There are a couple different ways to connect the iPod to the car radio. Is that option definitely out?

Most cars built in the last five years have an aux input so that you can just use a 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cable to connect the radio to your iPod. If not, you can get a little FM transmitter plugin for the ipod that will play out through your car radio.

You could search AskME for any of the podcast recommendation threads. Getting an ipod to work with your car radio is pretty easy, be it with a transmitter or an 1/8" cable.

HD radio has commmercials and XM radio doesn't, is that correct?

That's my understanding. HD radio is the same content put out by regular radio stations, but at a supposedly higher quality, and it can only be read by HD-enabled radios. So, you've have to get a new radio.

The same goes for XM, though; you'd either have to get an XM radio, or an XM plug-in for your current radio. But, to my knowledge, there are no commercials, but I haven't listened to it for quite some time.

Point being, if you are willing to shell out for a new radio to get XM or HD service anyways, you might as well get one that is iPod enabled instead. That will really give you the best options, and they are pretty cheap these days (probably the same price as an HD or XM radio). Or, if you want to do the XM plug-in thing (which is just an FM transmitter), they have similar iPod plug-ins that does the same thing as octothrope said, but without the monthly XM subscription fee.

Sirius XM has commercials on the talk channels.

Yeah, I got an iTrip for my last car and it was pretty darn simple to use - it plugs into your ipod at one end, your cigarette lighter at the other, and in between has a little pushbutton and LCD screen which you use to tune to an empty frequency. It's like broadcasting your own personal station onto the radio.

I listen to a lot of podcasts and loved to have a bunch available for driving to. WAY better than relying on the radio schedule alone. I like The Moth, TAL, The Splendid Table, Speaking of Faith, Studio360, Here and Now, Word of Mouth, and many others.

Seconding iTrip. (I have an older model one of these.)

I used to have one of the iTrips mentioned by Miko that just plugs into the iPod, but I didn't like it since my battery would really drain quickly and I think I could only drive for 5 hours with my video iPod.

So while it's not cordless, having the car charger is fucking awesome.

Totally true, it drained the battery fast.

My new(to me) car has the mp3 player jack. Luxury!

Some of the iPod-connecting doohickies can simultaneously charge and play. That'd probably be a good thing to look for, if you were shopping for one.

i hear these are pretty entertaining