Music on board

[Metabarca]

I'm planning on installing a new music system aboard but realise that in the space of a blink I have become an old fogey and can no longer understand any of the new technology. I have two lines of thought: 1) install the car CD player I already have spare and be done with it; 2) buy an ipod.
My questions: how do I amplify the signal from an ipod? Is there any way to plug an ipod into a car CD player (assuming I were to buy an ipod anyway)? If so, would the CD player have to be MP3 compatible.

thanks for help!

 

[fireball]

If the Car radio has aux in then you can just plug the iPOD into that. if not I don't think it is easy ... it would involve opening up the radio and wiring in a plug into the right place in the circuit board ... hmm ...

TBO your probably best off with just the car radio and copy CDs to play in it - you don't have to be mp3 compatible, but you can get a load more mp3s on 1 disk (with the loss of quality) than on a proper music CD. You are (usually) legally entitled to make a backup copy of CDs you own - far better to trash these backups than the originals...

We've gone down a different route - we've got a Minidisk/Radio player - like a car stereo - fitted. Minidisks are much more robust than CDs, smaller and similar quality. But it does require the equipment to be able to copy them.

 

[lockwood]

As Afrogley pointed out, you could simply plug the ipod into an AUX input of a normal car stereo (lots of them have them, they look like a headphone outlet).

Failing that, and if you really do want to go the Ipod way, you can get a small transmitterfor your Ipod that will output the sound on an FM frequency - this can then be picked up by tuning to that frequency on the car stereo. It works well and be taken from the boat to the car or home stereo with ease.

Personally, i would forget an Ipod and go for a simple tuner/CD car stereo. The Ipod would need power as well as the stereo.

Also take into account that you need a PC/Mac to transfer files to your Ipod.

 

[fireball]

Sometimes (like on our Sony) they are phono sockets at the back.

 

[Swagman]

Go iPod - saves space and storage of CD's and its easy.

You can buy an iPod docking station to plug into a cig. ligher for less than £60 - just search the web ofr iPod accessories. They transmit a weak radio signal on any frequency you tune it to - and you adjust your radio to the same frequency and bingo - all the music you want out of your normal speakers. The cig lighter socket keeps the iPod charged and downside is the volume though acceptable, is limited.

Forgot to mention - the above is illegal in most EU countries - but millions sold and used.

The most sophisticated (legal) connection is to buy a new radio (like the Alpine 92xx) which not only takes a wire feed from the iPOd - but then displays the iPod controls on the radio face.

Means the iPod can sit safe and sound inside a locker and you can play / choose exactly what you want on.

Beats CD's for practicality and over time - you'll get your money back many times over.

 

[Abigail]

Agree with swagman. We have an ipod wired into a car stereo and some okay speakers and we are very happy with it. As we liveaboard it saves us no end of space and was really worth it. Go to a specialist car radio shop (ie not Halfords as the spotty youths don't really know the stuff) and tell them what you want.

BTW, we got a stereo specfiically for tapes as we can play CDs on the computer if we want, but wanted to be able to use tapes in places/situations where music technology is analogue.

HTH

 

[FergusM]

Please excuse my ignorance of these things. I understand that the iPod is a device which allows music files to be downloaded from the Internet. Any references I have seen to it are in the context of youngsters downloading pop music. My own taste is for chamber music, ballet and such. Is there a decent repertoire of classical music available for downloading? How much does it cost to download music?

 

[zefender]

I'd go iPod too. There is an accessory out now which is a cassette adaptor, which allows you to connect the cassette to the iPod and then insert the cassette into your stereo (assuming it has a tape fucntion).

 

[fireball]

The Ipod is a music/multimedia player, used in conjunction with a PC/Mac it can play music downloaded from the internet - download onto PC/Mac and transfer to Ipod. It is also possible to import music from CDs to the device. It has no restrictions on the genre of music it will play! As for classical sites to download music, I believe they do exist but as I don't download music I don't know about them.

 

[rwakeham]

Providing you have a computer (which you obviously do) you just take your CDs, copy them to your computer, then copy from the computer across to the IPod. Ipods are great - but in reviews I have heard people complaining about the battery life. This may have been sorted, but there are alternatives to iPods.

 

[Stemar]

The availability of serious music for download is limited.

However, I'm sure you can use your own music from CDs to load into the ipod. I haven't got one, but I'd be very surprised if the software that came with didn't allow you to do this.

 

[LadyStardust]

I just fitted a kenwood car cd/mp3 player on my boat and I am very happy with it.
It can drive 4 speakers, 2 in the cabin, two in the cockpit. It has aux input for an ipod or similar and also can be muted by a mobile phone. I plan to connect this signal to my VHF at some point so that the music stops when the radio pipes up.
My plan is to keep my complete record collection on the boat PC, backed up on a few DVD's and to burn new MP3 discs as and when i get bored with the existing. at £80 it's a cheap way of getting music/radio on board. look here amazon-link

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Are you saying it will play DVD's.

I have a Goodmans car MP3 which is brilliant as you describe, but I am not sure if it plays DVD disks.

 

[kesey]

go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/

Download Itunes. Install it on your laptop. If you have 20 gigs spare on your hard-disk, you will be able to store 400 CDs on the disk - or pro-rata for a lesser or greater amount of hard disk space. Connect the sound output on the back of your lap-top to the Aux input on your boat CD player. Job is done.

You now have a "music centre" as well as a laptop chart plotter on your boat.

 

[piscosour]

The ipod is nothing more than a free-standing computer hard drive. A memory device dedicated to storing music. You can take all your existing CDs and copy them onto this tiny bit of kit and replay them through your radio. The only magic is the massive space saving over storing all your CDs.

 

[Benbow]

[ QUOTE ]
Go iPod -.... transmit a weak radio signal on any frequency you tune it to - and you adjust your radio to the same frequency and bingo

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds geat in theory, but has anyone actually used this system? The most common version is the iTrip, we have one and it has been a huge dissapointment. The sound quality is terrible. Wondering if I have a duff one.

 

[branko]

Ciao, I am glad that this time I can give You a good advise. I just put out my old radio CD and buy ( cheap!) new auto radio with MP3 playing possibility. At home on my PC I have burn all my CD discs ( about 50 ) in only 3 DVD discs with MP3 format songs.
That is important because now ,when sailing, I put inside one DVD disc and forget changing. Really GOOD for small expence.

 

[TrueBlue]

I think you may be disappointed with the quality of "serious" music on iPod -or any device using MP3 compression.

Compression techniques seriously reduce the dynamic range (after all pop music is Loud or Stopped), and the frequency range as well. So do some research before you jump. By the same token (as the market is for ephemeral pop music) I don't think you'll find much classical music around in that medium.

As for the above it is all very much IMHO - I did download some choral music a while ago and it sounded 'orrible.

 

[LadyStardust]

My MP3 car player doesnt play DVD's, however the computer I am putting into the boat will have a dvd player that can also write CDs, perhaps it might even be a dvd writer by the time i build it, everything moves so quickly on the storage front! So I am hoping as I cruise around I will be able to make myself new compilations on the fly for the cost of a CD-R.
As far as quality goes, I listen to a lot of clasical music and find the quality to be fine. It does depend on what rate of compression you use. I encode my MP3s at 96Kbs. Also I suspect there are few of us over 30 who can hear much above 15Khz anyway and boats are far from being acoustically true anyway, so there's not too much point worrying about that!

 

[fireball]

Ipods use a different format (ACC) - not MP3 - I believe the quality is better, but still not as good as a CD.