Lee
07-14-2002, 06:39 PM
3.20 Can I use my portable CD player in my car? Won't it skip a lot? [JSC]You can use any portable CD player in a car provided that you have either an amplifier with line level inputs (preferred) or a tape deck. If you have the former, you can simply buy a 1/8" headphone jack to RCA jack adapter and plug your CD player directly into your amplifier. If you have the latter, you can purchase a 1/8" headphone jack to cassette adapter and play CDs through your tape deck. The cassette adapters tend to be far more convenient; however, there is a significant tradeoff: by using cassette adapters, you limit your sound to the frequency response of the tape head, which is sometimes as much as an entire order of magnitude worse than the raw digital material encoded onto the CD itself.
Portable CD players which were not designed for automotive use will tend to skip frequently when used in a car (relatively). CD players that are specially designed for automotive use, such as the Sony Car Discman, tend to include extra dampening to allow the laser to "float" across the bumps and jolts of a road. Some people have indicated success with using regular portable CD players in a car when they place the CD player on a cushion, such as a thick shirt or even on their thighs.
Portable CD players which were not designed for automotive use will tend to skip frequently when used in a car (relatively). CD players that are specially designed for automotive use, such as the Sony Car Discman, tend to include extra dampening to allow the laser to "float" across the bumps and jolts of a road. Some people have indicated success with using regular portable CD players in a car when they place the CD player on a cushion, such as a thick shirt or even on their thighs.