[s-cars] In Car MP3 Players

[Varon H. Fugman]

While an FM interface may not be as good as a direct line-in connection, I
wouldn't rule it out so quickly.  Consider this, the sound from a good
quality FM modulator fed into the factory head unit will sound *at least* as
good as the best FM radio station.

In my pre-Audi days, I used an FM modulator to feed sound from my Sony
Discman into my factory radio and was very pleased with the results.  Yes, I
know that using FM will pretty much roll off anything above 15kHz, and the
dynamic range may be somewhat compressed, but in a noisy car environment
that can be a good thing.

If you are happy with the sound quality from regular FM radio then using an
FM modulator to feed MP3, satellite radio, or DVD sound into the factory
radio may work just fine.  If not, then not!  But if sound quality is
paramount, you probably shouldn't be looking at a technology that uses such
a lossy compression algorithm.  Face it, MP3 is about convenience and
accessibility, not sound quality!

However, another reason to avoid an FM solution may be the diversity antenna
system on some of the factory radios--where there are two antennas for
better FM reception.  These systems use a variety of non-standard antenna
connections that won't easily hook up with an FM modulator.  I need to pull
out my factory Bose head unit and see what is back there.

For those wanting to do an MP3 music source in lieu of the CD changer, it
would be very handy if we could use the line inputs normally used by the CD
changer.  But how to tell the head unit to switch to those inputs if there
in no changer hooked up?  Anybody done it?

Varon Fugman
'95 urS6

P.S. You may want to take a look at some of the "ready-made" in-car MP3
solutions.  Prices from Crutchfield catalog.  Of course, you can take an
iPod anywhere!  And it may be a less expensive solution.  What we need is a
docking station similar to a cell phone hands free kit!

Kenwood eXcelon Music Keg
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/excelon/excelonKeg.jsp ($749)

Blaupunkt MDP-01 MP3 Microdrive ($799)
Works with new Blaupunkt receivers, controlled like a CD changer
http://www.blaupunktusa.com/receivers/receivers_cd_changers.html