By: Mike Hopkins

Home Theater Guru

Using Your Digital Music Player With Your Home Theater

Digital music players finally bring your entire music collection within a cord’s length of your home theater.  With a little know-how and typically a slight cost, you can enjoy the convenience and vast selection that they provide – right in your home theater.

MP3 players have surged in popularity, and thus brought a landslide of accessories to the marketplace. As a result, the options you have for connecting your portable music player to your home audio system are extremely plentiful.

Here’s a quick run-down of the most popular connection options and what advantages or disadvantages they offer.

A 1/8” Mini to Stereo RCA Adapter

This is a small adapter cable that marries a headphone jack with stereo RCA connectors. This is the most common method of connection because it works with ALL music players (and many other audio devices) and is usable with any audio receiver. Simply plug one end into your player and the other end into your receiver or stereo amplifier. Done.

Pros:

1. Cheapest possible solution, by far.
2. Available at any store with an electronics department.
3. Fast connection and easily portable.

Cons:

1. Will not charge your player or power it while you are listening.
2. Not controllable via your receiver remote.
3. Will not display any information on your videodisplay.
4. Won’t show videos on your screen.

Generic Docking Stations

These are extremely easy to come by for iPods and we’ll probably see more coming out for Microsoft’s Zune (if it sticks around, anyway.)

Pros:

1. Fairly inexpensive and readily available.
2. Will charge your player while you listen.
3. Built in connection wires.
4. Portable and unobtrusive.
5. Some display video files on your video screen.

Cons:

1. Not controllable via receiver remote.
2. Will not display song information on your video display.

Deluxe A/V receiver docking stations

These are docking stations produced by your home theater receiver manufacturer that offer a higher level of integration with your receiver. Check with your receiver manufacturer for specific details, but you can expect some of the following:

Pros:

1. Charges and Powers your player while you listen.
2. Can be controlled with your receiver remote.
3. Displays song information on your video screen.
4. Some Allow navigation of song and video folders.
5. Will display video files on your television.
6. Some provide operation from other rooms via optional IR repeaters.

Cons:

1. Typically more expensive than generic docks.
2. Can be difficult to find.
3. Slightly more complicated setup (remote control programming, etc.)

In Conclusion

With some preparation and know-how, your mp3 player can be a fully functioning member of your home theater system.  Careful, your CD player might start feeling a little neglected!  Have fun and good luck!