car cds

[kaysixteen]

So I went ahead and looked at more Amazon offerings, and finally bought something.  I paid rather more than the average offering I saw there, largely because many of the cheaper ones 1) obviously could not be used in my car, lacking as it does an aux/ usb port (unless I want to go broke using batteries and/ or 2) had crappy customer reviews, clearly of the 'you get what you paid for' variety (i.e., it played for a week and then stopped working, etc.).  The thing I bought not only had excellent reviews, but also, at least from what I could personally interpret from the ad, seemed to meet my needs.   I just got it, opened it, and am not exactly sure I got what I needed.   The thing  works fine inside the house, but even if I had wanted to put batteries in it for use in the car, I couldn't, because it does not take batteries.   The rechargeable batteries the ad mentioned were the batteries for the remote control (it is a combo CD/ DVD player).   Thus, the only way for me to use it in the car would be to plug it into the cig lighter, as of course I have no aux port in the car (it clearly has the port on the machine, and comes with a cable, for me to plug it into a port in a car were there one).   So unless I could plug it into the cig lighter, I will have to buy something else for the car (and, truth be told, my search on amazon, which took at least an hour *after having read everything in this fora thread*, I lack much confidence that there is much available for my situation, unless appropriate cables that would safely allow me to use the cig lighter, exisit).   Obviously I do not wish to screw up  the unit, nor especially mess up the car.   I did just email the cd customer service address to ask this same question to them, and to specifically ask whether the usb cables that come with the unit could themselves be inserted in the lighter, but I figure I might as well ask here as well, and thanks in advance for any help.   FYI there are two distinct cables in question.  One is sticking directly into the unit itself, and there is an attachable electric socket adapter that is fittable into it, in order to allow me to use it with a wall electric socket.   On another side of the unit, OTOH, there  are three holes, marked USB in, AV out, and HDMI out, and there is a separate multi-headed detachable cable that also comes with the unit, one side of which fits into the AV out hole.

[AvidReader]

Regarding the cable that can go into an electric socket, what and how many ends does it have? Is it just a standard US outlet power cable, or does it also have a USB or other end? Can it come out of the CD player, or is it permanently affixed? You certainly need some way to get power to the player.

I am guessing that the AV out with the several ends looks something like this:
(sorry for the link; just need a picture)
https://www.amazon.com/MonkeyJack-Headphone-Digital-Camera-Player/dp/B074XCSRTD

If that's correct, the really important part would be the bit that goes into the CD player itself (the black piece in the picture). If it is a 3.5mm jack, I think you might be able to get a small 3.5mm speaker that could plug in instead of the existing cable. If it's something else, that might be trickier.

I know many of us here are happy to help and reply once we have more information. You might also consider taking the device you've gotten to a store like Best Buy, whose employees might be able to identify the type of cables you need at this point. Even pictures are tricky, and I know we would all hate to give you the wrong information.

AR.

[kaysixteen]

Thanks.   I actually, and perhaps surprisingly, did get a quick reply to my emailed question from the manufacturer's customer service line.   The woman told me exactly how to do it, either with the cable they provided or with a phone charger.

[ab_grp]

Thanks.   I actually, and perhaps surprisingly, did get a quick reply to my emailed question from the manufacturer's customer service line.   The woman told me exactly how to do it, either with the cable they provided or with a phone charger.

It's great that they had good customer service and could help you with your specific circumstances.  When you get it set up and try it out, please let us know how things go.

[polly_mer]

Because it's come up multiple times on this thread: links, even for specific products, are fine when relevant to the discussion at hand.

Starting a thread as a newcomer to talk about one's love of Jimmy Jane's Fabulous Gadget will be moderated.

Being established forumites who want to talk details with links raises no concerns unless that becomes many of a person's posts in ways that don't accord with the thread discussion.

[AvidReader]

Thanks.   I actually, and perhaps surprisingly, did get a quick reply to my emailed question from the manufacturer's customer service line.   The woman told me exactly how to do it, either with the cable they provided or with a phone charger.

Yay! Wonderful news.

Thank you for clarifying, Polly. I tried to look it up last week, & failed miserably to find the rules, which is really embarrassing.

AR.

[polly_mer]

Thank you for clarifying, Polly. I tried to look it up last week, & failed miserably to find the rules, which is really embarrassing.

AR.

https://thefora.org/index.php?topic=4.0 has the rules in a list form.  A link as part of true discussion is neither spam nor advertising.

[AvidReader]

Thank you!
AR.

[kaysixteen]

A few follow-up questions a month into my experience using this portable CD player, the first time I have had a CD player in years, other than those built into the cars:

1) I am dissatisfied with the volume on the thing-- in the car, at max volume, it is not inaudible for a lecture, but pretty hard to concentrate on.  I am considering buying a cheap wireless speaker that I found on amazon, but would like opinions as to whether it would be wasting my money to do so.

2) I am also dissatisfied with how long it will play on a charge, which is for these sorts of lectures less than three hours, and it  takes 4-5 back home to charge it again.  I am not sure whether it would plug into the cig lighter-- the service rep last month seemed to indicate no, if I understood her correctly, but she was clearly not a native speaker of English.  It clearly did not come with an attachment to do so.  Would it be worth buying such an attachment and risking plugging it into the lighter?  What would be the worst that could occur if I did that and it did not work?  I am esp interested in whether that would risk damaging the car.

3) Having again today perused Amazon for potential additional cd player choices to use in the car-- this one certainly works well enough in the house where I can plug it into the electric socket-- I am still underwhelmed by my choices for ones with both 1) rechargeable battery options and 2) no need to use headphones or earbuds (remember I have no aux port in this car).   Am I missing something?  Where else might I look?

4) My library system does not offer electronic access to the Teaching Company lectures.   I have looked on the TC site and the price for a subscription, while not awful, is real... I am wondering whether it would be worth buying.  I could do so right away and stream on my laptop, but am unsure whether I could do so with the phone I have, and, more to the point perhaps, whether it would be useful to do so if my purpose would be to take the phone into the car and use it there for this, listening to it without headphones (which would certainly be illegal in my state), whether there would be 1) adequate volume on it doing this 2) issues associated with whether the course would stream effectively while driving and/or 3) whether the course could be downloaded onto the phone at home and listened to directly offline?   I do not know where to get such info reliably.. I am going to take the phone into the public library later this week and try to ask the librarians, since their answer would not be perhaps colored by a potential sales-motivated ulterior motive.   

which leads us to:

4) looking at Amazon to do such research, I have to fess up to the reality that I am, for a wide variety of clear reasons, deeply ignorant of the state of Gizmoland in 2020. I do not even, like it or not, know what a Bluetooth is.   And that ain't all.   It is not necessarily easy to ask for this, but I was wondering if anyone had any suggested reading for someone like me, 50+, not tech savvy or experienced, and without the $ needed to buy much, to learn about these sorts of things.  I will also ask the librarians for such, of course.