How do I play mp3's from my phone to my car's aux input via bluetooth?

December 17, 2010 10:13 AM

I'd like to play mp3/audiobooks from my phone through my car's stereo without using wires.

My car has a 3.5mm aux input ('06 civic) and my phone has a2dp (android 2.2 on a captivate). I'd like to believe there exists a gadget that will receive a2dp bluetooth signals from phone and then pipe them out to a 3.5mm port. I would then have a short wire that goes from this gadget to my 3.5 aux input.

My ebay/amazon searches turn up units that will play music from bluetooth through an fm transmitter (i think) but i'd like to have a solid connection.

Is there a name for such gadget?

If somebody has such a unit, is it worth the trouble? How does it handle incoming calls?

posted by maulik to shopping (8 answers total)

Perhaps something like this? It's apparently not a current product, but is still available. This looks like a newer version of the same idea, but apparently is exclusive to Verizon.
posted by adamrice at 10:34 AM on December 17, 2010

I think what you're looking for is a Griffin BlueTrip Aux. I used one for a couple weeks with my iPod touch (so I didn't get to test the calling features) but ended up returning it because the volume output was too low and the automatic reconnect feature wasn't working for me.
posted by slothdog at 10:47 AM on December 17, 2010

This is something that has good reviews on amazon. I found it while searching bluetooth receiver. and it is rechargeable!
posted by Might quack at 11:15 AM on December 17, 2010

I use one of these with my motorcycle rig. I use mine with earbuds on the bike, but it should work fine with a car stereo AUX input.

I picked mine up on eBay here in the U.S.

I see Sony has a newer U.S. version here. They're USB charged, so you might want to get a cigarette USB charger. Though mine would go all day before needing a charge.

I don't have any experience with receiving a call on these though.
posted by StickyC at 11:53 AM on December 17, 2010

I think the Miccus BluBridge mini-jack Rx is the way to go. thank you everybody, love the hive mind!
posted by maulik at 11:54 AM on December 17, 2010

I just got a GOgroove thingy. It does damn near everything... Connects to your phone via bluetooth or cable (with controls for play/etc.), connects to your car via radio or cable, and has a USB port for charging your phone as well. I like it quite a bit so far, but I've only had it a couple days.
posted by anaelith at 1:09 PM on December 17, 2010

I did end up going with the GOgroove, it's awesome. Some more detailed notes on the GOgroove
posted by maulik at 4:13 PM on February 3, 2011

I'm still loving mine, as well. One thing I did was set up Tasker to turn on bluetooth whenever my phone is plugged in and then turn it off again when unplugged AND unpaired. Since the first thing I do when I get in my car is plug my phone in, this works well. (Remember to add a delay for turning the key.)

Play/Pause and next/back seem to work well with the default music player for me.... as long as the player has been open at least once since the last time my phone was rebooted. (Yeah, computers are weird.) As long as I remember to do that, I can handle my music without taking my gloves off, without having to look, and also without going away from Maps.

The thingy also works well with turn-by-turn navigation. Sooo much easier to hear through car speakers.
posted by anaelith at 4:58 AM on February 4, 2011