playing audio to my car stereo
 

Hey all. Newbie here and already learned alot :D

One of the things I'd like to use a N800 for is to play music to my car stereo on the way to work. Is there a way I can accomplish this, since I believe it only has a headphone socket? (my car stereo has no inputs sadly and its CD). Could I use some kinda FM transmitter thingy or does it distort??

Anybody doing something similar?

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Are you sure? Try googling your car model and/or you stereo, and maybe you'll find a way to activate an auxiliary input (if it is there but hidden, but this usually happens only with the factory radio, not with aftermarket ones).
For example, mine required a visit to the dealer (and I was lucky enough that they activated it for free) and connecting some pins in the back of the radio with a home made cable.

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

I do this all the time. I use fm transmitter. Be sure to find free fm stations in your are. you can do that using a website. Just try googling for that website. It is pretty good. but the dowside is too many wires

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Interesting. thanks guys. I'll google the radio a bit more as well. but good to know the fm route is there if necessary. (this way I can move further away from the ipod touch lol)

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Compared to an aux input cable, FM transmitters are rather cheap and worth a try. I used one for about a year and the sound quality was quite good when there were no radio channels interfering. Just make sure that the use of FM transmitters is allowed in your country. This is the case in the UK and Germany, and some other countries at the moment.
And don't get a transmitter with a fixed frequency since you cannot evade interfering radio channels then.

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

I am currently using my Mp3 player with my FM transmitter to play songs on my radio. It is not a bad idea to use N800 for that purpose but a quick question arise in my mind.

Is there any audio player on N800 which can save your current state where the song was paused or the player cosed?

i.e. If I stopped the song on 2 min after playing on my current mp3 file, when the next time I launch the audio player will this song will be stated after 2 min on my mp3 file or I have to drag the bar to 2 min?

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Yes, a lot of stereos have some sort of external input. If it can be used with a trunk-mounted CD changer, that is generally accomplished with some digital control signals and a line-level audio signal. Mazda stereos (at least from ~1995 :) ) had a loopback plug on the back, where the audio connector is, if there is no CD changer installed.
But if you don't have that, FM transmitters can work. Unfortunately, they require power, and I have also seen a lot of quality variations in them. The better ones can outblast a rather strong co-channel signal, and so work even if there are no vacant channels. This works because of the inverse square falloff, and your FM transmitter is only ~1 yard from the antenna.
A good way to investigate radio channels in the US, whether to find new stations, setup pirate radio, or just find which channel to use, is http://www.radio-locator.com/.

One thing I'd like though, is a BT (A2DP) FM transmitter. That way I wouldn't have to mess with the cabled connection of an FM transmitter. My N800 barely fits in the cup-holder, without a dongley FM unit. (I use a line-level-to-cassette adapter, with ~2 foot cable, but many FM units have only a 2-6 inch cable, and there's really no place that close to place the FM unit.) Throw the BT/FM in the glovebox, run a wire for power, and leave it there.
I think there's a few such units on the market now, but they're pretty new, and A2DP still seems troublesome on the N800, so I'll wait a bit on that.

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

i find the n800's audio output to produce 'noise' whenever it turns the audio output on. really annoying to have that much extra noise being produced. soon as the unit it done playing audio it shuts the amplifier off, noise goes away.

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

I use the official Nokia FM Transmitter because it also has a charge cable ;-)

http://europe.nokia.com/A4460119

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

do check this out. It would be my next step in my car.. just waiting for my company car to end it`s leasing time this year.
Next year with new car I am aiming for either cd-player with A2DP BT receiver or this Scosche bluetooth receiver on a small amplifier or input on the radio.

http://www.scosche.com/products/sfID.../productID/537

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Yes I did this, I have an old Seat Ibiza with a radio cassette head unit. This had a CD changer wiring in the car, but no CD changer. I used the CD changer wiring, shorted out the changer wires to get the radio to recognise AUX, then soldered in left, right and ground to a 3.5mm input jack and I can now plug in my N800. Better sound than an FM transmitter.

There are also a system called connect2, that works with most radio's, search google for it. I've not used one, but I had a look before taking a soldering iron to my car radio.

Rich

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Are these available in the US ? I've had a hard time locating them here... :confused:

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

Try mpd. It runs as a daemon to play music. You control it with a separate frontend, such as mmpc, or the command-line mpc. (Don't panic, you don't have to fire up an xterm to pause mpd; mpc is typically used in conjunction with some other program -- a frontend for a frontend, as it were. I use powerlaunch's mpc mode.) The great thing about mpd is you can start and stop the frontend, or even run two frontends at a time without affecting mpd. The state only changes when you issue a command from a frontend.
It will, I think, lose it's place if you reboot, but I'm always on with a charger at home and one in the office. I only shutdown overnight, so no problem for me.
My setup is mmpc for controlling the playback when I have the N800 out, and powerlaunch's mpc mode when it's in my pocket. I'm not sure which I like better for in the car.

Re: playing audio to my car stereo
 

http://europe.nokia.com/A4460119

Aww, damnit, I wish I would have seen that before now. I've got the official car charger, but it never occured to me that they might make a FM transmitter, especially one with a charger built in. That's pretty nice.

Anyways, I use a FM transmitter daily, and it works very well. Look for one that can transmit on any frequency. Some only transmit below the 92.* frequency, which can be bad, since the dial is typically pretty crowded with low-power stations in the lower frequencies, at least in my area.