So, I’ve got a car (finally!) as of this weekend. A 2001 Pontiac Grand Am that my family has owned for something like eight years now.
The only real downside to this car is that the included car stereo does not include an Aux-In port to connect an MP3 player to. I’ve got an FM adapter, and it’s definitely repaid the $18 investment I made in it as an open-box item at Best Buy three or four years ago, but it’s a bit limited in use on car trips.
So, I’m looking at a couple of options here:
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Some kind of modification to the existing car stereo, like a plug that can be added. One of the sergeants in my squadron mentioned that, depending on the existing stereo, this can be relatively straightforward to do, and I might even be able to use the existing stereo controls to run my iPod. Downsides to this is if I end up with some kind of iPod specific connector, I’m now locked into Apple as a source for music players, and I’m not planning to keep my second-gen Nano past the end of the summer (birthday gift for my brother). I could get an iPod touch or another Nano, but I’d rather have the option of another brand of music player.
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A new stereo deck, basically taking out the old setup, installing something new with an Aux-in built in, and slapping a new face plate over it to make it fit in my dash board all pretty like. I’d want something that was itself of reasonably good quality, and which would ideally hook into the factory-installed speaker system. Downsides I’ve heard of is that at least on my model of car, the audio alerts in the car all tie into the car stereo, and I might need an extra adapter for this.
Anyhow, throw your suggestions at me, and give me some rough price estimates if possible. I’m hoping to keep this under $200 if possible, and while being able to control my stereo with the buttons on the deck is nice, I’d generally prefer Aux-In if it’s a practical option.