Great solution for music in a car using DROID!

[roflcopter]

Well to start things off, I had my iPod touch 1st gen. stolen out of my car, and finding out that the cable I use to play music over my Alpine headunit will not work with my newly acquired iPod touch 2nd gen. has prompted me to look into other ways to have all my music with me in my car as well as be able to play it over my stereo.

I found this lovely little A2DP receiver online very cheap:

Here

I know it is made for use with headphones, but it will work with anyone who has an AUX in on their car stereo.

Now my next issue was to cover charging so that I would not be left with a dead DROID after driving around town, and so I found this cheap Belkin car USB charger:

Here

With these two items I should be able to use my DROID, wirelessly even, for music in my car as long as I am not in need of charging at that moment. I have these items ordered and will post again once they are received to update you guys on if everything is working as expected!

P.S. If any of you are looking for this setup and also have an Alpine headunit with the M-Bus adapter on the back, I found this M-Bus to RCA adapter:

Here

I already have an RCA to 3.5mm jack cable that I am planning on using, but they can be found quite cheap as well at local stores.

All in all, this has cost me less than an iPod cable that would work with the newer iPod I have, and makes everything much simpler, reducing the number of devices I carry. Hopefully this helps someone, I am curious to see what the audio quality for A2DP is while streaming music from the DROID, anyone doing this and have advice?

-Zach

 

[Rota]

Interesting. Post back how well it works when you get it. It'd be nice to get rid of another wire in my truck.

 

[superdorf]

Thanks for the tip on the receiver. I've been looking for one of those.

 

[roflcopter]

I feel the same way, I'm really hoping it all works out, the only issue that I foresee is that the A2DP receiver is rechargeable and some people seemed to be complaining about the battery life on it, but seeing as that charger has two USB ports, and the receiver charges via USB, you should be able to charge it if it dies, and charge it at night in your house and such... although it charges through the headphone jack so you can't just leave it plugged in, which would be quite awesome.

 

[radikal]

i have a motorola car charger and i am gonna use a 3.5 mm jack, thats bout it

 

[superdorf]

I bought the receiver. I can leave it charged in the car, since my cigarette lighters stay active when the car is off... we will see if it works.

For $12 bucks I'm willing to give it a shot. Would be nice to not have to plug in the headphone jack when I dock the DROID. Locale can handle turning on blue tooth for me.

 

[roflcopter]

I wonder if I could wire my cigarette lighter could be rewired to stay active as well, that would be quite useful, I think I will poke around and see how confusing the wiring is when I install the cable.

And on the note of Locale, I have never used it, but wouldn't that not work, seeing as the point of Locale is to base it on location, and a car moves? I would love to be proven wrong as that would further simplify the process, but I don't see it.

 

[superdorf]

Locale is so much more than just locations.

I installed the dock plugin and now I can trigger situations based on dock, media or car.

When I dock my droid in the car dock it sets the ringer volumes...turns off vibrate, sets media volume, and launches pandora.

 

[roflcopter]

Oh, well I'm glad to be enlightened, too bad I don't actually have a car dock or anything, I would have to manually trigger Locale, which in that case I might as well just hit the Bluetooth icon on the power widget...

 

[doomedromance]

Well to start things off, I had my iPod touch 1st gen. stolen out of my car, and finding out that the cable I use to play music over my Alpine headunit will not work with my newly acquired iPod touch 2nd gen. has prompted me to look into other ways to have all my music with me in my car as well as be able to play it over my stereo.

I found this lovely little A2DP receiver online very cheap:

Here

I know it is made for use with headphones, but it will work with anyone who has an AUX in on their car stereo.

Now my next issue was to cover charging so that I would not be left with a dead DROID after driving around town, and so I found this cheap Belkin car USB charger:

Here

With these two items I should be able to use my DROID, wirelessly even, for music in my car as long as I am not in need of charging at that moment. I have these items ordered and will post again once they are received to update you guys on if everything is working as expected!

P.S. If any of you are looking for this setup and also have an Alpine headunit with the M-Bus adapter on the back, I found this M-Bus to RCA adapter:

Here

I already have an RCA to 3.5mm jack cable that I am planning on using, but they can be found quite cheap as well at local stores.

All in all, this has cost me less than an iPod cable that would work with the newer iPod I have, and makes everything much simpler, reducing the number of devices I carry. Hopefully this helps someone, I am curious to see what the audio quality for A2DP is while streaming music from the DROID, anyone doing this and have advice?

-Zach

Do you really need it to be wireless? I just plug my tape adapter into my phone. (I have an old Audi with a tape deck and car phone!) Your RCA to 3.5mm should plug right in shouldn't it?

