Is there any way to play a MP3 player thru Auto CD Player

[DerbyDad03]

That hack now uses the XM Radio DIN connector. BTDT

[HerHusband]

Can your CD player play MP3's burned to a standard data CD? I know some can which would allow you to fit close to 100 songs or more on a single CD (depending on the MP3 bitrate).

Otherwise, have you considered getting a new stereo for your car? There are adapters for most cars that let you replace a factory radio with a standard DIN style stereo. I used a Scoche adapter plate to put a standard AM/FM/CD with USB port in my daughters old Taurus.

Anthony Watson

[gfretwell]

MP3s were virtually unknown in 1996 and not available in any CD player I have ever heard of until almost a decade later. I was a fairly early adopter, having a MP3 player in my car in 1999 but it was a DOS PC on an inverter, playing through a cassette adapter.

[Dan Espen]

I have a 2006 Scion Xb. The CD player also does MP3s. Physically, the CD can hold upward of 700 MP3 tracks at the default bit rate.

Unfortunately, the CD player must have an 8Bit CPU poorly programmed, because the player only recognizes the first 255 tracks on the CD.

Still, 250 tracks per CD is quite a lot and I no longer suffer through radio commercials.

I'm surprised at the number of high end cars I've been in that can't handle data CDs (MP3s). Congrats to Toyota for the player in the Scion. The car also has IPOD and AUX ports but the MP3 CDs do the job just fine.

[Paintedcow]

I have my doubts that it will play a CD with MP3s. But I could give it a try.

Yea, a new stereo is something I have considered. What does "DIN" mean?

One reason I try to avoid replacing the factory stereos, is because they wont fit the faceplate hole, dont mount to the same screw holes, and require a dozen or more wires to be traced and spliced. -OR- an expensive wiring adaptor, and that still dont eliminate the faceplate and mounting screw issues.

On top of that, will the new one have a clock? My factory one does, and I nearly demand a clock in my vehicles.

Back in the 70's I installed a lot of aftermarket stereos. But back then, it was usually 7 wires. POS - GND - Left Spkr + & - Right spkr + & - and one wire for a light.

And back then, if they did not fit in the dash where the factory radio went, they had brackets to mount under the dash. (Back then there was a lot of room under the dash). And in those older cars, the clock was usually NOT part of the radio.

Another thing is that they often lower the value of the car for resale, if the dash is hacked up to make the thing fit.

However, in this case, if I can find something that will at least mount properly and not leave a hole in the dash, or require hacking/cutting the dash, I would not mind changing it as long as it also has a clock. The reason I'd do it, is mostly because this radio has extremely poor FM reception. I googled this, and found this was a common problem on this vehicle. It's not the antenna or antenna connections either. I did remove the stereo to make sure the antenna was properly connected and plugged in another antenna to make sure the antenna itself was not at fault. The google results said that the front end circuitry for FM was known to fail. (and mine apparently has). I am lucky if I can get the local FM station, and that is the only one I get.

I really dont much care about the radio though. I find radio these days to be lousy, mostly commercials, repeated 10 songs, and the station drift when I travel makes me quickly turn the radio off.

So, just having a CD player is a big PLUS. All my older cars had radio only, or a cassette player, and casettes were always troublesome, and no one even uses them anymore. Of course it seems that most stores no longer sell CDs either. But since I like oldies music, I find lots of CDs at resale stores and rummage sales for a buck or less. So, this CD player is a big improvement over anything else I had in former vehicles. But keeping the CDs in the car seems to be messy, since there is no place to store them. I finally bought a rubbermaid tub for them, but it stays in the rear seat area, so I end up listening to the same CD over and over, until I stop driving.... Yet, this is still better than the crap on the radio !!!!

[clare]

It is a 2004 Corolla which had neither on the base system

[Frank]

Nearly 20 years ago I had an 10 year old car stolen and stripped. It was found up on blocks, all the tires and rims including spare were stolen. Under the hood, it looked like everything was scooped out, engine, transmission etc. The only thing the thieves left was the radio. It occurs to me that if a 20 year old car is stolen, maybe the only things the thieves would take is the new radio ;)

[DerbyDad03]

re: "The only thing the thieves left was the radio."

For a brief second I pictured a radio sitting on the street up on blocks.

Now that would be a funny thing for some creative thieves to do. :-)

[dadiOH]

That would be either a very, very low bit rate or very very short MP3s.

