Well, got my Seido and it works great with my headphones. However, it doesn't work with my car's "aux" jack (faint sound out of left speakers), which I'm kind of bummed about.

It must be an impedence issue where the "aux" jack doesn't provide enough impedence for the blackberry to recognize it as if it were a pair of headphones. So, I'm wondering if there's a way I could "fool" it somehow by introducing some sort of resistor or even a splitter with a pair of headphones in it. LOL. Of course, the money I'm spending on all this crap, I could go out and buy an iPod shuffle or something.

Sounded great in my headphones though.. I can't wait to take it out on a bike.

That is all.

Do you have a cassette player in your car? I have one (I know, old school) and I use a cassette adapter VERY nicely in my car. It sounds great. My adapter is a Sony if that helps. (With the Seido adapter as well of course)

I am using a LG headset
LG - Stereo Headset for Select LG Cell Phones
Model: SGEY0003602 | SKU: 8292108
with the 2.5mm and it works fine.
I can't get my BB to play media files using my bluetooth Plantronics 510 headset. On the menu, it says activate headset but nothing plays. How do I get my bluetooth to play music?

Download the software update from the VZW site. I have Motorola S9 headphones playing stereo on my 8830 flawlessly.

This works great with my 8830 in perfect stereo (with no tricks) and even works with phone calls, voice dialing, etc.

Amazon.com: LG Handfree Stereo Headset for the LG Chocolate and other compatible LG handsets: Cell Phones & Service

You can also get it at Best Buy. It comes with the earbuds, but I don't like them so I used my own set which plug into the adapter. The adapter has a built in mic for the voice stuff and also a volume control on the side. It also has a button to answer/hang up calls which also works as a pause when it's playing music or video. Also if you hold down the button for a sec or two it triggers the voice dialing. Very nice and works perfectly.

I know what you're talking about.. but I'm afraid I don't have a cassette player... just the 3.5mm "aux" jack. I've tried every combination of the "secret handshake" by plugging one end in before the other or the other before the one... nothing worked.

Maybe I'll experiment with a small 10 Ohm resistor. If I break my phone.. maybe I can convince my boss to just get me a Curve.

It's the crappy Seido adapter. Use the LG one I posted above and you can hear everything from all channels. Also, because of the mic in it, you'll have full car audio phonecalls which is nice also. Works for me with an aux jack. I clip the adapter on the sun visor and the mic picks up really well when I speak.

SkipJack,
I know what you are talking about. I actually had a good friend with the same issue in his Mazda 3. What I told him to try out was a portable headphone amp that runs on a AAA battery. It is meant for headbangers and old people to amplify the sound but it did regulate the current. I think he picked one up from radio shack for 10 or 15$

JRSCCivic98, at first I thought your link was just to a set of headphones.. but, I see now there's that jack/mic thingy there.

Hmm... works with the BB 8800's, eh?

What's another $12?

Yes, it works perfectly. The headphones are sucky, but I don't like wearing buds like that anyway. I like pods better. The part of the package that's what you want is the converter portion. It works with any BB with a 2.5mm jack and it works with a car setup as well. For instance you can plug a 3.5mm male to male or male to whatever cable and pipe the sound to your car speakers in full stereo like you would with headphones. Not only that, but once you do that the phone will also have a "handsfree/speakerphone" type setup as well. Clip the mic on the visor and boom, portable handsfree/headphone setup for 12 bucks.

What is the model number and price for the adapter that worked?

In addition to the funky audio-out situation, I've found the media player on the BB 8830 World Edition to be an infuriating substandard POS. No tone controls, no standard forward/reverse/jog functionality ... etc. It's pretty bogus. It's like BB tacked on this media player application as an afterthought, and then realized, "Oh, people will want stereo output." Duh. But heaven help you if you want to just plug in your headphones.
Well, today I actually made the Radio Shack adapter work. No kidding. I purchased a "Headset Jack Adapter - 3/32" to 1/8" Wireless Phone" from R.S., part no. 274-004. But I had a weird experience in the store, testing the adapter. At first it did not work. Then the sales person offered to try a standard mini-to-micro adapter. That gave me one channel, per my previous experience. While she was looking for other alternatives, I tried the aforementioned part 274-004 again, and voila! it worked. No real clue as to why, at first, but I bought the item ($10). Later at home I plugged in my headphones and again it did NOT work. Arg! I experimented with several configs, and finally found the solution that works:
Step 1: Plug in mono headset or standard micro-to-mini plug adapter
Step 2: Play media
Step 3: PAUSE media
Step 4: Unplug mono headset/standard adapter and Plug in stereo headphones
Step 5: Un-pause media -- voila! Stereo media through headphones.
Now, I suspect this isn't good. There's an impedance mismatch somewhere. In between songs I get a little "snap/click" kind of noise. Dunno if that's endemic to the BB's media player (which is crap) or if it's a symptom of electrons going where they shouldn't.
I've ordered the Verizon adapter which looks like a perfect alternative. Turn your headphones into a stereo headset. Sweet. But at the end of the day, the BB 8830 is a poor excuse for an MP3 player. After spending $30 on a micro-SD card and $10 on a R.S. adapter and another $12.99 on a Verizon adapter, I could have bought a Sandisk 1GB MP3 player with a built-in FM tuner and standard media controls for about the same money.
I'm just hoping someday soon BB upgrades the media player application so at least it provides a graphic EQ and fwd/back/jog controls.

