I’m really thankful that my car’s stereo has an audio input. In fact, when my old car CD player died, the #1 thing I looked for in a replacement was a 1/8″ input jack. I got a Sony stereo for $50 and it changed my entire driving experience.
But in case you don’t have the luxury, the #9 item in Lifehacker’s Top 10 Driving Tips details how to “get better sound from your iPod.”
Get better sound from your iPod: Those whose factory stereo decks lack a frontal input for an iPod or other MP3 player know that FM transmitters are no substitution for a simple wire. But you can limit the number of audio break-ins from radio stations and other cars’ devices with Sirius’ FM Channel Finder, which finds the most empty radio spots in your ZIP code. On the other hand, if you’re not afraid to yank the stereo out of the dash and add your own stereo inputs, it’s actually pretty simple; we’ve previously pointed to two solutions, one with soldering, the other without (scroll down to “Wire Your Car Stereo for an iPod”). If none of that takes, you’ve always got the “nuclear option,” at least if you’ve got an easily removable exterior antenna—just yank it out and fire up the newly empowered FM transmitter.