Car CD Player Advice needed, for upcoming purchase

hi my fellow DU mobile audiophiles, I've finally decided to splurge and put a CD player in my car. Wish I had done it a lot sooner. Oh well. :-( Any way, I have no idea which aftermarket CD players are compatible with my 2000 Honda Civic LX sedan. The one from Honda is $249, which I'm sure is a ripoff. In doing my own research on http://froogle.google.com, I get a range from $39 to mucho $$$. Can anyone give me some good advice so I don't wander into a car audio store and get ripped off ? I'd rather buy it myself and then have "them" install it. I already have speakers installed that are just fine. I'd like an in-dash unit that is compatible with "Honda brand" speakers. Thanks for your time and expertise. :-)

sound just as good as the one I have at home. Buy a reputable brand on sale and splurge on speakers.

A Pioneer DEH-6600. It was $179.

It's great. Lot's of power. Get's good reviews. Actually, the whole Pioneer DEH line is a good choice.

Not much worry there. You also may want to consider getting an inexpensive tape player, an MP3 player like an iPod and a cassette connector. It may be a little more expensive, but then you'll also have an MP3 player you can carry around--not to mention NOT have an in-dash CD player that tempts thieves. For better sound in the car, upgrade your speakers.

Do you have an Ipod or any portable music listening device? If so, or if you've been thinking about getting one of those, too..

Then stay with the audio cassette player if you have one. Or, get a CD player with audio cassette as well. Modern car stereo systems seldom come equipped with a 1/8" headphone input jack, so..

I'm totally addicted to my I-River, a 40 gig MP3 audio player for the PC/MAC. It works just like an Ipod. You load it up with audio files from your computer (FAR FAR MORE THAN ANY CD CAN HOLD) and listen to your music through headphones.

Here's what else is cool: You can hook up your portable mp3 player to car stereos with a cassette deck, you CANNOT if it's a cd only player. They make a cheap cassette adaptor (less than $10) that you can plug into your cassette and the other end into the headphone jacks of your Ipod and you can listen away to your mp3's right through the car stereo.

There is no option to do this with a CD player because of how cd technology works, and i've yet to see a CD player with a 1/8" input jack on it.

SO DON'T COMPLETELY THROW OUT THE IDEA OF A CASSETTE DECK! They do make cheap radio broadcasting antennas that will broadcast your ipod music onto an FM/AM radio band, but those don't work very well in large cities with a lot of radio stations (plus tons of interference).

If it were me, i'd stick with the cassette deck and get a cassette to 1/8" stereo adaptor from best buy or radio shack, and hook that sucker up to the MP3 player.

Plus, you won't have to carry around all of those CD's or worry about them getting all scratched up or warped in the car.

:-)

And after having Circuit crappy install a kick ass Pioneer system with Infinity speakers, I wanted my cassette player back.

I got the I-river like a few months after the new car CD player and i've regretted not getting one with a cassette option since that day.

AM-FM-CD with electronic tuning and 18 station presets, far more than I'll ever need here in Colorado. A mounting kit was an extra twen bucks, and it took me a little over an hour to install it.