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

[HerHusband]

Yep, those are fairly typical features for most stereo systems.

It's basically just a wireless communication protocol that lets different devices talk to each other.

For instance, you could play songs on your smart phone and have them played over your car stereo via the wireless bluetooth connection. Essentially like connecting a cable via the AUX input, only without the wires.

Personally, I would rather put songs on a USB drive, but many folks have everything on their smart phones.

My wife and daughter both have stereos with USB ports. They load up music on a tiny USB drive, then plug it into their car stereo. Much more music than a CD and no skips. We haven't played a CD in our cars for years.

I don't know about current stereos (ours are about 10-15 years old) but ours are limited to 4GB flash drives. That's still a lot of music in a tiny package. You could always carry multiple flash drives if that's too limiting. :)

Our stereos are limited to MP3 files but I think newer ones support other formats like WMA, AAC, and FLAC.

I keep saying I'm going to upgrade my ancient stereo to one with a USB port. Unfortunately, every stereo on the market these days uses a knob for the volume control. My car rides fairly rough so trying to make small adjustments while bouncing around is kind of difficult. Worse yet, the volume knobs usually have different functions when you push them in, so I really mess things up when I hit a bump. :) My old Alpine stereo had separate volume up and volume down buttons, much easier to use with a stiff suspension. But, I don't really drive much anymore and generally only listen to the radio anyway. Low priority.

Just as examples, here are some cheap car stereos with USB ports that may work for you:

Anthony Watson

[gfretwell]

The bluetooth on the radio allows it to link with your phone. You can make phone calls using the radio speakers, mute the music automatically etc and most will allow you to play music from the phone through the radio speakers. With a smart phone that could also be Pandora or I heart radio.

[DerbyDad03]

I ended up mounting an under-dash Pioneer Super Tuner with a Y-cable for the antenna and a switch to transfer the speakers between the deck and the OEM Radio. The Pioneer did not have station presets or AM. My dad drove the Rambler sometimes and he preferred the simplicity of the OEM radio. In addition, AM was the only place to listen to sports back then so I used it also.

Are you old enough to remember these?

[DerbyDad03]

Well, it's not that everything is *on* our smartphones as much as so much is available *through* our smartphones.

Pandora for music, Tune-In Radio (and others) for streaming radio, hundreds if not thousands of sites offering podcasts of every shape and size, YouTube, etc.

I have Bluetooth and a magnetic vent mount in my van. I get in the van, and slap the phone *onto* (not into) the mount. A few seconds later it connects to Bluetooth.

It's similar to this...slap and drive, grab and go.

[Paintedcow]

These car stereos sure have changed since I last looked at them, years ago. Of those Amazon links you provided, that Pioneer one looks just like the one I was looking at, at Walmart. (or a very similar model). Walmart price was $5 higher. It said formats were MP3 and WMA (I think WMA is "Windows Media Player). That stereo also has a remote control.

It also mentioned Pandora, which I had no idea what that was until I looked it up. Stuff like that wont do me any good. I have no intention to get a smartphone, based on the cost. My prepaid Tracfone is all I need. Initially I only got a cellphone for emergency use in my car, and it has paid for itself many times over, particularly when I had a brake lockup and start on fire, not to mention calling in emergencies for other people. And lately I tend to make regular calls in it, like to call someone and tell them I'm on my way, or call a business to see if they have the car part I need, and so on. My flip phone also has access to weather radar maps and other useful stuff. But I see no need to spend a fortune to own a smart phone. If I really need internet while I'm on the road, I take my laptop and can get WIFI at most fast food places. For about $100 a year, I have my Tracfone, and actually have to make some "regular calls" or I accumulate too many minutes.

Anyhow, I'd be happy just having a car stereo that plays music from flash drives. Cds are a big pain to deal with in the car. They get into the wrong boxes and fall off the seat and get damaged, and I'm still limited to 10 to 20 songs until I pull over and change the CD. I could easily see putting several hundred songs on flash drives and could make several of them, for example, "oldies" "rock" "country", etc... (I do hope they have exceeded the 4gb limit though. I dont see any flashdrives smaller than 16gb even sold in the stores anymore). In fact Walmart had

16gb drives for $4 yesterday, so I bought several of them.

One thing I still dont understand is how to determine what stereos will fit in my 1996 Plymouth Voyager. (or any car). That Pioneer is 1 DIN, I think it's the JVC that says it's 2 DIN. I have no clue what will fit in my car. There must be some website or other way to look up specific cars. Because of this alone, I'd rather spend the extra $5 and buy it from Walmart, or go to the big city and see what places like Best Buy have. At least I can return it, and I'd likely remove my factory stereo right in their parking lot (takes 10 minutes or less), and make sure it will fit.

I can relate to the "stiff suspension" issue when I drive my truck, but my car is a pretty good ride... Either way, it would take some getting used to it, to learn how to operate it, but when I first got this car, it took a while to learn how to use the factory radio too, since this was the first car stereo I ever had with a CD and using that SCAN button, setting the presets and the clock were a challenge. I'm still used to the old radios that had a volume, tone, and a tuning knob, and 5 push buttons, and little more other than an AM-FM switch.

