Today’s question, via IM, wonders how to handle the death of a car stereo. Though, it’s not quite so simple — Both the CD player and line-in jack still work, so they’ve been considering a satellite radio add-on. They don’t have a problem with the monthly fee but, upon quizzing, it seems clear they’re not interested in the extra cable clutter (power, antenna, line-in) a plug & play unit adds. My suggestion to upgrade their 1999 ride to a newer model with standard satellite radio and airbags didn’t go over so well… So given only passing interest in satellite, they should probably just restore terrestrial radio via an inexpensive in-dash unit from Crutchfield.
It’s not very time consuming to have done and even a plug & play unit can look decent in the cockpit, but I don’t think they care enough to have a satellite add-on or tuner professionally installed.
I would upgrade and get a new built-in HD Radio tuner car stereo with a front-panel auxiliary input for my mp3 player. But if it is not all the way broken and it works for you then, just live with it.
If the Line-in still works then why replace it? As long as they can connect their iPod/Zen/Sansa device and listen to it through the car speakers it sounds like it’s working correctly to me.
Oh, they wanto to listen to local radio? I have a workaround for that. Make a playlist with the Billboard top ten on it and set it for shuffle and repeat.
@Charles lol, I love your “workaround” for local radio
Why not just get a nice little XM or sirius plug n play and wire it to the line in. Everything can be hidden nicely if installed correctly and the power can be hard wired to the fuse box so it will turn on and off with the car and not need to take up a cig lighter plug. After having Sirius for the last 2 years, its hard to imagine going back to regular radio.
Yah, I’d also have a hard time going back to “regular” radio. Though, I did see a nice looking JVC for $130 that includes HD Radio tuning and fits their Trooper.
I have a tough time believing the radio went bad. It’s more likely the antenna or a connection and replacing it might not do any good..
I thought so too, but they assured me it’s not a disconnected antenna.
Ryan–the antenna, antenna connection, and everything else has been checked. Can’t find the source of the problem.
Charles–Why replace it? Because I thought it’d be fun to surprise my husband with something new, of course!
Besides, I think he’s created every playlist under the sun, and after awhile, no matter how many ways you arrange, shuffle and repeat something, it still can get old.
Sounds like a fun one..
The biggest factor in the last car stereo I bought was an aux input for a carputer. Almost all of my listening anymore is audio books. I listen to maybe 3 hrs of radio a month..
I love my XM radio. Today I had a 4+ hr drive for work most of the time it aws XM (squizz and espn), then mixed in the iPod. Going witht he aux input gives you so many more choices. Once you get use to sat radio it’s hard to listen to regular radio, honestly I can not even remember the last time I used FM radio, my only radio is some AM for sports or possibly local news/traffic.
Why not get an mp3 player with a built-in FM tuner? Or just download some NPR podcasts for your daily news fix.
Everybody is different. If they don’t want to pay for satellite, then they shouldn’t. I kinda like XM, but could take it or leave it. If I didn’t commute so much I wouldn’t pay for it either. Mostly I just listen to podcasts these days, since none of the PBS radio shows I want to listen to are on when I want them, and they’re all available for free anyway. But I couldn’t be without an over the air tuner. There are those times when you need a live local feed–local traffic (and no XM doesn’t replace that), local news, a sports event in your area, coverage of some political event, whatever. They should get what they want.
I’ve had Sirius for about two years now and I love it. I recommend it to everybody who asks.
I’d likely just do an add-on unit. Especially if you have (or can add) an aux input. Theres a company (don’t know its name) that has aux input adapters that connect to your stereos CD changer port if you aren’t using it. Lots of recent car stereos are super-integrated into the dash and require a bit of work to redo or find plastic to accept a double DIN unit.