HAS ANYONE TRIED THE CAR LIGHTER SOCKET MP3 PLAYERS?

[PAPPA3]

Has anyone tried those MP3 players that you hook up in the lighter-socket of a car.  You can tune your car's radio to the frequency of the player and then connect a flash-drive to the MP3 player and play the music from your flash-drive.  How well does it work, and are there any brands/models that you would recommend?  Where can they be bought?  What alternatives are there at a good price?  I'm tired of radio 'bump 'n grind'/you left me-I hate you/I'm the world's richest blingest artist music

[frikkie]

They are rubbish, at best. I wouldn't bother.

[Jaco]

I have, but IMHO they are sh!te.
It tends to loose the FM signal.

But this was a few year's back, maybe the lastest models are better.

 

[mahleu]

I had a crap one, my dad got one that runs straight off the ipod and it sounds good. Can be plugged in too, but doesn't seem to drain battery much.

[Atjan]

I've heard 2 and they varied from shocking to crappy. Signal was not great and one got feedback or something from the car's ignition.

I'm also tired of the stuff on the radio. Changed from 5FM to Jacaranda. Now I've got not nearly as interesting/funny dj's, but at least I can stand the music.

[naughty]

You can tune your car's radio to the frequency of the player and then connect a flash-drive to the MP3 player and play the music from your flash-drive

none of those things will work too well because FM radio works only from 50hz to 15khz anyway in terms of frequency response - so expecting those to sound decent is basically a mugs game

[frikkie]

none of those things will work too well because FM radio works only from 50hz to 15khz anyway in terms of frequency response - so expecting those to sound decent is basically a mugs game

Yes, but one would expect them to sound at least as good as a good FM station - which, in all fairness, can sound bloody excellent. They don't. The frequency range they broadcast is severely limited and often way off flat. They're just rubbish.

[Steerpike]

I bought one - not to use as it was - but because I wanted to hack the USB chip out of it. I tried it before opening it... and it was very fussy about which USB memories it would accept. All were formatted the same way with the same content, but some brands just caused it to lock up randomly.
Real real junk.
What I did buy was this - which is very good: It has a line out and plugs into any amplifier, and runs on 9 to 18V, so a PP6 battery drives it happily for several hours.
http://www.eurobaltronics.com/eng/products/jb-mpl1-media-player-digital-tuner-usb.html

[Crankshaft]

Seriously cool piece of kit that.

Does is work OK with a HDD?

[vanHunks]

I have an iLuv (!) FM transmitter for my iPod and the playback is OK but no more; the main hassle being the shortage of presets (only two on my unit) to deal with the frequency selected being used by a radio station in a particular area - I'm not willing simultaneously to drive and mess around looking for unused frequencies on the radio and then tune the FM transmitter. In the end I worked out a proper wired connection (not a digital extract, however) and the sound was much better than when playing using the FM transmitter. I would tend to avoid the FM thing except as a last resort - it's just too frustrating.

[Crafty]

I've got a diagram for a 4watt transmitter. Your radio will not loose signal. As a matter of fact... You can override what 5fm or highveld is playing for a couple o cars around you.

[Cowboy]

I have a Griffin Roadtrip for my iPhone. It was working really well on 88.1 but recently it seems to have decided that it doesn't like the power socket in my Mercedes. Every now and then it switches off and I get blasted with FM static for a few seconds while it tries to power back up. The signal also seems to be a lot less powerful than it was a month ago.

I wouldn't recommend one of these, but I do agree, SA radio has become a fecking bad joke. Why can't we get digital radio in this country?

[CAD]

They are rubbish, at best. I wouldn't bother.

+1 tried 2 different models and both were cr@p

[Steerpike]

Seriously cool piece of kit that.
Does is work OK with a HDD?

So they say, but I have no such thing as a USB HDD.

but I do agree, SA radio has become a fecking bad joke. Why can't we get digital radio in this country?

Surely this has nothing to do with it being FM or Digital? (we did have DAB for a while, but it seems to have been turned off now) . Why would digital broadcasts be any better than the current line-up? The program content is independant of the technology, and the fidelity of DAB does not compare favourably with a good FM system. Overseas DAB and HDFM don't seem to offer anything spectacular according to the majority of opinions on web fora.

I'm very pleased they aren't wasting time and money on, and pushing the public towards a rather pointless technology.

[Cowboy]

Ever heard of DMX? That would be awesome to have in your car.