Thanks for all your help!

[Paintedcow]

The last car stereo I bought was probably more like 40 years ago. In fact back in the mid 70's I briefly worked for CB radio store and installed them in cars, but several times I had to install car stereos too. But they were like you describe, "a hole on each side for the volume and tuner knobs and a smaller rectangular opening for the radio dial." Besides a CB, I bought a car stereo from my boss at cost back then.

I've learned a lot from this thread and from following up by looking at this stuff in the stores and online. It's a whole different world when it comes to them now.....

Thank God the old days of cutting sheet metal are gone.... Of course dashboards are no longer made of metal anyhow.... And all that wire splicing and soldering was a major pain back then....

[thekmanrocks]

PaintedCow:

4GB is 2000 news. You can get 16 and 32Gig thumbs now!

[clare]

Lots of AMCs also used a vertical dial. Nothing like the round dial in a mid-fifties ford.

[gfretwell]

If you had 32g of music the average driver could drive a year and never hear the same song twice.

[clare]

The radio in the '49 Stude pickup on the farm had a head unit that fit in the dash that had the dial and the controls - with a cable like a speedo cable connecting the head to the tuner in the remote box on the firewall.

[clare]

You can have a brand new AM FM radio installed inside your existing radio case, using a modified original type dial OR an LCD digital display. Several companies around doing the job. They put aux in on them and some even get USB.

[clare]

Mine takes a 16 for sure - have not tried anything bigger

Many don't use any knobs any more. Push a button for up or down volume

- same for tuning.

[clare]

A double din will fit the 1996 Mopar with the right kit. So will a single, with the right kit. The original monster is almost a double din size, but not exact, which is why the adapter is required.

Not hard to find the info with Google.

[DerbyDad03]

AMC used a lot weird stuff. I was never sure if they designed their vehicles around other manufacturer's parts or if they designed their vehicles first and then found parts to fit ;-)

If I recall correctly, there was more than one starter listed for my '66 Ambassador 990, each with a different bolt pattern.

My favorite: The vacuum booster pump cap for the fuel pump to keep the windshield wiper speed fairly constant while accelerating. My booster pump died so I just bypassed it. Getting on the expressway during a rainstorm was always an adventure. Thank God for Rain-X!

[rbowman]

For a while the family ride was a '62 Rambler Classic and that's what I did most of my learning to drive on. My father had fallen for George Romney's practical car pitch and that it had 15" wheels when the industry was going to 14's. Never cared much for Romney's after that trauma. I was happy when it was replaced by a '65 Dodge although I would have been a lot happier with a '65 Mustang.

[gfretwell]

I had a couple AMCs, a 72 Jeep when they owned the brand and a 71 Gremlin, I got as a gift (AKA broke down in my driveway and abandoned). The Gremlin had that 232ci 6 that fouled the #5 plug about every 2000 miles. You could just clean it and put it right back in. A new one fouled just about as fast. I got to the point where I could swap the plug at a long light. I kept a handful in the glove compartment. It was basically a POS car but I still put 50,000 miles on it and sold it for $500. I tossed the factory radio right away and put in a JIL AM/FM/8 track, CB. I do think they cobbled together a lot of off the shelf parts. The transmission was a Borg Warner, Ignition was Delco but the engines were AMC.

[FromTheRafters]

Ah, thanks for mentioning that. I inherited my grandfather's Rambler and when I took a trip from Keene, NH to East Blue Hill, ME I discovered that the windshield wipers only worked when it wasn't raining.

40 years later and I'm starting to understand what that was.

[HerHusband]

Ours are limited to those formats too. Personally, I've never used WMA for anything and prefer to convert other formats to MP3 for the best compatibility with multiple devices.

I've never understood the reason for a remote control in a car stereo. All of the controls are at my reach on the head unit already.

I suppose it could be handy if you're in the back seat with your sweetie. :)

You might check out Tracfone's latest offerings. I have Tracfone too and upgraded to an LG Ultimate 2 L41C last year. It may not be bleeding edge stuff but it's certainly smart enough for my needs. Sure beats the old flip phone.

Yeah, I've got 100's of voice minutes that I never use, and Tracfone doesn't make it easy to just buy service hours. So I end up adding minutes every year when I don't need them just so I can add service time.

I haven't tried it, but I think it will accept a larger drive, it just won't access more than 4GB.

In any case, that's hundreds of songs and hours of music. Unless you're taking a road trip, you won't be able to listen to all of the songs on the drive.

Amazon sells an install kit (adapter plate) for your car for single DIN radios. So any single DIN stereo should fit, given enough depth behind the dash (you would probably need to remove the old stereo and measure it, then compare the new stereo's specifications).

No problem. I'm happy to help.

Anthony Watson

[HerHusband]

If you've got a spare $650 you can get 1TB flash drives now. :)

Anthony Watson

[HerHusband]

Do you have links for any of these? I haven't seen anything (in the single DIN format) in the last 5 years or so that didn't use a knob for the volume control. Except maybe for some budget off brands.

Then again, I haven't really been looking very much.

Anthony Watson