I was going to link the Motorola branded car charger I bought, but it's no longer selling for ~$2 it's up to $10 now, so I'd say for the price your Belkin one is more useful. I guess to high demand now that half a million people own a Droid.

 

[riffdex]

Thanks for bringing that deal to my attention (the bluetooth receiver for 12.99)
I've been looking for one. I really wish it could charge while in use (huge design flaw imo), but for 12.99, it could be quite useful for me.

 

[dpeco33]

i have a motorola car charger and i am gonna use a 3.5 mm jack, thats bout it

This is how I do it as well Works great!

 

[roflcopter]

I would have settled for only using the 3.5mm jack straight to the headunit, but I am trying to eliminate the amount of things to plug in and all, and I do not want to have to unplug two different cables while driving just to answer the phone when it rings.

Doing it this way means that the phone can stay in my lap unless I feel charging will be an issue, in which case it will be in my cupholder and ready to use with just unplugging the USB cord. I was really going for the most streamlined and easy to use setup I could find.

-Posted from my DROID.

 

[mode]

I have a question. Some of us may have car with bluetooth or bluetooth headsets.

If your phone were paired to one of these devices and your bluetooth headset, would the phone switch over to the bluetooth headset when you received a call?

That has been my concern when investigating devices like this. Does anyone have experience with this type of situation?

 

[sublimnl]

I have a question. Some of us may have car with bluetooth or bluetooth headsets.

If your phone were paired to one of these devices and your bluetooth headset, would the phone switch over to the bluetooth headset when you received a call?

That has been my concern when investigating devices like this. Does anyone have experience with this type of situation?

Yes, it will. I used to pair with my pioneer HU for handsfree and paired with this for A2DP, which was connected to the iPod adapter for my Pioneer HU:

Amazon.com: Insignia NS-BT300F Bluetooth iPod Speaker Adapter: Electronics

 

[zeldor]

I got this:
Amazon.com: Kensington LiquidAUX Bluetooth Car Kit with Remote for Music Phones: Cell Phones & Service

my car's center armrest/console has a cigarette plugin and a F 3.5mm plug into the stereo.
this kensington has a usb port to charge built in. bluetooth and wireless controller. strapped
to gear shift not steering wheel though. works out quiet well as long turn up the volume on droid all the way. otherwise electrical noise from engine starts to creep in if I turn up stereo
volume a lot.

it does make getting/recving calls a little tough as it takes over as a mic as well.
if I could just get the droid to connect to 2 different bluetooth devices at once, one for phone
one for music...

 

[dbpaddler]

It's only a design flaw if you use it for something other than it's intended purpose. There's plenty of other ones out there with a mini usb port for charging like

this, this or this. That one is listed to be used as a wireless headset. The others are just listed as BT Stereo receivers/transmitters.

(edit: sorry, never made it down to the post above)
Or you can go one step further to the

Kensington Liquidaux that is a true speaker phone, plugs into a 12v outlet and has a usb port to run a usb cable to charge your phone. The speakerphone isn't on par with the likes of Parrot, but it's a more complete solution than the products above.

Thanks for bringing that deal to my attention (the bluetooth receiver for 12.99)
I've been looking for one. I really wish it could charge while in use (huge design flaw imo), but for 12.99, it could be quite useful for me.

 

[riffdex]

It's only a design flaw if you use it for something other than it's intended purpose. There's plenty of other ones out there with a mini usb port for charging like

this, this or this. That one is listed to be used as a wireless headset. The others are just listed as BT Stereo receivers/transmitters.

(edit: sorry, never made it down to the post above)
Or you can go one step further to the

Kensington Liquidaux that is a true speaker phone, plugs into a 12v outlet and has a usb port to run a usb cable to charge your phone. The speakerphone isn't on par with the likes of Parrot, but it's a more complete solution than the products above.

Well, using a broad definition of design flaw, it is simply a weakness or problem in the products design. I don't think the product has to necessarily be labeled in a certain way for that to be considered a design flaw. Is this a weakness in the product? I'd say it certainly is. Despite what the product is "classified as", or "made for", it still has this weakness that similar products do not have. But even ignoring all that, the title for this product shows as Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP AVRCP Stereo Music Receiver and Handsfree (Black), so I definitely would consider it a bluetooth receiver nontheless. Now I understand that other products do have separate mini usb ports for simultaneous charging. All I really meant by that comment was I wish it could simultaneous charge, but it's not a big deal and the price is definitely right

Btw, thanks a lot for the link. I'm really considering that LiquidAUX kit. It seems to be very useful, and I have been without a car charger for my phone since I got it. I could definitely use a charger, not to mention the bluetooth ability on it, and not having to worry about charging a bluetooth receiver.

