Stereo question
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 359
Likes: 2
From: central Mississippi
Stereo question
My 95 Ultra has the original factory stereo. am/fm with cassette. Someone suggested that I could install an mp3 player and play it through the existing stereo. I don't know much about mp3s, but I read up a little and went out and bought one. Is there anywhere on the internet that you can download free songs to an mp3 player? I've checked a couple of sites and they all want either a monthly fee, or a dollar and change for each song. Has anyone taken the mp3 route with these older stereos, and if so, where are you downloading your music from? Thanks, KC
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 8,192
Likes: 3,079
From: NW AR
Rip them yourself from your own CD collection with a progrem like CDex. http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 535
Likes: 14
From: Highspire Pa
http://www.jamendo.com/en/ has free downloads of lesser know artists.
However, for the good stuff you need to get into file sharing with bit torrent or use something like http://www.limewire.com/ but I don't recommend either one - they work but you could get into some big trouble and end up paying some big fines.
The best way is to rip your own as Dr Hess suggested, sign up for one of the music clubs where you get 10 free cds if you buy 2 and then cancel afterwards if you don't want to buy any more. In our area they have some used cd stores where you can buy something used for 1/2 the regular costs. You can also record off the radio or tv.
Considering the work involved you may be better off just buying the songs you like. At first you may think you need thousands of songs , but you really don't need that many.
on edit: You can google torrents using
"name of the song" ext:torrent
Once again, I don't recommend you get into file sharing any files that are copyrighted, it is bad, immoral and will surely guarantee you trouble. I do use bit torrent often for sharing open source software.
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However, for the good stuff you need to get into file sharing with bit torrent or use something like http://www.limewire.com/ but I don't recommend either one - they work but you could get into some big trouble and end up paying some big fines.
The best way is to rip your own as Dr Hess suggested, sign up for one of the music clubs where you get 10 free cds if you buy 2 and then cancel afterwards if you don't want to buy any more. In our area they have some used cd stores where you can buy something used for 1/2 the regular costs. You can also record off the radio or tv.
Considering the work involved you may be better off just buying the songs you like. At first you may think you need thousands of songs , but you really don't need that many.
on edit: You can google torrents using
"name of the song" ext:torrent
Once again, I don't recommend you get into file sharing any files that are copyrighted, it is bad, immoral and will surely guarantee you trouble. I do use bit torrent often for sharing open source software.
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Last edited by pajoe; Dec 7, 2009 at 04:05 PM.
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 535
Likes: 14
From: Highspire Pa
I have about a 1/2 dozen little mp3 players I use for work, none of them cost more than $10 - $12 . They are little things that clip on my shirt and I love them and because they are so cheap it doesn't hurt so much if I break one . I some times copy shows from my HD tivo and extract the audio so I can listen to it while I work. I have also done the same with music channels, will have a 2 hour block of non stop music. The downside is that every time you switch to a different block of music it goes back to the beginning, so basically I start the player and lock it so it doesn't change anything by accident. There is no random play using this method, but I can change blocks of sound every day if I want to. I once had an mp3 player that would copy from the radio - they really have improved these things in the last few years. I may switch to using an mp3 player on the bike again. As I am writing this I am thinking I could use the input on the rear of the Sony and put a mp3 player in the glove box of my lowers, we tried something similar about 5 years ago but the mp3 players did not hold up - but these newer, cheaper ones I am using hold up well at work.
Our 1990 flhtcu stock radio had a cassette player but we never really got anything that worked well with that, Radio Shack had an adapter you plug into the cassette and it gave pretty good quality but wore out in a few weeks of use, not to mention the wires hanging out etc.. We also tried the fm transmitter that worker pretty good in some areas but not others, we even had some guy on the interstate that had a stronger fm transmitter and we heard his station until we were able to get away from him. They make a better fm transmitter than the one I used at the time.
I also liked Sirius and XM, we tried them both a few years ago. In our area they did not work well on the bike. Winter time they were pretty good but once the trees were covered with leaves we had too many areas with dropouts, we had some roads where we could get reception going one direction and not the other. I also had a problem with all the "ads" for their various channels and shows, to me advertising other channels and upcoming shows is nothing more than commercials, even though they insist they do not have commercials. However, I am different, I really don't care for much talking when I am riding - it's not unusual for us to ride for an hour or two without saying a word.
