Well i'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about. One of those FM transmitors that you plug into your car lighter, that hooks up to your Ipod and then broadcasts so you can pick it up with your radio in the car..

Thats fine and all - does anyone know of any in existence that have a line in? I'm trying to hook my laptop to my car speakers, and my deck doesn't have a line in so I figured this would be the easiest way to do it.

After googling I can only find ones that hook up to I pods and other MP3 players. Anyone know where I could find one? Or what the proper name is?

Thanks

Back when Discmans and other portable CD players were the thing, they had a gadget that went out from the headphone jack, had a wire that ran into a thing resembling a cassette tape, that went into the tape deck, and somehow made the connection. The same concept applies, out from the lappys headphone, and in to tape deck. You could go find one for a couple bucks somewhere in the bargain/overstock/discontinued/clearance section of a store.

EDIT: Unless you don't have a tape deck, in which case I'd either say hope for Bluetooth connectivity, or you're SOL

turns out some ones on ebay I saw had a line in and ipod. Says right in description can connect laptop/PC/cd player and what not and then transmits over 200 channels on FM 30M.

Perfect, good old ebay.

Now my question is - what bitrate is played over radio? Like if im playing a song thats 256 or 320 bit rate - what kind of quality should I be expecting out of the radio transmitor?

at best the transmitted signal will sound slightly worse than normal fm radio.

usually it sounds kinda hollow and crappy

at worst it sounds like its coming in over a really old telephone.

Why does it need a line in? Most of them just have a 3.5mm jack which you can just plug into your laptop. Or am I missing something?

I had a mercury brand FM transmitter and all it had was a headphone style jack. They aren't going to deliver very good sound quality, a tape adapter would be better and immune to interference.

I have one by Belkin with a 3.5mm jack on it, battery powered. It has a digital tuner type thing it, and I can never get the fucking thing to work without horrible amounts of static.

depending on where you live, those wireless fm transmitters are pretty shitty. out here in the northeast all the radio signals are pretty much used so those things are wastes of money.

if you want better sound quality and less static go with a wired fm modulator.
best buy has them for like 45 bucks or crutchfield has them @:
http://tinyurl.com/3262hr for 30 dollars

they tap into the antenna line to override one station and broadcast at perfect radio station quality.

best solution for best sound w/o a line input or addtl cd changer input.

depends on the car

Yeah I don't understand why you can't just plug it into the headphone jack. That's what I do, since they won't let us modify the radios in our work vans. In my car I bought a cable that is a regular headphone jack on one end, and plugs into the cd changer on the deck so I can connect my ipod or laptop to it

I have one with a line in.

These transmitters suck, but it's better than nothing. It's funny because sometimes when I drive near someone on the freeway who has a transmitter too I can hear their shitty music for a brief moment.

best to hardwire something in we rarely use fm modulators at work because of that fact unless the customer wants it that way.

what kind of radio do you have and i can see what we can do for options there alot of kits to hard wire a aux output to it.

if i want to do it myself, is there anything i should do before hand other than purchase a kit? for instance, i heard there was some sort of code you have to enter to get the radio to work afterwards. would my car manual have that code written in it?

It will work exactly the same, I have tried it, just plug it into the line out or headphone jack on your laptop.

Like I said, you can use an adapter to plug into your head unit if in fact it has a plugin for a multi-cd changer. They're brand-specific, and you can get them at most auto stereo shops. Just ask em for it. Not only will you be able to plug in any mp3 player, but also anything else with a standard 3.5mm audio jack (hell, even 2.5mm with an adapter). Also, since it's not being transmitted over fm radio, the sound quality is 1000000% better. Research what make/model your head unit is. I'm assuming it's aftermarket, but even if it's not, it still might have a cd-changer input

here's an example, for a Kenwood unit
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=234650&i=113CAC2AX&tp=1184

if i want to do it myself, is there anything i should do before hand other than purchase a kit? for instance, i heard there was some sort of code you have to enter to get the radio to work afterwards. would my car manual have that code written in it?

Depends on the model, but usually some has written the code on teh radio or you can call teh dealer and they can tell you.

Head units now can come with a line in, I would say if you have a stock one in now spend $100 and get a sony or pioneer with MOSFET that will sound better and give you what you're looking for.

Yeah I don't understand why you can't just plug it into the headphone jack. That's what I do, since they won't let us modify the radios in our work vans. In my car I bought a cable that is a regular headphone jack on one end, and plugs into the cd changer on the deck so I can connect my ipod or laptop to it

He needs a way to get the music from his laptop to his headunit. The laptop has the line out, now where is he going to plug the other end? He needs a line in on his head unit.

thats the same one i have. It only works with the AAA battery. It wont work with its own cig lighter plug and the sound quality is fucking shit. glad i only paid a buck for it at a yard sale. Id be ripped if i paid good money for it.