OK, I need to get into the 20th Century and have made a start with an mp3 player (not ipod).

So … am thinking about a new system for the car (existing one is rubbish) so any recommendations please?

Can I manage without the CD player and just use the mp3?

Bluetooth for the mobile – anything to look out for? Need to mention I have poor hearing, car is noisy due to roof rack and I do a lot of motorway driving.

Naturally I am a bimbo of the highest order so it needs to be simple to use with as few buttons as possible. 🙄

Thank you so much. 🙂

You want a car stereo that will allow you to plug a cable from the mp3 player or ipod headphone jack to play your fave music.

You'll see the input hole on the stereo. Price? well whats your budget?
£140+ and you'll get a CD player built in with the option of a cd autochanger in the boot in future.

See Halfords I guess. (You might need wiring and fitting and facia covers)

Bluetooth ear piece for your moby? again budget? and look at battery lifespans etc and charging in your car.
Personally I would get a hands free kit for your car that charges your mobile and sticks the sound through your car speakers.

Personally go into Halfords get a quote, then see an idependant audio store that will fit everything.

All about how much cash you want to spend, no budget? then get decent kit and make sure your car insurance covers your stereo, mp3 unit and handsfree kit.

zaskar – thanks very much. 🙂 Not sure on budget as am totally out of touch with this stuff. Not looking for the car equivalent of Naim, if that helps!

If I ditched the CD option then that would make it cheaper I guess.

Shall check out Halfords.

Cheap USB mp3 / CD head units are £60. Better ones are more. Sony headunits always sound rubbish to me, Pioneer ones always sound good.

The units with no CD option are not normally cheaper, as it's a bit of a niche option.

As price goes up, sound quality improves a bit (but not a lot, as all good headunits are designed to work with an external amplifier), bells and whistles increase, and ease of use improves. There's obviously an ease of use sweetspot in the mid-range where you have a good screen and good controls, but not so many things to control that it becomes impossible.

You can get the bluetooth built into the radio, and that would be what I'd go for – dialling via a scroll through list of your numbers on the radio screen is nicer than faffing with phone holders and the like.

Aha, another option! Thank you tron. 🙂 Will check that out.

A head unit with a USB connection is the way to go, along with a nice big USB memory stick – I have 6000 tracks ( ripped at 192Kbps ) on a 32Gb memory stick – all the music that you could want.

You need to go into a shop and look at the options, price it up and see which is easy.

If you are going to spend time in the car a lot-then make life more enjoyable.

So many options, Saturday in Halfords-the manaager or Audio specialist will deffo be in for sales-make an appt with them and haggle-get fitting for free etc.

Google and see whats hot and what is not.

Well, this has been an interesting experience. 🙄

Halfords staff very helpful initially. Purchased unit and fittings, one had to be ordered and they would contact me when it arrived. Booked fitting date anyway, didn't hear, chased up and part hadn't arrived. Rebooked fitting date, checked it had arrived and it hadn't. Had apparently been despatched but not arrived at store, presumed lost in post. Part has been reordered and fitting rebooked for the third time.

My biggest gripe is that they do not phone you, I have had to phone store and end up being left on end of phone. Phone through again to say nobody in the department is answering the phone. This has happened twice!

Not really sure how they stay in business. Shall see if part turns up, if it doesn't then they will be subjected to a C_G rantette. 🙄

i got a one in Aldi – £40 had CD (which could play MP3 and WMA files), RDS Radio, 3.5mm jack for plugging in MP3 players/phones, SD card slot and USB slot.

Was very good.