I am the shotgun DJ

[mmcirvin]

A while back the charming samantha2074 replaced the stereo in her car (the factory one had a button missing that was allegedly impossible to replace). By searching high and low, she was able to get one that not only took MP3 CDs, but also had an auxiliary input socket right on the front. (Car stereos with aux input on the front are harder to find than you might think; I suspect conspiracy. With car tape players you could at least use the cassette adapters... sometimes; they didn't work in the one I used to have for some reason.)

Today, on the way to Christmas shopping, we finally figured out how to manipulate the stereo's typically strange user interface to make use of the aux input, and I spun MP3s all the way to the mall. This could be fun and/or annoying on long trips. It worked a lot better than those crummy FM transmitters. But it may be too much power for one passenger to have; you don't want to go out of your way to annoy the person operating the vehicle.

Comments

[wy1d.livejournal.com]

I went through a similar struggle myself recently, but I ended up settling for a sony deck that took MP3 CDs and had aux input RCA leads on the back, which I have sticking out from my dash to connect to my laptop. It definately works well! If you're using your laptop for MP3s, I highly recommend a inverter for unlimited runtime.

[samantha2074.livejournal.com]

I knew I would have more choices if I went for one with the aux input in the back. However, the idea of stringing wire through my dash seemed so... inelegant. Also, I'm lazy.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

I've got a ton of MP3s of "This American Life," which I either recorded from the radio or from the website's streams. That's good for roadtrips. (Note to self: plan roadtrip. Also: buy car.) Also good is, of course, the book-on-CD, which can be transmogrified into MP3 form onto a CD, eliminating the need to carry the book, which may belong to the library or somesuch.