I was looking through Crutchfield for a new CD player for my car, and I came across a bunch of CD changers that claimed to play through the FM radio.
How does this work? Is there any loss in the quality of the sound?
You set the changer’s transmitter to broadcast on an unused FM station, then set your radio to that station, and you can listen to the CD changer through your radio.
I wouldn’t recommend it. The sound quality isn’t great IME, though I’m sure some brands are better than others. (I had a Radio Shack portable FM transmitter for my Discman, and it sounded pretty bad.)
Another problem is interference from radio stations. The transmitter usually has a fixed number of frequencies it can use, and if none of them are free, you’ll get interference. Even if they’re all free in your area, the next time you go on a road trip, you might find that the frequency you chose is being used somewhere along your route.
I have the same little device that you attach to a portable CD player just like Mr. 2001 describes and then tune your radio to some of the lower bands around 88.1 FM. I did not work all that well because of other stations interfering and the sound was not that good. I got an indash unit and it is so much better.