Using Laptop to Play MP3 In-Car??

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Chris Kulbaba

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Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone can help me in using my laptop to play MP3's on my Alpine CD Player in my ST....



Any info would be great, thanks!



 




The best way to get MP3s in your car IMO is to purchase a car stereo deck that has got a USB or SD port.



Does your Alpine have either of these ports?



 
does your Alpine Stereo play mp3s? my Apline unit plays mp3s. it's great, one CD holds almost 200 songs. that's the easiest way to go. burn a CD full of mp3s and pop it into your CD player. most new units play mp3s. its better than having a CD changer
 
i tryed it once, didn't find it very practical though so i stuck with the ipod. goto radio shack and get yourself this cable that goes from 2 audio jacks (like that go into a t.v.) to one stereo jack (like that would fit into a cd player/ipod). it's like 8 bucks at radioshack, and you plug the stereo one into the headphones thing on your laptop, and the other two into the "AUX" or whatever you have on the back of your ST's cd player. sorry for not being very technical, but it's cheap and it'll work llol good luck:cool:
 
Bluetooth/wireless will be the *INTEGRATED* rage in the 08MY timeframe! ;)
 
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Building off of Nick's recommendation --



You'll need a cable that, on one end, has two male RCA connections, and on the opposite end, one male stereo 3.5mm connection (if your laptop has an AUX out, this is the best, but it can also be plugged into your laptop's headphones-out port). As he mentioned, it is about $8.



If you have a stock stereo, you will not have AUX inputs, however. You'll need to look at what P.I.E. (Google) offers for your headunit. I purchased one for my 04 6CD changer so that I could run a GPS through the system using the 'SAT' button.



Ask away if you have more questions.



R,



It will be, but will require the coinciding item to have bluetooth, also. I purchased my Dell laptop with BT, but I have not seen it take off like I imagined. I was hoping to have most peripherals bluetooth equipped now - in an effort to lose these damn cords. Hopefully in 08 technology will have caught up with bluetooth.
 
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I got Bluetooth now.



Planet Audio P255B.



USB.



SD Card.



Bluetooth.



I have used the Bluetooth with my phone to hold a conversation over the speakers and dash mic. I haven't loaded the unit with songs from my phone via Bluetooth yet; Although it is possible.



I put a 2GB SD card loaded with music in the unit the day I bought it. I haven't pulled the card out yet; or heard the same song twice............



 
That's basically the principle my car computer works on. If you are going to use a laptop,

download Frodoplayer. It's free, and works awesome!! It's made for this purpose. It's basically a user interface for Media Player, and a few other things optimized for easy use while driving. It's actually designed for touchscreens, but I also use it on my regular laptop.



Here's a screenshot of mine. (I rewrote the program to create my own custom skin, but you still get the basic idea)



This was the basic view (slightly modified to be blue)

[Broken External Image]:



And my custom skin.

[Broken External Image]:
 
You should just buy a Fm transmitter for $25.00. It plugs into the headphone jack on the laptop and just tune your radio to the station your transmitter is set on. I did this the year I was in the Middle East and it worked fine.
 

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