[Doublej]

Does anyone have a recommendation or products to stay away from? I am looking for a FM transmitter to connect to my iPod for use in my car. I would prefer one that has a 12 volt adapter as well. There seem to be a bunch of them out there but most are rated low.

It will be used with a second generation Shuffle or possibly a new Nano.

[Russell Dawkins]

When I last researched these, the podfreq was the highest rated in terms of sound.

http://www.podfreq.com/ipod/index.html

[Scott F.]

I've tried three or four and I haven't had a bit of luck with any of them. Last one I bought was from Rat Shack and the guy mentioned it had the highest output wattage on the market. Needless to say, it didn't work worth a darn either. I think the problem with these lie in the FCC's regulation on the output (transmission) wattage. They set the limits so low that your FM receiver in your car can't pick up a solid signal, then when it does, it fades in and out because of all the other crap riding the airwaves.

One of these days I'll tear into one and see if I can't boost the output wattage. Shouldn't be too hard I wouldn't think. After that one might try taking the output of the transmitter, soldering some coax to it and extending it to the cars antenna connection. Haven't tried it but that might work also.

Best bet is to hard wire it to head unit via an auxiliary input. As I remember, FM only has a bandwidth of 30Hz to 15kHz. Most stock car radios will deviate (downwards) from there as they were awarded to the 'low bid' contractor.

[Russell Dawkins]

my impression is that the flaws on most units are not subtle - massive distortion and no dynamic range/high hiss levels.

It would seem the simplest and best solution to this ultimately would be if the manufacturers were to supply a mini plug sized line in on the front panels of all car radio head units as standard. How expensive could this be for them? Should translate to 25 cents at retail.

[Doublej]

I wonder if instead of an FM based solution,  I would be better off with the type that you drop in as a cassette.

[Scott F.]

I've used those with portable CD players in several cars and they sound pretty good (all things considered). If you don't have the option of aux inputs, that would definitely be the way I'd go.

[chgolatin2]

FM transmitter sucks~  Get an audio tape adapter which is better in terms of sound quality that is if you have an audio tape source in your car or home.  Or just a simple Ipod cable will do the trick please NO FM transmitters.  Suck badly! 

[Russell Dawkins]

you do need to check to hear the noise that your car deck makes when there is one of these adapters in.
Since there is no tape for them to grab onto, the take up motor just spins, and some of them are quite noisy.
Also, since you are listening through the interface of the tape head, these do not sound as good as a line in.
Some decks have RCA line-ins on the back - then all you would need would be a mini stereo to RCA y-cord.