How to Connect the Music on Your Phone to Your Car Stereo

One common ground of people who buy mobile phones is the desire to use their new gadget not only for communication but also for entertainment, especially playing music. Many are thrilled with the idea too that these mobile phones can be connected to the car stereo, giving the driver the chance to play music from the phone's memory through loud car speakers. There are three ways to do that: through an auxiliary audio cable, Bluetooth or via the FM transmitter.

Auxiliary Audio Cable

Of the three options given, this one is the cheapest, if the car already has an Aux outlet installed. To find out if your car is indeed configured to this specific purpose, locate the Aux outlet on your car's stereo. The outlet should look like a regular headphone or speaker banana jack (about 3.5 mm) and it should be labelled with either "Aux", "MP3" or "Audio". If this outlet is not available, you have to resort to other options given below. However, there is a good chance that two options will not work for you too since the use of Auxiliary audio cables in connecting phone and car stereos is the oldest of the three technologies. If your car does not have an "Aux" outlet, then there is a very high chance that your car does not have Bluetooth too. But don't worry; you can have the auxiliary in added into your car stereo at an affordable cost.

If you have everything ready, just plug one end of the auxiliary audio cable into the headphone jack of your and the other end to the outlet on your car stereo. The connection is virtually uninterrupted because of the direct cable connection.

Bluetooth

If your car is already Bluetooth-compatible, then using Bluetooth to connect your phone to your car would cost you nothing at all. Well, Bluetooth-ready car and phone are both expensive so connection cost is actually out of the question. However, to be able to use Bluetooth in audio streaming, your Bluetooth devices should be able to access the same "profile". Bluetooth profiles allow different Bluetooth devices to interact with each other despite their different functions. If you can make them access the same "profile", then the only thing left for you to do is to pair your devices and you will be able to start playing music. The downside of using Bluetooth lies in the fact that it is a wireless connection, thus audio quality is a little bit affected. It also consumes more battery so it is almost necessary to install a phone charger in your car.

FM Transmitter

This solution is only advisable when the other two options are impossible. The problem with the use of FM transmitter is that audio quality becomes highly dependent to the radio traffic in the area where you are at. In places where the radio traffic is jammed, different interferences can occur. Interferences like static sounds and bleed-overs can really make your listening experience suffer. But if you are left with no choice, all that you need to do is to check whether your car radio is working (please be aware that your radio may seem broken just because you have a damaged antenna).

You can always check the reviews concerning how to connect your own phone to your automobile stereo by visiting the Bluetooth sites.