Travel Technology - Listen to your iPod in ANY car

Maybe everyone knows about this, but I think it's cool:

Motorola makes a BlueTooth speaker phone called the T505. This is a nifty device -- quite small -- that will pair with your BlueTooth phone and function as a speaker phone. It also lets you direct the audio to your car's stereo system via a built-in FM transmitter.

What Motorola doesn't say, is that the T505 will also support ANY BlueTooth transmitter with the proper audio profiles. I picked up an iHiFi BlueTooth adapter for the iPod (made by Zoom, who also make BlueTooth adapters for other audio players). This device will automatically pair with the T505 and will direct the audio output of the iPod to the T505. The T505 can then direct it to the FM radio in the car, meaning you can get full-fidelity music in ANY car. The T505 is a far more stable device than the standalone FM transmitters I've seen for iPods and other audio devices and, as a bonus, provides a wonderfully functional speaker phone that will also work over the car's radio.

I investigated this specifically for when I drive my wife's car down from SF to LA, but, obviously, this will work particularly well in rental situations.

Just thought I'd share.

Motorola makes a BlueTooth speaker phone called the T505. This is a nifty device -- quite small -- that will pair with your BlueTooth phone and function as a speaker phone. It also lets you direct the audio to your car's stereo system via a built-in FM transmitter.

What Motorola doesn't say, is that the T505 will also support ANY BlueTooth transmitter with the proper audio profiles. I picked up an iHiFi BlueTooth adapter for the iPod (made by Zoom, who also make BlueTooth adapters for other audio players). This device will automatically pair with the T505 and will direct the audio output of the iPod to the T505. The T505 can then direct it to the FM radio in the car, meaning you can get full-fidelity music in ANY car. The T505 is a far more stable device than the standalone FM transmitters I've seen for iPods and other audio devices and, as a bonus, provides a wonderfully functional speaker phone that will also work over the car's radio.

I investigated this specifically for when I drive my wife's car down from SF to LA, but, obviously, this will work particularly well in rental situations.


Full-fidelity wouldn't be an entirely accurate statement, unless you're talking full over-the-air FM fidelity. As a rule of thumb, here's the relative quality ranking of various methods of hooking stuff like iPods, satellite radios, etc. in to your car stereo:

1) Direct input via an AUX connector. As more and more cars add this as a standard feature (I haven't had a rental in a year that didn't), the other options become irrelevant.
2) Cassette adaptor
3) FM modulator (which is wired directly to the stereo, but via the antenna)
4) FM transmitter

So, you're effectively talking about polishing a turd. :) I've read in a few places that FM audio is most comparable to a 96 kbps MP3.

I don't even travel with an FM transmitter anymore.

Full-fidelity wouldn't be an entirely accurate statement, unless you're talking full over-the-air FM fidelity. As a rule of thumb, here's the relative quality ranking of various methods of hooking stuff like iPods, satellite radios, etc. in to your car stereo:

1) Direct input via an AUX connector. As more and more cars add this as a standard feature (I haven't had a rental in a year that didn't), the other options become irrelevant.
2) Cassette adaptor
3) FM modulator (which is wired directly to the stereo, but via the antenna)
4) FM transmitter

So, you're effectively talking about polishing a turd. :) I've read in a few places that FM audio is most comparable to a 96 kbps MP3.

I don't even travel with an FM transmitter anymore.I've never had a rental with an AUX connector (though I'd like to). Cassette adapters work in some, but not all, cars with cassette players -- most, these days, only have CD players.

Our second car is a 2005 C-class Mercedes. It has a cassette player, but is mechanically incompatible with cassette adapters. It doesn't have an aux connector. I've had to resort to FM transmitters in the past, but they've been very iffy things -- lots of static and distortion. This Motorola T505, on the other hand, puts out a solid signal, automatically detects "empty" frequencies and verbally reports them and, of course, also functions as an excellent speaker phone. As for audio quality, given that the source of the audio is an iPod (mine contains 192k MP3s -- most people use 128k as that is the default for many rippers), FM is more than adequate.