Now we use a "classic style" iPod in the tourpak, feeding into a Sony head unit with a Sony iPod interface under the seat. It's not perfect but works better than anything else we tried. It charges itself, so the only thing we do is start it up because after several hours of not being used it will shutdown. I also keep a cd with mp3s on it in the radio, as a backup, it works pretty good but on some really bumpy roads it may skip. When we did our setup the iPod was the best thing for us, but the newer mp3 players are far cheaper and do a really great job.
The best set up for us was using a direct connection through the Sony radio. I purchased the Biketronics retro radio kit and it worked pretty good for almost 4 years but some times this past summer, the automatic volume control got messed up and I needed to shut the avc off for a while. On ours, the switch for the speakers also turns off the avc, our speakers are wired directly to the Sony radio, so the switch only affects the avc. I planned on contacting Biketronics this winter as it has a lifetime guarantee, but not 100% sure it is the Biketronics controller or something with the Harley's wiring.
We never could get a suitable volume out of the stock radio, installing 4 ohm speakers helped but using the Sony radio I could go to 2 ohm Infinity Kappas which gave the best sound and volume - the newer baggers with the bigger speakers have better speaker choices than I do with the older 4" speakers.
on edit:
95 Ultra, I was just thinking. If you did not want individual songs with mp3 tags , you could possibly record using the microphone input to your computer and convert it to mp3. Any source would work. It may take a little effort to find a program to record and convert it to mp3 and set it up but once you got it set up it would not take too long to build a collection you like. I don't do Windows so I can't recommend any programs for you to try.
Our 1990 flhtcu stock radio had a cassette player but we never really got anything that worked well with that, Radio Shack had an adapter you plug into the cassette and it gave pretty good quality but wore out in a few weeks of use, not to mention the wires hanging out etc.. We also tried the fm transmitter that worker pretty good in some areas but not others, we even had some guy on the interstate that had a stronger fm transmitter and we heard his station until we were able to get away from him. They make a better fm transmitter than the one I used at the time.
I also liked Sirius and XM, we tried them both a few years ago. In our area they did not work well on the bike. Winter time they were pretty good but once the trees were covered with leaves we had too many areas with dropouts, we had some roads where we could get reception going one direction and not the other. I also had a problem with all the "ads" for their various channels and shows, to me advertising other channels and upcoming shows is nothing more than commercials, even though they insist they do not have commercials. However, I am different, I really don't care for much talking when I am riding - it's not unusual for us to ride for an hour or two without saying a word.
Now we use a "classic style" iPod in the tourpak, feeding into a Sony head unit with a Sony iPod interface under the seat. It's not perfect but works better than anything else we tried. It charges itself, so the only thing we do is start it up because after several hours of not being used it will shutdown. I also keep a cd with mp3s on it in the radio, as a backup, it works pretty good but on some really bumpy roads it may skip. When we did our setup the iPod was the best thing for us, but the newer mp3 players are far cheaper and do a really great job.
The best set up for us was using a direct connection through the Sony radio. I purchased the Biketronics retro radio kit and it worked pretty good for almost 4 years but some times this past summer, the automatic volume control got messed up and I needed to shut the avc off for a while. On ours, the switch for the speakers also turns off the avc, our speakers are wired directly to the Sony radio, so the switch only affects the avc. I planned on contacting Biketronics this winter as it has a lifetime guarantee, but not 100% sure it is the Biketronics controller or something with the Harley's wiring.
We never could get a suitable volume out of the stock radio, installing 4 ohm speakers helped but using the Sony radio I could go to 2 ohm Infinity Kappas which gave the best sound and volume - the newer baggers with the bigger speakers have better speaker choices than I do with the older 4" speakers.
on edit:
95 Ultra, I was just thinking. If you did not want individual songs with mp3 tags , you could possibly record using the microphone input to your computer and convert it to mp3. Any source would work. It may take a little effort to find a program to record and convert it to mp3 and set it up but once you got it set up it would not take too long to build a collection you like. I don't do Windows so I can't recommend any programs for you to try.
Last edited by pajoe; Dec 7, 2009 at 11:49 PM.
