankenbike]

An inline FM modulator hooks between your antenna and the radio, and doesn't have the interference problems of the wireless FM transmitters.

[PatrickD]

The Honda Element has an aux in jack for mp3 players built into the factory radio. So far it is the only car I have seen with this feature. I'm surprised more car makers aren't including this, since it seems like it would be a really cheap feature to add.

[PetiteFlower]

I use the cassette adapter to hook my PPC up to my car stereo. Works great, not the BEST quality in the world, but certainly acceptable especially for 64kbps ogg files :)

My last car had a CD changer that used the FM transmitter to get to my stereo system, and I never had any issues with the quality of that. How much different would the same kind of transmitter on a PPC be?

[frankenbike]

I use the cassette adapter to hook my PPC up to my car stereo. Works great, not the BEST quality in the world, but certainly acceptable especially for 64kbps ogg files :)

My last car had a CD changer that used the FM transmitter to get to my stereo system, and I never had any issues with the quality of that. How much different would the same kind of transmitter on a PPC be?

Was that an in-line FM modulator, or a wireless transmitter? Most of the time, changers are installed with in-line FM modulators, which is preferable to the cheapo wireless transmitters (due to their limited power by FCC mandate to prevent interference).

[PetiteFlower]

I really have no idea, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was probably an in-line one.

[Radimus]

mine is a little transmitter, and I have it and my ipaq velcro'd to my dashboard.. the transmitter is about 3 inches away from the radio.

sounds and works fine

[buckyg]

For me, a cassette adapter or FM transmitter works most of the time. They sound okay but for what I've paid, I'm not expecting perfection. Usually I use the cassette adapter since our main vehicle has both cassette and CD.

We rented a car for a long trip we just took. I figured there might be few radio stations where we were driving. No cassette in that vehicle, so I bought a cheap FM transmitter at one of our stops. It worked great, just one time we had a faint bit of interference. I get back home and try it, only to find that all 4 frequencies have stations on them here. (I rarely go that far "down the dial" - Using that term sounds like I've been watching too much WKRP)