Anakogue audio to USB-C adaptor?

Does such a thing exist? I don't mean an adaptor that works the other way which are ten a penny.

We have just taken delivery of some new work vans which stupidly do not have an analogue audio aux input which I rely on to play music from my old PMP (Rockbox'd Sansa Clip+). I have been using an FM transmitter the past few days but this evening was getting slight but irritating interference on the frequency I normally use. The new van radio does not let you manually scan the FM frequency range to find a better option so it is a case of suck it and see.

So my other options are a Bluetooth transmitter - I have one of those but I think it may be broken as it does not connect very easily if at all - Buying a new transmitter may be the answer there.

Or, switch to using a Rocker PMP I have to hand which has Bluetooth built in but the battery life does not last a whole working day and when running Rockbox on it loses Bluetooth support anyway.

Or, see if I can use the USB-C input on the van radio to play from my old PMP using a suitable adaptor if such a thing exists.

Or, play from my smartphone but again I lose the wonders and advantages of Rockbox doing that and having to wait for it to reconnect every time I get back in the van is a pain and I do not like leaving the phone in the van while unattended.

Am I on a fruitless search and should concentrate on the Bluetooth transmitter solution?

They certainly exist -- for example. How well they work, I could not say. Get some advice from a store like Richer Sounds.

Edit: You will need a USB-A to USB-C adapter.

Edited by micksharpe (Sun 13-Dec-20 23:25:03)

They exist... at least, they used to. I had one when I was ripping a load of vinyl into mp4 some years ago.

Can't for the life of me remember who made it or even where I got it... I'll see if I can find it.

eta- just seen Mick's reply... yes, you'll likely need an adaptor!

Edited by billford (Sun 13-Dec-20 23:38:04)

Audio interfaces/capture devices like mentioned above aren't going to work on your Vans USB input since they usually require drivers and recording software...

Thanks for the pointers everyone. As I feared the devices suggested which are intended to plug into a computer will not work with the van's USB input.

Better news is that I finally managed to get my old Bluetooth transmitter to connect to a portable device. It seems it does not like being in the living room with a lot of TV devices causing interference that overpowers its signal - I suspect the Youview box. Battery life is not brilliant but thinking that it would last a short evening shift while I continue to use the FM transmitter during a day shift when atmospheric conditions do not allow out of area interference to intrude.

Another option which has occurred to me is to put my music on a USB-C memory stick and rely on the van radio player to handle the playback. Again I would be losing Rockboxability and don't want to go down this route if the van player does not maintain bookmarks / play points across sessions and shifts. I perhaps should mention that I am normally listening to recordings of three hour radio programmes and want to pick up where I left off last time. It would also mean having to keep the play point manually synced with my PMP which I would still want to use when out for a walk etc.

I would go for that option - quality will be much better. However a normal USB Stick with a USB A -> USB-C adaptor will also work fine I haven't seen many USB-C USB Sticks (that isn't to say they don't exist though )

I and my siblings have been using audiobooks and other spoke word audio such as radio plays in various formats now for over 20 years. During that time we have been through several iterations of digital playback technology, till we have arrived at our current solution.

My strong recommendation is to stick a large microSD card into your smartphone (assuming you have a smartphone and not been suckered by Apple), use a piece of software called "Smart AudioBook Player", and then hook this to your car/van stereo with Bluetooth. The full version of Smart AudioBook Player only costs $2. A SanDisk 128GB microSD card is only £20 on the WesternDigital store (you are buying direct from the manufacture and avoiding the possibility of get a fake card).

The other option is "Simple AudioBook Player", it's completely free but doesn't do covers, which may or may not be a plus.

The microSD card will hold dozens of audiobooks, radioplays, podcasts etc and with it being in your phone you can take it anywhere you go so the sync problem goes away. We are keenly awaiting the following app so that we can sync all our audiobooks down to our phone in an "audible like" fashion from our Plex server.

https://www.bookcamp.app/

However I think the smartphone as the playback device is the way forward. We have been doing that for a decade now, and while the software we use on the phone has changed and will hopefully change again, the use of the phone as the playback device won't.

Very interesting information. All good apart from me not wanting to leave my smartphone in a work van while unattended. Another point which I have not mentioned before is that I prefer to use a device which has a physical Play / Pause button which I can operate by feel with a gloved handed. My experience with auto-play in car mode has so far not been a happy one. And does the software you use preserve bookmarks and play points across different sessions and days? Does it allow you switch to mono mode for those occasions when one of the van radio speakers is duff? Or have auto-rewind when Play/Pausing or Stop/Starting so you can regain context when suspending playback in the middle of someone saying something?

BTW I made a whoopsy in trying to get my old Bluetooth transmitter working. I forgot that the living room radio I was testing it with was newer than when I last used the transmitter so I had not paired them up. Now working so will give it a trial run in the van this evening.

Edited by gomezz (Mon 14-Dec-20 17:14:20)

Do you have a manual for the head unit in the van that details what inputs it can take? That may give an idea of other available options.