Adding MP3

Adding MP3

I am looking for a quick and dirty way to add MP3 capability to my '03 Corolla aside from installing a deck. It seems there are few options remaining, but one which I thought might be promising is the following. I have an iRiver iMP-350 MP3 CD player, and what I plan to do is buy a power adapter for the car, and a Belkin TuneCast II FM transmitter. Has anyone else tried a similar setup? I'd greatly appreciate hearing from anyone else trying this with their iPod, etc., or are there any other suggestions? TIA

Much easier to just replace the deck. You dont need to buy an expensive deck to play mp3. You can get an entry level mp3 deck for about $100. Even though its entry level it will sound a million times better than stock HU.

First things first, if you value your sound quality at all, do *not* go with an FM transmitter.

I would also recommend replacing the stock HU (which I have yet to do, and when I do, I plan on keeping the HU in there so it appears stock, still)

That said, there are 2 ways you can go about this without replacing the stock HU.

First way is to use something like this. This plugs into the back of the stock HU and makes it think you have a CD changer attached. You hit the CD button once to use the built-in cd player, and again to switch to your now auxiliary input. It will stick on disc 1 track 1, but will playback what's going through the RCA inputs on that piece.

The other way is to find something like this. Now, it is cheaper (as you can see); but it will disable any control you might have from the deck. You splice it into your speaker outs and then it will play directly to the speakers; over the HU if it's playing as well. So, if you have your mp3 player playing and someone turns on the radio, well, I'm not sure what would happen, but I don't recommend trying it.

Personally, like I said, I plan to do something similar myself. I have a Rio Karma that I plan to wire into the aux-in of an aftermarket HU that I have yet to buy so that I can play off of that instead of having to swap cds (using the Karma has other advantages, too, that I won't get into). If, however, I was going to stick with the stock HU, I would definitely say go with the first link I posted. The quality is shit with an FM modulator, and I really don't trust those cheap high-low converter dudes...

buy a aftermarket head unit. Easiest and best way.

Hey folks, I know I'm bringing back a post that's a couple of months old, but I had a question. I recently purchased one of those auxilliary input converters, and I'm having trouble getting the harness to stick into the back of the factory radio. It's the right harness, but it doesn't go in far enough to make the little latch click and keep it in there. I tried installing it and the cable just slips out when I put the factory radio back in the dash. Has anyone else tried this? or has anyone else heard of problems with this converter? Thanks in advance

there's a little clip on the top that's supposed to clip into the head unit and keep it there; you can try prying it up with a screwdriver while the connector is in the h/u and see if that can keep it there

if all else fails, electrical tape does wonders.

Thanks for the quick response... I fiddled around with it for a while and eventually got it in. Apparently I was being too gentle. All I needed was a little more force.

Thanks again....

Brian

ohhhhhh so you're just a wimp eh? I shoulda figured...


j/k. I can't count the number of times I've done the exact same thing....I just figured others weren't as stupid as I ;-)