CD autochangers?

Stemar

Stemar

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My new (to me - '99 Focus) has a radio cassette (Phillips ARC399) with rather nice sound and the RDS works a lot better than the cheap radio/CD in my old car. I disposed of all my tapes a couple of years ago, so I'd like something to put music of my taste during the significant periods of time when there's nothing that tempts me on the radio.

Said radio cassette claims to be a CD autochanger control, but will it control any autochanger, or only Phillips ones, or only a few specific Phillips ones.

Budget, as usual, is limited to what can be nicked from SWMBO's housekeeping without her noticing, so would an MP3 player plugged into the auxiliary socket be a viable/cheaper alternative?
 
If it has an auxiliary INPUT socket, then an MP3 player is the simplest route to go.

Note that you may find a socket on the rear labelled 'Auxiliary', and this may be intended for an auxiliary <u>amplifier</u>, not as an auxiliary input.
 
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Budget, as usual, is limited to what can be nicked from SWMBO's housekeeping without her noticing, so would an MP3 player plugged into the auxiliary socket be a viable/cheaper alternative?

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That was my thought whilst reading the post. No CDs cluttering up the place, all your music sorted in a variety of ways, the ability to set up playlists for a particular trip or whhatever.

I vote for an MP3 player, 20GB or more.
 
Before getting an all singing/dancing JVC DVD/CD/Radio, I used an FM transmitter plugged into the MP3 player, (or PC), and a Cigarette Lighter socket. Quality isnt quite as good as direct input, but it's OK, (I'm using it now, tuned to 87.7FM, and it's fine).

Having said that... if there is an input for a CD changer, i would guess that there is something like phono inputs for the sound from the CD player... could be wrong...
 
I'd also say MP3 player - either via Aux socket or using a cassette adapter (as you have a cassette player).

CD-Changer - yes it will need to be a Phillips one, and not just any Phillips one, but the right one. I assume this is the factory fit radio - if so Ford will charge about £200+ for the changer. An alternative is a Kenwood one which is (supposedly) universal, but fro memory these are over £100 too! Best bet if you decide on a changer is to look on ebay or try a car salvage place (loads of Focus' around - so shouldn't be too hard).

IMHO - MP3 is best way to go though

Jonny
 
We make our own MP3 CDs from the laptop. You can get about 8 cd's worth of music on one CD that way, and can chuck them away and make others when you are fed up with them. Much better use of space than an autochanger, but not all car stereos will recognise an MP3 disk.

Pops
 
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Why not use a FM modulator from an MP3 player. The modulators are now legal.

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Those were the words I was looking for.... completely illegal when I bought one, but I thought "so what"... if someone wants to prosecute me for it, the world has gone mad! seems our Lords and Masters have seen the light.
 
Use an 'iTrip' FM modulator with your MP3, then works in the car and with the sterio at home, or on the boat and is portable
 
only problem with a modulator is that they typically need to be within 2 meters of the arial - fine on a car on in the house, but on a boat this is (usually) at the top of the mast - hence reception is not so great? I've seen this solved by leaving the arial behind the instrument panel - still picks up FM fine!
 
Thanks for the info. It seems that MP3 is the way to go. The modulator sounds like a reasonable way to go as well, providing I can find something at a sensible price, otherwise it's fit a cable.

I don't yet know what there is on the back of the radio, but it has line in or something similar as one of the input options, so with a bit of luck, I'll find a phono jack.
 
Unless you already use an mp3 player I wouldn't bother going down that route - it doesnt save you much money and you have all the bother of the wires lying around, the possible loss of sound quality dependant on your choice of interfacing mechanism and you having to disassemble it each time you want to update your music.

Instead, go down to halfords and you should be able to find a good name mp3/cd player for about 150 quid. The sound quality will be at least as good as your current system and its a much tidier installation. Each mp3-cd won't hold as much music as an mp3 player but at about 200 songs its more than an autochanger can do.
 
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Use an 'iTrip' FM modulator with your MP3, then works in the car and with the sterio at home, or on the boat and is portable

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Does an iTrip work on players other than iPods?
 
I've just fitted an ICE Link for my Ipod. Quality is much better than the transmitter type interfaces that plug into the arial socket & it comes with a plug in cradle for all Ipod types. cost around £70, highly recomended
 
Mp3 player

Yes. My Sony mp3 player cost £100 two years ago. I went from carrying two large aluminium cases full of CDs, heavy and difficult to stow, to 16 mp3 CDs in a small bag. Sound quality is not quite as good as the system it replaced but it was a fairly cheap set.
 
But compression means that MP3 gives only about 163kbps compared with 460kbps on a standard CD. About the same as DAB radio now reduced to 168kbps. That another story - whilst everyone is selling DAB radio and it is difficult to get a standard VHF set, the standard is going to be phased out shortly, so the nice little set you have just bought will be useless. Denmark, Germany and Sweden have already pulled the plug apparently.
 
MP3 in the car ...

Considering that most people in cars don't really notice quality reduction till its slap in the face bad ... does it really matter ? The question was what to fit in car ... not in the luxury of lounge at home.

I have a reasonable ear for bad sound etc. and find that generally MP3 suits well ... especially at parties where you can make up a cd to literally last the whole party without the day after sorting out discs all over the place.
As to comparing the loss of DAB to MP3 ? sorry but the world of P2P and so on will ensure that MP3 survives for a long time yet ....

IMHO of course.
 
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Does an iTrip work on players other than iPods?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes they make versions for other MP3 players and generic jack plug versions which will work with any thing. Google 'iTrip' and other FM mod manufacturers will appear.

Btw, CD changers in cars are obsolete and most new car models no longer offer them, rather they offer MP3 integration.
 
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