At 128 kbps an MP3 will require a bit more than 1/12 the space it would if not compressed; i.e, if a fully filled 700 MB CD has 10 tracks, and if tracks of the same lengths were compressed to MP3 at 128 kbps, a 700 MB CD would hold 110-120 MP3s.

Personally, I find 128 kbps acceptable - many do not - but I wouldn't want to go much lower.

[gfretwell]

I agree, a 700 MB CD will hold more like 150-175. I am running one in my car as we speak.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I don't know all of it, but I think the D is Deutsche (German).

My father listened to classical music a lot, and one of the things I heard a lot was "Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft" (German Record Company).

[snip]

[thekmanrocks]

DadiOH wrote: "Personally, I find 128 kbps acceptable - many do not - but I wouldn't want to go much lower. "

Seriously???

I use 192kbps MINIMUM for MP3 export - even for spoken word projects.

[gfretwell]

Deutsches Institut für Normung

[clare]

When referring to a stereo head, it is a specific size configuration

- there are single din, half din, 1 1/2 din and double din devices. The standard is set by Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (German Institute for Standardization).

Din standard connectors are generally round multi-pin connectors like the old keyboard plugs

[HerHusband]

Hmm... I didn't consider that. My oldest MP3's are from 2007, so you're probably right.

You're probably looking at a new stereo.

Or, connect your smart phone/MP3 player to a portable speaker in the car. :)

Anthony Watson

[HerHusband]

I don't know what the actual acronym stands for, but it's basically just the standard rectangular size for most car stereos.

Double DIN is common in newer cars and is twice the height of the standard single DIN.

You can find install adapters for most cars. You simply remove the factory radio, install the new adapter plate that fits like the factory radio, then install your new stereo in the adapter plate. Here's one example for the 96 Plymouth Voyager:

The end result looks like a factory installation. No cutting the dash, fabricating brackets, or any of that kind of thing.

You can also get wiring adapters that will let you plug your new stereo into the existing wiring so you don't have to cut any wires in the vehicle. This will let you easily reinstall the factory radio if you decide to sell the car.

Yes, I think every aftermarket stereo has a clock built in.

These days most people would prefer a nice AM/FM/CD stereo over a factory AM radio. :)

Most modern stereos have decent tuners. My wife's car is missing an antenna and still pulls in FM stations easily. AM is another matter, but who listens to AM anymore? :)

I have a CD player in my car, but all I ever listen to is the radio. I don't drive much anymore so it's not worth the hassle taking a CD in and out of the car. Besides, I haven't bought a CD in years, and download most of my music off of iTunes or similar sources.

If I was buying a new stereo I would look for a USB or SD card interface and skip the CD player. My wife and daughter both have USB drives filled with hundreds of MP3 songs in their cars.

Anthony Watson

[HerHusband]

Many of my older MP3's are encoded at 128 kbps, but I can definitely hear the quality difference compared to 256 kbps or 320 kbps MP3's.

Storage space isn't much of an issue anymore, so I use 320 kbps for everything now.

A 7MB MP3 is nothing compared to a 50GB video file. :)

Anthony Watson

[gfretwell]

I still think the best MP3 player anywhere is a PC running DOS and MPXPLAY. (what I ran in my cars from 1999 to a couple years ago).The problem is the last machine I had that will suffer the heat of a car in the summer is socket 7 board based and finding a good one is pretty hard to do. I have given up on PC based car players. MPXPLAY allows selecting songs by number from a numeric pad and I still have not seen that from any other player, stand alone or PC based. You can run a 10 key without taking your eyes off the road. Try that with a factory MP3 player. Set up with fast boot in the BIOS, running DOS and it will go from "key on" to music faster that any dash mounted player I have seen. There is a W/XP version and that is the player in the house.

[dadiOH]

You are certainly free to do use whatever bit rate you want but 192 is WAY overkill for voice. For music, it depends on several factors...

a) what encoder is used and how

b) what equipment you are using. High end ear phones or tinny built in PC speakers.

c) how you are listening. That is, are you listening intently while you sip a nice single malt scotch or are you listening in a noisy environment - like a car - or elsewhere while you are doing something else. If the former you might like FLAC or similar better than 192.

[Dan Espen]

All this talk led me to examine the CDs I've been creating. Looks like I've been creating Monaural CDs without knowing it. Maybe that explains why I'm getting 250+ tracks per CD:

Audio file with ID3 version 2.3.0, contains: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v1, 64 kbps, 44.1 kHz, Monaural