In case anyone wants the option of streaming music via bluetooth, below is an option i've been using.

Over the past few months I was looking for a way to stream music from my phone (Droid) to my 08G. I purchased a few items that used the AV connection but it never sounded great and always needed some kind of ground to rid the static. Recently I came across the device below. It uses the Ipod connection to both power and add steaming ability via bluetooth. I got it in the mail yesterday and it works flawlessly. It automatically starts up and you can have your phone setup to either auto connect or manually connect when needed.

The only downside is if you already have an ipod connected, you'll lose that connection. I've thought about converting the AV inputs into an ipod connection but it wouldn't charge the device.

 

great find!

and you know you could easily add charging capability if you wanted to convert your AV inputs. i see two ways really. the first being that you could buy a USB cigarette lighter adapter and use the 5V out from it, or you could probably buy an ipod specific device to step the car's 12V down to 5 and just wire it up to the ipod cable you install.

i assume you had looked into doing it with a standard ipod cable? or just one of those ipod to av connectors?

 

Do you have a link to that product? I've seen something similar, made by BlackBerry.
However, it doesn't have a battery and has to be connected to a USB charger at all times. Does the Sprint unit you posted have a battery or do you hook it up to the "cigarette lighter?"

 

My older setup used a converter but there were too many cables and I didn't want to drill or do anything custom to the interior. I wanted something clean and easy. I found a cable on amazon that is an ipod to av connection. It came attached with a power and ground cable for charging but i didn't want to drill any holes. I looked into using a bluetooth compact flash card but it seemed too complicated.


Here is where I purchased from. and it doesn't require an outside power source. The cable that came with the car to plug in your ipod also provides power. This device was really meant for ipod stereo docks but it works well with what we already have from the factory.

note that this does sync with the bluetooth in the car for the phone at the same time. Verizon however, doesn't support data and voice at the same time so when someone calls, the music stops if im streaming and i have to press play / resume when i end my call.
I'll post up a video tonight of the setup and how it works.

Edit: Can't make a video since I use my phone to make the video I can't get to the bluetooth option on my phone and thats where I stream my music from.

 

this may sound like a really dumb question, but how do i do this with the 07g? I dont have the ipod hookup, just the av plugs. Does anyone have an idea or solution to streaming pandora via bluetooth? apparently it can be done, i just havent found the right way yet.

 

You can get something to convert AV to Ipod connection /w a ground and power cable.



and then use that piece in my first post to get the same outcome.

 

thanks for the response, that sounds very interesting. Where would i be able to purchase something like that? do you happen to know the name of it or who makes it?

I guess as a follow up, how is the sound quality through bluetooth? would it just be better for sound to keep it hardwired as i do through the headphone jack of my phone? How has your experience been?

*** edit, i found a couple of options on amazon, so you could just bypass the first question.

 

The quality is decent. If you want high quality, it's always best to plug directly into the unit. Any form of wireless connection could never match up to a direct connection in my experience. Overall, its clear, w/o static on my setup. With the AV connection, there might be a chance of some static noise but I think the grounding should take care of most of, if not, all of it.

 

interesting.... are you able to use the steering wheel or the car's radio controls to control the music as if an ipod was connected?

 

not for pandora since it doesn't really have a playlist. you don't know what you get after your song is done. I haven't tried using it to stream from a playlist on my phone, perhaps with that you can use the controls.

 

im excited to try this for pandora specifically and just ordered the stuff. my guess is that the steering wheel would not control the phone as there is not a mechanism built into the connector to transmit between the audio system and the phone. I would assume you would have to hardwire something

 

I have an 07 G and use the BB stereo gateway below with a 3.5 /rca audio cable plugged into the AUX input in the armrest. The gateway is powered via mini usb jack (have a cig lighter power splitter in the armrest as well). Audio quality is amazing and it connects automatically to my BB as soon as it powers up. I prefer to stream Shoutcast and Pandora over using my iSimple setup.

 

Or you can just get something like http://cgi.ebay.com/SWITCH-1-USB-2-CAR-CIGARETTE-LIGHTER-SOCKET-SPLITTER-/170290629701?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27a61ccc45 - granted, not as clean and slightly more bulky but it works v. well for me as it has a very low profile cig plug and fits fine in the armrest console (along with the gateway and all the wiring. I am using all 3 plugs (USB and 2 cigs) for various devices at same time and am able to keep it hidden and still have a bit of console compartment space. Have been using it over a year. This thing takes ~10 days to ship from Korea.

 

To avoid static if you are using the AUX Audio connection, have to use a . There are many others but this is the one I use.

 

So not to hijake the thread, but its along the lines of what I was gonna start a seperate thread about...

I have an 04 coupe, and sadly don't have the AUX option. But I current use the blackberry bluetooth gateway with a FM transmitter, but the sound quality of the music is not that good. I know the Blackberry gateway puts out good sound because my neighbor has it in his Mazda 3 going into his AUX port and it sounds great.

My idea was to have the gateway going into a cassette adapter to increase the sound quality, but it gets tremendously worse. Like to the point where you cant even understand the music. Any suggestions? =/