# How would I listen to a movie in my car? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213 "2021-06-28T21:10:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/1 "2021-06-28T21:10:19Z")
The title is the OP. Assume I want to listen to, say, _The Social Network_ while on a road trip. How would I be able to do so w/o having Netflix (or whatever) display over my GPS? Don’t need answer fast. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/2 "2021-06-28T21:19:18Z")
Buy a portable DVD player. Don’t look at it. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/3 "2021-06-28T21:21:02Z")
I assume you want to listen to it over the car’s stereo. Does it have aux input? If so, play the movie on a phone or some other device and pipe the sound only into the car stereo. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/4 "2021-06-28T21:38:55Z")
If you have your hands on the actual disc (DVD/Blur-ray) and a suitable DVD-RW drive on your PC things get significantly easier. Most freeware or commercial DVD ripping software allows you to rip the movies audio alone to an MP3 format which you can burn onto a CD-R for playback or hook up an mp3 player or USB drive with however you play music on your cars stereo. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/5 "2021-06-28T21:45:46Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I assume you want to listen to it over the car’s stereo. Does it have aux input? If so, play the movie on a phone or some other device and pipe the sound only into the car stereo. You could also use bluetooth if available. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/6 "2021-06-28T22:37:30Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Does it have aux input? If so, play the movie on a phone or some other device and pipe the sound only into the car stereo. When I do this, though, the movie usually has to be the facing app, which obviously blocks the GPS. Ripping to MP3’s may work. But also interested in streaming solutions as well. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/7 "2021-06-28T22:38:02Z")
Get a cheap used smartphone on eBay, use your primary phone as a hotspot, and play Netflix on the 2nd phone while your primary phone is serving as your GPS. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/8 "2021-06-28T22:39:05Z")
Science, bitches! Eta: Reply to Munch. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/9 "2021-06-28T22:55:23Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > When I do this, though, the movie usually has to be the facing app, which obviously blocks the GPS. VLC has a setting to continue playing movies in the background. Default is to pause a video when leaving the app, but if you change it to background play, then you can continue to hear the audio while in other apps. VLC is free and available for both Android and IOS, and has the background play option on both. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/10 "2021-06-29T09:39:41Z")
Personally, I would download several copies of [the script](https://deadline.com/2011/01/exclusive-aaron-sorkins-full-screenplay-for-the-social-network-plus-qa-96451/) and enlist a few travelling companions to do a “table” read. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/11 "2021-06-29T17:57:39Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > VLC has a setting to continue playing movies in the background. And some apps let video play in a tiny overlay window. VLC is probably one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/12 "2021-06-29T18:57:29Z")
Somewhere I have a cassette of The Muppet Movie that I recorded from the audio out of my VHS player. If you have access to the movie, recording the audio in real time is a relatively trivial task, and then you can save it as an mp3 or whatever other media format will work for you. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/13 "2021-06-29T19:59:12Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And some apps let video play in a tiny overlay window. Yes, in the same setting you can choose to have VLC play the movie “picture-in-picture” in a little window on top of your other apps. That feature won’t work when driving, though. I mean, VLC doesn’t care, but if you use it when driving it is likely to cause your car to contact a foreign object, or unexpectedly depart the travel route. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/14 "2021-06-29T20:25:14Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > w/o having Netflix (or whatever) display over my GPS? Is this a GPS on your phone, or built into your car? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/15 "2021-06-29T21:50:51Z")
On the phone. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2021, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/16 "2021-06-29T22:45:40Z")
If you are using Apple Play to connect your iPhone to your car via Bluetooth, you should be able to start the movie and switch to Google Maps with the movie playing. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-i-listen-to-a-movie-in-my-car/945213/17 "2021-06-30T13:58:11Z")
Can’t you drive without GPS? I mean, we did it for decades. I hate being distracted from driving, so I check my route on Google Maps before I leave home. I’m literally getting in the car in minutes for a road trip, and I’ve memorized the route. Which consists of remembering which route through town to take to the freeway, which exit three hours later, and a series of five turns after that. (My wife needs GPS to get to the end of the driveway without a feeling like she’s about to get lost, so maybe you’re like her…) But my way, I can listen to a book (actually, a full cast BBC production, so almost a movie) without ever looking at my phone, or worse, having a British woman interrupting: _“In one half mile, continue on Interstate 90… in one third mile, continue on Interstate 90…”_