I have a slighltly different problem related to the Seido adapter. Based on reviews here, I bought one about 6 weeks ago now. It worked for about a week. Now, the sound cuts in and out. It's not one side or the other, just what we'd all call a bad connection. The plug fit is still very tight, but I can't tell if it is the adapter or the connection on the 8830 that is the problem. Is there anyway of figuring that out without having to pay for another adapter?

I went to my Verizon store "Oro Valley Arizona" and they sold me a Adapter for $4.99 .. It plugs right in and has built in call answer button and microphone. It is verizon branded and looks and feels cheap, wait .. It was! .. Works great with my Bose Headphones.

Ordered it and it works GREAT. Thanks for the link. Got a 3.5 to 3.5 extension and also use it in the car with the AUX in and that works great too.

Hi there, hard to say whether its the adapter or BB, I suggest going to your local Verizon store and trying the adapter they offer, if there's no problem, then its the adapter

WOOHOO! Cool, glad it works for you as well. I especially like the volume control on the side of the mic piece.

I BELIEVE YOUR PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVED WITH THE ADAPTER FROM VERIZON OR SEIDOONLINE. VERIZON IS $3 LESS, BUT A LITTLE LARGER

This doesn't work in my Nissan's "aux" input! I only get audio out of the right channel albeit louder than the Seido adapter. It does work fine with headphones.. which is weird.

A little more troubleshooting to make sure it's not my aux jack thats f*cked up on my car... but it looks like I might be settling for headphone only usage on my 8800.

Thanks for all the input guys...


ahahah!! Get it? input? LOL.. I crack myself up.

Try another MP3 player or even a Walkman (hahaha) if you have one in the Nissan with the same cable you're trying to plug between the carjack and the LG adapter. If that doesn't give you stereo then your jack is jacked (haha) or the cable you're using is wrong. Haven't had this issue before. Also, plug the cables together and into the car and then plug it into the phone last. May or may not have an effect, but it doesn't matter for me or others I know that use the same setup.

Hello all, I received the SEIDOONLINE.com adapter, plugged it in to my BB8830 and plugged my headphones in to the adapter and it works perfectly. Also, doesn't matter if you play music first or plug in the adapter first. And, the adapter has a builtin mic which work fairly well for phone calls. All in all, I recommend this solution until BlackBerry provides a solution that eliminates the need for an external adapter, which makes it clumsy.

The best solution from BlackBerry would be to deliver stereo sound via BlueTooth!!!!!!!!!!!! Than NO WIRES TO DEAL WITH!!!!!!!

Guess what? It already does this.

THAT IS GREAT NEWS. PLEASE TELL ME HOW OR WHAT I NEED TO DO TO ACCOMPLISH STEREO WAVE FILES VIA BLUETOOTH. THANKS, PAUL

Just make sure you're on the latest .148 OS version. If you are, then it'll work. If you're not, then download and load it up. Look at the top of this forums for the Sticky posts... all the info is there on how to do this.

I did the download to .148 OS, however, I still do not get music via the B/T headset. What's next? Thanks, Paul

Hello all, great news my Motorola HT820 BlueTooth stereo headset DOES work with my BB8830 and I get perfect stereo all you need to do is download to .148 OS

Okay.. after a little more investigation I've found that the LG adapter does work with my car jack. It seems it's the jack on my BB that is very touchy (probably dropped one too many times). I have to position the cord just right to get stereo sound out of it.

The funny thing is, my bank just gave me an iPod shuffle for opening a checking account... and frankly, the sound is much better out of the iPod. I don't know if it's the adapter or the BB itself, but the music sounded a little thin and tinny to me.

Great my Bang & Olufsen headset doesn't work via a 3.5mm -> 2.5mm stereo adapter...

Anyone had any success in Europe? i.e. adapter used

Edit : forgot to mention my 8800 came with just a single ear piece headset (not the wired stereo headsets some of you have mentioned)

Finally got my AUX IN on my car stereo to work with 8800 properly (REAL STEREO !!!). It seemed that the headset adapter worked fine for stereo headphones but not for AUX IN. Seems that the BB is confused when AUX IN is connected and it goes into MONO mode...so...I use a headphone jack splitter used for "sharing music" and plugged in cheap ole headphones into one side. Plugged the adapter into the BB and it immediately goes into proper stereo mode. Then plugged in the AUX IN to the other side of the headset splitter and it works perfectly. You can unplug the headphones all you want as long as you don't unplug the adapter from the BB. It will stay in stereo mode. Or you can just leave the cheap headphones plugged in and just think of them as a "crutch" for the BB headset detection weakness.

One issue may be that the phone needs to be grounded before plugging the adaptor into the phone… Because most adaptors are going from the 2.5mm 3 ring plug to a 3.5 mm 2 ring plug, the “Smart Phone” tries to distinguish the adaptor as using “mic & speaker” or “speaker & speaker” – unfortunately when you plug it in it sends a brief frequency to the phone making it think it’s accepting a mic/speaker (telephone headset), thus you get sound coming from only one side (and maybe very little sound coming from the other speaker)…

You can circumvent this by plugging the phone into the charging jack (car charger or wall charger) first, essentially grounding the phone, and then plug the adaptor into the phone…

Btw – I use the standard Blackberry 2.5mm to 3.5 3 ring plug with a standard 3.5mm 2 ring audio adaptor for my car AUX…

Amazon.com: LG Handfree Stereo Headset for the LG Chocolate and other compatible LG handsets: Cell Phones & Service

After trying several adapters and finding this string, I just received these headphones paying $8 plus shipping. So far so good! I am finally able to use this device as a mp3 player after much fustration. So far they sound good and have had no issues.