 

[ccphilly1984]

i find that adapter to be a waste... i'd just plug my droid into the aux in and if it needs charging, i have a generic micro usb car charger to charge it with... no big deal... and i dont like leaving stuff dangling in my car from the aux jack... a good way to have my window smashed and my stuff rooted through... and granted i keep a gun in my car... that would probially be stolen too while they are at it...

this bluetooth thing, however, would be great for running where you could use a short corded headphones and clip on the bluetooth thing. personally, i would rather pony up some money for a real set of bluetooth headphones.

 

[roflcopter]

The only reason I bought it was due to the price. I figured I could get over the charging for that cheap

 

[riffdex]

I just received mine (this: DealExtreme: $12.99 Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP AVRCP Stereo Music Receiver and Handsfree (Black)) today in the mail. I gotta say, the battery life truly is pretty bad on it. I need to test it a bit longer, but I'm kind of disappointed in the battery performance. I'm not too upset though, as it was only $13.

 

[dbpaddler]

you find it to be a waste because your aux in is visible. Not everyone's is, and some can even get creative in rerouting the visible one. Some just prefer a cleaner install and less wires. If you have a powered dock there's nothing to do but slip it in the cradle and go.

The bluetooth thing is the reason it was developed and it also works really well at home having it always connected to your stereo so you can stream from all around the room. In the car, it's probably better to have an actual speakerphone bluetooth solution so you're as handsfree as possible and you might as well get the kensington liquidaux setup from amazon for $30 so you at least have speakerphone capabilities. It also comes with a USB out on the adaptor so you can just take up one 12v outlet but charge two devices. You can even be more creative in keeping things hidden by tapping into the fuse box and adding a line for a 12v socket you can hide behind the dash. Keeps as much hidden as possible and the only thing you need to have exposed is the usb cable that plugs into your phone. You can get behind the dash and tap into the aux in and head it off beforehand.

Some just don't care and are perfectly happy plugging and unplugging all the time. Some are not.

In regards to the dealextreme units, you get what you pay for 80% of the time. If I can find something name brand locally for not much more it's often worth it. Every so often the Miccus BT receiver goes on sale for $30. I have it on deal alert so I get it the next time for my bedroom so I can stream music through the soundbar while my phone charges on the nightstand. Though the Moment sucks for Pandora and Slacker right now. 2.1 better fix it.

i find that adapter to be a waste... i'd just plug my droid into the aux in and if it needs charging, i have a generic micro usb car charger to charge it with... no big deal... and i dont like leaving stuff dangling in my car from the aux jack... a good way to have my window smashed and my stuff rooted through... and granted i keep a gun in my car... that would probially be stolen too while they are at it...

this bluetooth thing, however, would be great for running where you could use a short corded headphones and clip on the bluetooth thing. personally, i would rather pony up some money for a real set of bluetooth headphones.

 

[Chuck1906]

Wishes there was a device like I have for my iPod. I have this wireless adapter called iTrip that plugs into the bottom of the ipod and then I can tune my radio to a certain frequency and then I can play my ipod music through the car speakers all wireless.

I Wish there was an adapter I could use for the Droid to achieve this same thing. I don't have aftermarket radios in either of my vehicles, so I don't have the Aux jack the original poster mentioned.

 

[riffdex]

Wishes there was a device like I have for my iPod. I have this wireless adapter called iTrip that plugs into the bottom of the ipod and then I can tune my radio to a certain frequency and then I can play my ipod music through the car speakers all wireless.

I Wish there was an adapter I could use for the Droid to achieve this same thing. I don't have aftermarket radios in either of my vehicles, so I don't have the Aux jack the original poster mentioned.

You don't need an aux jack. If you have a cassette slot, get a cassette adapter and you can plug your droid into it via the 3.5 mm jack on the droid. Its not the prettiest solution, but it works.

 

[dbpaddler]

ipod/iphone has a dock connector that transmits audio so they can plug an fm transmitter into it amd send the signal to your stereo. No such luck with most other devices so you're stuck with using the headphone jack. There are many fm transmitters that will work as well as the already mentioned cassette adapter. There are some BT FM transmitters too so you can stream wirelessly to the transmitter and then it goes to your stereo. Could be a bit more elegant. Some fm transmitters can even get plugged inline with the antenna for better sound quality with less interference. I'd point you to some but it's a pain to do all the linking from the phone.