Introduction: How to Connect Your Mp3 or Ipod on a Car Cd-player.

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This is a Sony X-Plod series CDX MP40 about 9 years old, it has served me good all those years ,and I intend to use it for many more.
My purpose is to use the aux input to connect my mp3 player and gain some space from old cd's, and of course use this for as long as it is still working instead of buing a new one.

Step 1: Check the Back Panel.

At first I removed the device from the dashboard to check if there was an easy way to do this!

Step 2:

Step 3:

There were 2 rca female jacks but when I tried to connect my mp3 player to them there was no sound.

Step 4:

Luckily a friend of mine told me that there is a device that you have to plug where the cd-changer is supposed to be connected and so I did, after some googling and I found what i was looking for on ebay , a Sony Unilink Car Stereo Adapter .I did order one, priced 17usd (or approx. 14 euro) including shipping fees for one item.It arrived pretty quick (4 days after payment) considering it was sent from Hong Kong and I live in Greece.You can build one of these if you have the right skills but obviously I dont so I went the easy way.There are adaptors for all kinds of cd players, if you search google ,for example "JVC(or Pioneer)aux line-in cable" you will find there are many similar devices.
Next thing to do is connect it.

Step 5:

After I tested everything to find it's working just fine, it was time to put everything back in its place but had also to decide where should the other side of the aux cable go?Well since my hands wont fit inside the dashboard I had to remove a part of it.First I removed the ashtray then pulled genly the panel out.Then having all that space I passed the cable out from the ashtray port and placed the panel back in place.
Now fitting back the ashtray I thought would be a problem but in my case I was lucky to find a gap under the left rail where the cable actually fitted and as I dont use the ashtray,I'm a non smoker, the cable could be easily hidden in there.

Step 6:

This is how it looks now,there is no visual difference at all, while now I can hear my favorite tracks just by adding them to my mp3 player...

I used for this one:
1) 1 car cd player (already had one)
2) 1 rca to 3.5 male stereo cable (had one,too)
3) 1 Captiva 2G mp3 player (also had one)
4) 1 Sony Unilink Car Stereo Adapter(17$ or 14 Euros)
Total: 17$ (14 Euros)


Here you can watch a short demo I made with my cellphone.