Many people enjoy listening to music stored on their cell phones. This is such a common pastime that, for a growing segment of the public, the cell phone has replaced the portable music player. The idea makes sense. Cell phones are just as portable as many music players, and many people refuse to go anywhere without a cell phone. It's natural for these users to want to listen to music while in the car driving. One option for doing this is to connect the cell phone to the car audio system, enabling it to play the music on the phone through the car speakers. This enables users to continue listening where they left off and avoids the need for duplicating the music on multiple formats or devices. If a listener can connect his or her cell phone to the car stereo, there is no need to keep CDs in the car. It also means there is no need to worry about what music is where: if it is on the phone, it is in the car, too. Connecting a cell phone to a car stereo is both easy and effective. There is no reason why anyone who listens to music on their phone should not take advantage of the ability to connect it to their existing car stereo.

Two Basic Methods of Accessing Music

There are two basic ways to play music from a cell phone through a car stereo. One can either connect the cell phone's output to the auxiliary input on the car stereo, or if the car stereo supports it, the cell phone can be connected as a mass storage device so the stereo can read its contents directly. Either choice has advantages and disadvantages, and which one a particular user chooses depends on their needs and requirements.

Auxiliary Input

In many cases the simplest option is to use the cell phone's headphone output to feed directly to the stereo's auxiliary input. The big advantage of this method is that it lets listeners take full advantage of all the playlists on the phone so users can just hit play and continue exactly where they left off before they got into the car. One disadvantage of this method is that unless the phone is plugged into power, this will drain the battery, which can be a concern for those who do not have a car charger. The other issue to consider is that all the controls except the volume remain on the phone, meaning that the listener has to pick up the phone and look at it rather than the road to change a playlist or skip a song. While this is certainly possible, it is not always safe to do while in the car.

Mass Storage Device

The second option is to use the phone as a mass storage device. In this mode, the stereo treats the phone as it would any other storage device and simply play back the music stored on it in the same way it would from a memory card or USB stick. While this option does not always provide access to any playlists the user might have, it does allow the use of the car's audio controls rather than those on the phone, which is much safer. Another benefit of this option is that in many cases the phone is able to draw power from the USB connection, which not only extends the playing time but also means that an avid listener may not need to charge their phone the moment they get out of the car or risk losing battery during a long trip.

Four Types of Connections

When it comes to making the connection between the phone and the car stereo, the user has four options: two wired and two wireless. Each wired option requires its own cable, while the wireless option relies on either the cell phone's built in Bluetooth capabilities or FM transmitter if it has one.