I regularly listen to audio books while driving. So far I have mostly played audio books in audio CD format on the CD player built into my car radio. If an audiobook was only available to me in MP3 format, I burned the audiobook onto a CD-Rom as an audio CD and then also played it through the CD player from the car radio.
In my car is a car radio from Delco Electronics with the designation CDR 500 installed. The car radio can play audio CDs, but cannot play CDs with MP3 files on them. As far as I know, the car radio has no possibility to connect it directly to an MP3 player.
In the future, when I'm driving, I'd like to listen to audio books that play on an MP3 player and play on my car radio.
In search of opportunities one MP3 player with my Car radio to connect I have researched in June 2013 on the Internet. I found information on how to connect a cable with a jack plug to the motherboard of the car radio so that it is possible to connect the car radio with an MP3 player via the cable.
The wires of the cable will probably be soldered to the motherboard where the corresponding audio lines (audio-left, audio-right and ground) of the internal CD-player lead to the motherboard. So the corresponding connections of the internal CD player are used to feed an external audio signal z.B. Used by an MP3 player.
The car radio must then run in CD mode to make the external signal from an MP3 player audible. This requires a CD with a track that does not produce any noise during playback.
I tried this in June 2013. I upgraded the car radio. I opened the case of the car radio. Then I removed the internal CD player. Now I could see where the corresponding audio lines of the CD player led to the motherboard of the car radio.
I took a 3.5 mm jack connection cable with a length of ca. 1m. On one side I cut off the jack plug. I stripped the cable appropriately and soldered the ground and two wires appropriately to the locations on the motherboard that I had previously identified. I led the cable accordingly from the car radio housing to the outside.
I reassembled the car radio and installed it in the car.
Attention: In this article I inform about how I connected a cable with jack socket to my car radio in such a way that an MP3 player can be connected there. This is not a guide to connecting an MP3 player to a car radio. My description has no claim to completeness. My description has no general validity; it must not be transferable to other cases. My description may contain errors and overlook dangers! My description does not constitute advice. No recommendation. For the execution of such work extensive knowledge in the appropriate areas and a corresponding experience or. Training necessary.
Attention: soldering work on the main board of the radio is necessary. There is a risk that electronic components are destroyed or a short-circuit occurs on the main board. Furthermore I can imagine that also the connected MP3 player can be destroyed by a short circuit or something similar.
Attention: If an MP3 player is connected to the new cable and the CD player is in playback mode, then there are basically 2 signals in parallel on the circuit board. In practice it seems to work. Whether the devices can tolerate this permanently or whether this can cause damage to the devices, I can not say!