Sansa Clip best way to connect to car audio

I plan to use my Sansa Clip mainly for playing audio books in my car.

My audio system is very high end with separate connections for IPod, Aux In, and USB.

I connected my Sansa Clip via the USB connection but could not listen to music or audio books this way as the system defaulted to “Slot Radio”  which uses the memory card.

I have read the many posts about the volume problems with connection with the output for the ear phones.

This is a much better audio books player than my IPod so I am hoping someone can help me with a solution.

My JVC head unit, many years old, only has a front AUX IN connection (no USB).  That connection serves me very well, with my putting the Clip in the ashtray below the head unit and connecting the Clip via a short patch cable (with any excess cable going into the ashtray as well, behind the Clip) from the Clip’s headphone jack to the head unit’s AUX IN. 

By the way, as to using the USB connection, I may recall that the Clip needs to be in MSC mode for a USB connection (or is it MTP? sorry–try both?) and then, will only read the internal contents of the Clip (i.e., not the contents on the card)–or did I get that reversed as well?   ;)   A little experimentation between the alternatives should answer the questions for you (although it appears that different head units may be different). 

I guessing that your player is set to MTP mode, maybe due to the fact that you could be using DRM-crippled audio book files. It needs to be in MSC mode for your car’s stereo to be able to see it. If it is in MTP mode, the stereo cannot see it, and may be falling back to the card slot; in your case with the SlotRadio card in it.

If you are not using DRM audio book files and the player is indeed in MTP mode, then I’d suggest deleting them (or transferring back to your computer) from the player, switching the player to MSC (in Settings > System Settings > USB Mode) and then moving the audio book files back to the player.

Now see if your stereo unit will read from the internal memory of the player. If it still defaults back to the external memory card, un-plug the player from the stereo, remove the SlotRadio card, and plug the player back in. It should read it now.

If you are using DRM files and can’t switch to MSC mode, or the above doesn’t work for some reason, try the AUX IN port from your headphone jack. It’s not the ideal way as you’ll have to control things from the player instead of your car stereo unit’s controls, but it should work.

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Thank you for the information.

I checked the setting and unit is in MSC mode.

When connected to the car audio system using the USB connection there is clear communication but only with the Slot Radio function even though there is no card in place.

The audio files are all downloaded from Audible.com.

The sample music that came with the Sansa can be played quite well using the USB, but not the music or audio books I have downloaded.

I tried connecting to the aux in and thought at first it was not working, but with the Sansa volume turned all the way up and the audio system turned to maximum, could just barely hear the content.

How do I check if DRM?

Would appreciate any assistance as I would hate to go back to my IPod as the Sansa is a much better player.

Thank you