Our second car is a 2005 C-class Mercedes. It has a cassette player, but is mechanically incompatible with cassette adapters. It doesn't have an aux connector. I've had to resort to FM transmitters in the past, but they've been very iffy things -- lots of static and distortion. This Motorola T505, on the other hand, puts out a solid signal, automatically detects "empty" frequencies and verbally reports them and, of course, also functions as an excellent speaker phone. As for audio quality, given that the source of the audio is an iPod (mine contains 192k MP3s -- most people use 128k as that is the default for many rippers), FM is more than adequate.

Here you go:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w203-c-class/1289872-aux-input-2005-w203-w-pics.html

Here you go:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w203-c-class/1289872-aux-input-2005-w203-w-pics.htmlInteresting. However, it was both cheaper and easier to buy the T505. :)

1) Direct input via an AUX connector. As more and more cars add this as a standard feature (I haven't had a rental in a year that didn't), the other options become irrelevant.
2) Cassette adaptor
3) FM modulator (which is wired directly to the stereo, but via the antenna)
4) FM transmitter


Speaking from experience, there is a clear difference you can hear in going from #4 to #3.

And, the parts for doing #3 -- FM Modulator, adapter cables specific to your vehicle , RCA-to-iPod connector cable, power switch -- are (were) unbelievably inexpensive at the recent going out of business sales at Tweeter, Circuit City and a few others I can't recall right at the moment. I'm talking $50 - $60 for all these parts.

DIY, Get a real service manual (Chilton/Haynes will not have this) and see how to get to the radio, what part of the dash/bezel/faceplate to pry off and what tool to use to do the prying.

Edit: Critchfield has a nice explanation: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-SzRsyB1k50c/learn/learningcenter/car/ipod/ipod_installation.html?page=5

Edit: Crutchfield has a nice explanation: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-SzRsyB1k50c/learn/learningcenter/car/ipod/ipod_installation.html?page=5

Generally, when you buy stuff from Crutchfield, they include a detailed install guide. If you don't use them, Google is pretty good about revealing how to do stuff. If you want to do an install in an 01 Civic, googling "2001 honda civic ipod" takes you to an excellent guide as one of the first results.

(probably because I wrote it) :D

We have an iPod connector in our 05 MB SLK. It lets you control the ipod through the steering wheel with the tracks displayed on the dashboard (but not on the command screen). Cost a lot installed, but the sound quality is nearly as good as CDs. I can't really tell the difference.

We have an iPod connector in our 05 MB SLK. It lets you control the ipod through the steering wheel with the tracks displayed on the dashboard (but not on the command screen). Cost a lot installed, but the sound quality is nearly as good as CDs. I can't really tell the difference.
This is rapidly becoming the standard approach. At a minimum, something like 90% of new cars sold in the last year are "iPod-ready" - ie: they have an AUX jack. PTravel - you are unlucky with your rental cars, in the last year I can remember maybe 2 or 3 cars out of 100 that didn't have at least an AUX jack.

The quality from this approach is near perfect - certainly many orders of magnitude better than an FM radio-based solution. If there is any way of connecting to your car's stereo in this way then it is the preferred approach by far.

This is rapidly becoming the standard approach. At a minimum, something like 90% of new cars sold in the last year are "iPod-ready" - ie: they have an AUX jack. PTravel - you are unlucky with your rental cars, in the last year I can remember maybe 2 or 3 cars out of 100 that didn't have at least an AUX jack.

The quality from this approach is near perfect - certainly many orders of magnitude better than an FM radio-based solution. If there is any way of connecting to your car's stereo in this way then it is the preferred approach by far.

I had the stereo stolen from my 97 Porsche Carrera. It was actually a good thing, and they did a very neat job with the wires- nothing damaged. When I got a new unit, I got one with an AUX jack in the back. I have a cable running from it out to the front and I can connect my iPod. Of course, control is only from the iPod, so it's not as useful for solo driving, but I don't commute far, and I actually really like one of my local rock stations :)

Cheers.