It’s natural that you want to listen to music, as a music lover, anywhere and everywhere. One of his favorite places is probably his car, so you can enjoy the ride while listening to his favorite rock star. You can have the option to use the iPod you recently spent a small fortune on to play your beloved music even in your car! In fact, I’m going to talk about connecting your iPod to your car’s audio system, freeing you from those pesky headphones (and the chance to reserve a ticket; wearing those headphones while driving may be illegal in your area), and add the power of your car audio speakers to your music.

Using your iPod frees you from the shackles of conventional CDs and tapes, allowing you to download unlimited music from the Internet. Therefore, you can harness the explosive power of music software to enhance your listening experience. The free music software that comes bundled with the iPod would already allow you to access the plethora of songs/music on your PC, and get plenty of new ones when you get bored with the old ones.

Some of you may get lucky and just need to pull a cable to connect to your audio system – your car manufacturer may have been nice to you and included iPod connectivity to your player. Read the instruction booklet that came with the system. If you can’t find the cable in the glove box, you may have been provided with a connector for the dash. The iPod is controlled through the car’s in-dash audio system, and even recharges while playing! Alternatively, you can use the auxiliary input jack to connect.

If you’re buying a new car, be sure to check the availability of this feature, or else you may end up paying a couple of hundred more for the privilege of setting up connectivity. Some car companies like Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, GM, Honda, Volvo, etc. have this feature pre-installed.

Do you already have a car but don’t have the connectivity? iPod-enabled audio systems are commonly available, and all you need to do is venture out and install a new one.

Now let’s take a look at the options available to those of us who have already invested their excess cash in the iPod and can’t afford to buy a new compatible audio system. Use one of the several options listed here.

Making a direct connection between your car audio system and iPod allows you to use all of your iPod’s features, and is the recommended solution. Some car docking kits use a simple cable to connect the iPod (either the dock connector or the headphone-out connector) to the provided auxiliary input jacks. Others may use the CD changer port found behind various car radios. Additional features with some of the kits are base stands or auxiliary controllers and displays. The best way out, of course, is to leave the decision of the best compatibility, testing and installation to an expert.

As for car radios that include a cassette player, you should invest in a cassette adapter. Typically, these adapters look like a tape with a cable attached and work by transferring the iPod’s audio output signal to the cassette player’s play head. Switching to ‘Cassette’ and pressing play will allow the iPod music to play through your car speakers.

The last but definitely least preferred method is to use an FM transmitter to transmit to your car radio, which uses an unused FM frequency to do so. While it enjoys the benefit of being wireless and easy to carry, there’s definitely a loss in music quality. Another problem is finding a free FM channel in a busy urban environment, but none of this stops this solution from being the most popular to date.

So go ahead and reap the benefits of technology using any of the methods outlined above. Spread the good word, and in the meantime, cherish that tune when you head out on the next long drive!