There are a number of accessories that free you from your MP3 player's headphones. Some are for the car; others, for home. Shop carefully. Price and quality are all over the map.

One of the cheapest and easiest to use accessories for the car is a cassette adapter. For $20, you get a cassette tape with a wire attached. The attached wire connects to your MP3 player's line-out jack, where you normally plug in your headphones.

The sound plays through the tape, which does not have a recording on it. The tape plays continually; when it reaches its end, it reverses automatically.

Cassette adapters are manufactured by big-name companies like Belkin, Monster, Griffin and Sony. And the sound quality is pretty good. But over time you may notice hissing, which is the nature of tape.

However, many cars no longer include cassette decks. In that case, you can use an FM transmitter.

An FM transmitter plugs into your line-out jack on the MP3 player, and broadcasts to your car's radio using FM channels. Belkin, Griffin, iRock, Monster and others produce transmitters starting at $30. There are special car kits that come with a device to hold your player in place, a charger and a transmitter. Those can cost as much as $100.