Club Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,193
Likes: 7
From: North Atlanta Area, GA
My 95 Ultra has the original factory stereo. am/fm with cassette. Someone suggested that I could install an mp3 player and play it through the existing stereo. I don't know much about mp3s, but I read up a little and went out and bought one. Is there anywhere on the internet that you can download free songs to an mp3 player? I've checked a couple of sites and they all want either a monthly fee, or a dollar and change for each song. Has anyone taken the mp3 route with these older stereos, and if so, where are you downloading your music from? Thanks, KC
Having the iPhone on my bike is great! The only problem is controlling it in cold weather with gloves on... you can't do that since it's touch sensitive. It senses the heat from your finger when you touch the screen.. and gloves kind of screw that up! The iPod is not touch sensitive, and so may work better for you.
I also have an XM satellite radio, and I can plug that in as well, in using a different little clip on the RAM Mount if I want to listen to that. I have a Pioneer Inno - it's very small, and I can record 8 hours of any XM station I want before the ride, I can store and play MP3 files, or I can listen to live XM stations. I installed the XM satellite antenna (a little box about 1" square) on the front of the Tour Pak rack right behind the passenger backrest with a double-stick adhesive pad for good reception, and it's barely even noticeable. I ran the wire down under the seat and the tank, through my dashboard box, and up the bars so I can easily plug in the satellite radio if I want.
These days there are lots of sound options out there - from cheap to unbelieveably expensive (like the H-D sound equipment). The other day, I even saw a powered subwoofer you can put in the corner of your Tour Pak - for like $800!
My advice is to dump your ancient cassette stereo entirely, and go with a modern MP3 and/or satellite device. You can probably get a good quality in-dash unit that will fit right into your fairing and that has MP3 and/or satellite radio capability for a few hundred dollars if you don't want to mount anything external. Look around on the net... you'll be amazed at what aftermarket stuff you can find, and prices always come down over time. Good luck!
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 535
Likes: 14
From: Highspire Pa
Another interesting place to listen as well as buy music is Pandora, http://www.pandora.com It's not like Rhapsody where you pick exactly what you want, Pandora allows you to set up personal channels with song you like and then Pandora tries to add new songs that are similar. If you are not too fussy, it's free for about 40 hours a month, but you are limited in the number of songs you can skip each hour unless you pay $36.00 a year, then you get unlimited time as well as unlimited "skipping" of songs you don't like.
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Im sure youve heard of youtube.
Use firefox as your browser and use the youtube to mp3 extension.
Any music,etc which is available on youtube , then becomes downloadable as an mp3.
Also if i want to download a whole album,i use isohunt.com ,torrent download.
Ive found that i cant get a clear sound through the stock speaker setup on my pops new street glide,so good ear buds make that situation alot better.
I often rode before with ear plugs because of some inner ear problems caused by wind,but now my skull candy ear buds also give me ear protection as well as access to tunes.
Use firefox as your browser and use the youtube to mp3 extension.
Any music,etc which is available on youtube , then becomes downloadable as an mp3.
Also if i want to download a whole album,i use isohunt.com ,torrent download.
Ive found that i cant get a clear sound through the stock speaker setup on my pops new street glide,so good ear buds make that situation alot better.
I often rode before with ear plugs because of some inner ear problems caused by wind,but now my skull candy ear buds also give me ear protection as well as access to tunes.
Last edited by vincentostapowich; Jun 13, 2012 at 07:51 AM.
Road Warrior
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 1,439
Likes: 6
From: Route 66
On my 95 glide I mounted a auxiliary lighter (power source) under my tour pack out of the way and wired to the auxiliary switch on my dash. I then bought a digital fm transmitter with a remote.I leave it plugged in and turned on all the time.I can plug my Droid into the transmitters aux or use a USB thumb drive or sd mini/micro card for tunes and just turn it off with dash aux switch when I want regular radio or weather band.It all sits back out of sight and leaves my lighter up front free.
edit to add:
After being in use for about a year and a half, exposed to riding in rain and year round weather my first transmitter quit last weekend.I checked Walmart for a replacement of the brand I had and they wanted $33.I found one almost identical at Dollar General for $10.
edit to add:
After being in use for about a year and a half, exposed to riding in rain and year round weather my first transmitter quit last weekend.I checked Walmart for a replacement of the brand I had and they wanted $33.I found one almost identical at Dollar General for $10.
Last edited by popawcritter; Jun 13, 2012 at 02:58 PM.