I have an 2001 Acura EL (EL is a model only available in Canada - it’s a lower model than the CL). I have the factory installed CD player but would like to be able to play MP3 CDs. I know I can get the entire unit replaced, but is there some way to add MP3 functionality to the existing CD player ?
thanks !
Nope, 'fraid not. You’d need to completely update the firmware which is not something even most technically-minded people can do cheaply enough to be practical. Buying an MP3-enabled player IS going to be the least expensive way to do this.
Well, you could always convert the MP3’s into CD format, albeit with the limitation of one hour or so of music per disk. It may seem like a backward step, but if your goal is to play your favourite music in your car, you probably already have the necessary equipment to make it so.
I’m assuming you have all the necessary rights, of course.
I guess I could have been clearer … I want to play MP3 CDs so I can have all of that music (about 12 albums) on one CD - thanks anyway.
As a stunt, you probably could get a portable CD player with MP3 capability and hook it up to a FM transmitter. However, that is an exceptionally crappy idea from the perspective of cost, ease of use, and sound quality.
The good news is that MP3 capable car stereos may be much cheaper than you think. There are plenty for < $100 and you could install it yourself if you are reasonably handy with those things. I got a nice little Clarion unit a couple of years ago. It doesn’t have any bling and looks basically like a stock car stereo. It plays MP3 CD’s great and I can put 160 songs or so per CD. Mine only cost $90 + $40 for installation so I wouldn’t think that cost would be much of an issue.
Or through a cassette adapter, if the stereo also has a cassette player. And of course you can use any type of portable MP3 player.
I don’t have a cassette player in this car - I guess another option is something like this:
http://www.rambotech.com/sdp/349834/4/cp-1614508.html
What I like about this is that you don’t have to worry about dead batteries - anyone have any experience with this type of device ?
I feel bossy’s pain. I’ve got a stack of CD’s that would all fit on one MP3 disk if the disk player would play it. If the car has a GPS system it is probably integrated with the sound system so you can forget about the <$100 units. Modulating through an FM frequency is a possibility but the sound quality will be crappy especially if you live in a major metropolitan area where most channels are used and there is a lot of other radio interference. If the sound system in the car is accessable and you can run a direct cable between the antenna and the sound system you can overpower the interference and have a reasonably good setup.
What I can’t understand is why the car manufacturer’s don’t have input jacks for their sound systems. They could have easily made the process much easier. With little effort they could make it easy to connect satellite radio reciever and MP3 players but instead they make the process unnecessarily painful.
What I did with my plain old Alpine CD player was buy a $15 AUX converter that plugged in into the port on the back of the stereo (I did have to disassemble the dash, to be fair) and gave me two RCA plugs for left and right, which I then converted with a $2 Y converter into a normal 3.5mm jack I plug into my MP3 player. Not every CD player has an AUX port on the back, but many factory installed ones do, since a lot of companies will put in a CD changer as an option and requiring a different stereo just to have a CD changer is silly. It’s not guaranteed that there will be a compatible converter for your stereo though, even if it has an AUX port.
That one looks crappy IMO. 7 presets and the frequencies are all in the same range. Depending on the FM saturation in your area, you may find that the actual stations bleed into the frequencies used by the device, YMMV. It is better to find a completely adjustable transmitter device that can tune to any FM frequency.
Like New York? I have no trouble at all using my FM transmitter through NYC, or in DC. Zero. Sounds better than a regular radio station and just as good as CD, as far as I can pay attention while I’m driving.
I had a similar situation with my wife’s leased vehicle. I bought a nice FM transmitter for her iPod and it sounds great, just as good as CD. It has three programmable buttons for different frequencies incase of interference, but she hasn’t experienced any in the Phoenix area. In my car I use a tape cassette adaptor for my generic MP3 player.
Just get the FM transmitter.