Dopers, I need your help with my husband’s birthday.
I want to get my husband an FM transmitter for his first-gen iPod Nano but I’m not that savvy when it comes to technical things and I’m worried I’ll buy the wrong thing!
Can someone tell me which models will work with his first-gen iPod Nano? Also, he is potentially going to buy an iPod Touch in the near future - is there a model that fits both?
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
P.S. I put this in Cafe Society seeing as it’s music-related, please move if that’s not right.
I suggest not bothering with the FM transmitter. In my experience, they suck. I got one for my wife to use in her van. She has a factory installed cd player in the van and no auxillary port so I thought the FM transmitter would allow her to listen to her iPod while driving. Wrong! Too much static. It sounds like you’re listening to the radio.
If you insist on buying one go to the iPod store and read the reviews of the models they have available or go to a supplier’s website and read the reviews. I wish I had done that before buying the FM transmitter. I read them after using the transmitter and a lot of the reviews listed the same problem my wife had. YMMV Good luck! I hope the other dopers can offer more/better advice.
I can pretty much second this opinion. I’ve thrown two of them damn things out the window at 55 mph.
I did have luck with something like this. Actually, that maybe the same one I used to have, the power switch is identical.
Anyway, this works in a similar fashion but there is actually a hardwire connection between the output from the iPod and your cars antena. The downside is if neither of you are tech savvy, it may require professional installation.
Got my wife one of these http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=3029 from Monster Cable at Sams Club with a Headphone Jack Splitter and Home Charger for around $80. It works okay. Haven’t had any issues with it. As for sound quality, we have a 6 yo who talks constantly, so I wouldn’t be able to comment on that.
I primarily use my iPod (in the car) on long-ish trips. For the commute I generally just listen to NPR; but for a 500-mile drive I like my music. I used one of these, which is on the page you linked, and found it was satisfactory.
The trick is finding a free channel. With a free channel there was no static. But Seattle and Portland are large radio markets, and finding a frequency is very tricky. As you come into range of a frequency that is being used, you have to search for a new one. Not the best idea when you’re supposed to be concentrating on driving, but whaddya gonna do? Pull over?
So I went back to just using the cassette adapter. No searching for frequencies, no having to change frequencies when you come to a new area, more consistent sound.
We’ve taken my iPod from DC to Massachusetts and back. Never had much of a problem, even in New York. Only had to find an empty frequency twice. 'Course, AC did all the driving and I navigated/messed with the radio and transmitter.
Seconding this one. It’s expensive, and normally I’d advocate against anything Monster, but my dad and I both use this one for our iPods and it works great.
That said, I suspect it’s less the transmitter that’s usually the problem when people complain and more about finding the right channel. I lucked out and found a great channel that’s dead in both Tucson and Phoenix, so I never have to touch the transmitter. I can guess it’d probably be irritating as hell on a road trip.
A cassette adapter would be your next best bet, but that’s reliant on having a tape deck in the car, which is incredibly rare these days.
I third the recommendation against the FM modulator. I tried two different ones, and after much tweaking, I got them to work. But 1) they both hummed a bit, and 2) I had to turn up the radio REALLY LOUD to hear the iPod… and if there was any momentary signal interference, it just about knocked me out of the car.
Get the cassette adapter if that’s workable. Or get a modulator from a place with a good return policy.
I forget the name of the brand, but its the big one they sell at teh apple stores. The key is this one finds the clearest channel for you–no messing around. The only problem I’ve had is when I move closer to down town (Colorado Springs) and weaker stations begin to assert themselves over my iPod. Then I just hit the find button again, look at the display and tune my radio to that channel
If you can find a good one, I’d recommend the device that fits in the cassette player and plays from there for clear and constant input; however, I was not able to find one compatible with the first-version iPhone (it has a weird headphone jack), and so I got an FM transmitter. If you can find a good station, it works very well in my experience. It also charges it, which is useful.
If you’re thinking of getting a new iPod, hold off on buying an FM transmitter for a 1st gen Nano until you get a new iPod. If not, make sure you get one that doesn’t have the audio prong, but will still work on your Nano and any other iPod you purchase in the future.
Actually, if you really want to do it right, you might be able to get a direct input jack installed. A lot of car stereos have auxiliary inputs on the back of them for CD changers, and you can buy adapter cables that plug into this and give you an honest-to-god line in jack for your stereo, which will give you the best sound quality.
Go to this page at Crutchfield, and enter the make and model of your husband’s car, and it will tell you if there is a direct input adapter cable available for it. Some of these work specifically with the ipod and will allow you to control the ipod right from the car stereo and even show track information on the stereo’s display. It’s absolutely the way to go.
Here’s an example for the radio in my vehicle. This unit’s pricey, at $140, but it allows full control of the iPod from the car stereo and it charges the iPod while it’s plugged in. There are cheaper units around as well. Using something like this will give you the best sound quality possible.
This is what I have in my mini cooper (aux input attached to the factory radio). This is by far my favorite solution. The sound quality is excellent. I prefer to have the controls on the iPod remain functional.
In that car’s case, the cable was $28 and I installed it myself. Luckily my hands were small enough to reach around behind the radio so the installation took about a minute.
As a bonus (it’s an iPhone) if someone calls, it mutes the music and their voice comes in over the speakers. The phone picks up my voice just fine if the phone is sitting in the cup holder.
We drove from Illinois out to Colorado this past summer and used one of those cassette adapter thingies. It was absolutely perfect, as I needed to know no technology to use it, and the sound came in crystal clear, without having to constantly fiddle with it, as with those find-a-blank-radio-station things. We cycled between three different people’s ipods to get a change of style every once in a while.
Agreed. The cable for mine was about $35, and I installed it in an afternoon. Someone who knew what he was doing could do it in no time. The hardest part, by far, was getting the cable threaded through the dashboard so it could come out underneath it, but I managed this with a coat hanger.
Crutchfield’s web site is great about looking up your particular stereo model and hooking you up with the right part. When you order it, you should also get the tool you need to get the stereo out of the dashboard (that was the second hardest part).
