A few corrections:
Originally Posted by Scottw60
Parrot Asteroid I found that on Amazon for $345.00
No, you did not. Model Asteroid may be available later this year, or maybe even later. What you have found on Amazon was just another car stereo made by Parrot, has nothing to do with their Android-based model "Asteroid". A year ago they said it will be in 2010. I was waiting, and waiting, and now they promised in 2011.
Originally Posted by Scottw60
...but I can acheive the same thing with a $20 FM interface
Again, you can not. Normally I would never use a phrase like
"all of those adapters work like a crap", never. I mean how can I possibly know about every single device sold in this country? That wouldn't be a fair statement, correct?
Well, in this case that's incorrect. I can actually honestly say that all of those adapters can not possibly work reliably, and it's not because I'm such a smart ašs and tested every single brand. No. I can say that because every single device sold in the US suppose to be approved by FCC (Federal Communication Commission). And they (FCC) have a regulation that all those little adapters can NOT broadcast your music with the output power higher than certain number. A very small number. Now, that's why all of those, which sold legally in the US can not possibly produce a good quality signal.
Of course, if you live a hundred miles away from a nearest city, then this device may work very well for you, because of no interference with other radio stations. But I for instance live in San Diego, and I can't use those. We have a free channel, but the interference from other near by channels makes some noises. I tried about 10 different models and finally gave up.
Even if you get a decent "clean" signal, without a noise, you still wouldn't get the quality of a regular FM radio station, which doesn't even come close to the CD quality. (trust me, radio station equipment cost more than 20 bucks).