ok so theres a few posts i saw on hookin up an ipod to a stock radio with cassette at least...even my brother is goin to re-wire his radio...just go to ebay and type in ipod cassette.Its an old school cassette with a cord on the end,pop it in your deck and plug it in to your ipod or mp3...cost is about $4 + s&h..

the bad part is the sound is horrible from them that is why everyone wants the signal from the mp3 player wired directly to the amp the sound is nearly identical to the sound directly from the mp3 with sometimes a slight hiss but normally not noticable.

Old school cassette adapters served it's purpose in the day, especially when in dash cd players were still expensive and you could buy a discman pretty cheap. I used one myself in 1990 with a sony discman Velcro-ed to the dash. Anyone remember the goose kneck mounts?

The drawback is your limited to the sound and hiss that you would get from a cassette tape. The FM adapters are a better choice, but your still limited with the same range you get from FM frequencies.

Direct input is the better choice....but I guess if you want something quick and easy the cassette adapter option would be ok.

True on both accounts..just hate to hack a good radio,I grew up with cassetes and 8 tracks,yeah I got sum age on me,usually I can burn a cd to tape with my home stereo and play my faves on cassette.But seeing how the stock radio is low power I might go aftermarket or install an amp.

I got a nice kenwood cd player off ebay for $107 shipped.....it has a usb input for my jump drive. I went and bought a $10 2 gig jump drive and put all my songs on it.

Kind of like having a virtual cd changer and don't even have to mess with a mp3 player or ipod

Thats nice!!!....gettin me closer to putting in an aftermarket...did you use the metra harness to plug into the cars?

Nope I cut mine and solder/heatshrinked the radio harness directly to the factory wiring.....the radio adapter plug and the factory plug wouldn't let me use a super flush kit like that.

It would have been in the way

i use a jump drive too, kenwood kdc-x991 with a usb jack on the end of a cord common outta the back of the unit, so i used the cord and some 1/4" poly carbonate to make an ashtray delete. works like a charm!

Sweet...if I go aftermarket I will probably use stay cons to connect them(sorta a non permanent wiring) cuz I like that flush fit.

And the ashtray setup is hot!!.never thought of that.

Fusion car audio have released a car stereo that the Ipod sits inside the unit so no leeds to mess with - downside is it is only ipod or radio no CD but you can plug a changer into it - Check out Fusion IP-500. I have just brought one in anticitpation of my car arriving.

While I've got a nice cd player in the GTP, 99% of the time I'm either playing tunes off my Zune (aux in) or from my thumbdrive (mp3 usb input). Contemplating a new radio for the Trans Am and really think I just need something that plays mp3s; CDs seem so optional these days and inconvenient compared to a $20 thumbdrive that hold 20+ albums.

Yeah I predict all the future head units will have usb support...then when we pull a vintage 10 disc cd changer out of the shed our kids will say

What's that?

I use an alpine deck in my Formula And also in my 74 k5 blazer. I have a 60 gig iPod and i can go through my all 7000 songs from the decks no problem. also if the deck doesnt already come with the ipod adapter the alpine ones are around $30.

"Yeah I predict all the future head units will have usb support"
You would be correct. For the last year i've been running a Kenwood with USB support, I had used the USB connection on a JVC before that that was for "connecting an ipod" and it read off the drive. It is indeed the wave of the future.