[线话英语学习视频]车载收音机

Transcript: Car Audio Options

Whether you're taking a quick trip to the store or going for the long haul, there are plenty of easy ways to soup-up your ride, with sound.
 

Car Audio with an FM Transmitter

First up, FM transmitters. You can use the popular ipod. They send the music directly form an mp3 player or CD player to an open channel on your car's FM radio. The inexpensive devices run on batteries and plug into the headphone jack of your player. Like this little guy, the itrip. Although affordable at prices around thirty dollars, the sound quality of the FM transmitters isn't the greatest. You may end up with static.
 

Car Audio with a Cassette Adapter

If you have an old school cassette player in your car, don't panic! You can still play your mp3s on the road. A cassette adapter will allow you to play your tunes like the FM transmitter, all you have to do is plug the cassette adapter into your player's headphone jack and then insert the dummy tape into your car's cassette player. These babies usually cost about twenty bucks.
 

Car Audio with a Satellite Radio

You can also put away the mp3s and bust out a boatload of audio opportunities with satellite radio. Forget flipping from station to station when your service cuts out or to avoid ads. Commercial free static free, satellite radio. Quality music beamed to your radio from space.

There are two companies offering this service, XM, and Sirius. Both companies have subscription-based service with dozens and dozens of radio stations to choose from. News, sports, traffic, weather, and of course music.

To take advantage of this new technology, you'll need to buy a satellite tuner. You can get an ultra light, plug and play unit, like this one, Delphi's XM Roady2, designed to go from your car to your home, or you can get one installed in your car. Satellite radio prices start at around seventy five dollars. Oh and you'll also have to pay a monthly subscription fee to receive the service.

Besides the cost, another potential drawback to satellite radio is you need an unobstructed view of satellites. So cities with sky scrapers, for example can have pretty spotty reception. But that problem can usually be fixed by putting an external antenna on your car.

Whether you choose to cruise with your mp3 tunes or your satellite songs, your sounds may tempt you to take the scenic route on your next road trip.