When it comes down to choosing a new car stereo receiver for your vehicle, it’s always nice to have a few extra features that your old one didn’t have. There are many new ways to communicate, search for music or even navigate with a stereo receiver and we are going to touch on just a few.

Bluetooth Technology is one of the most sought after technologies in the car stereo world. It allows you to receive or make calls completely hands free, using a wireless communication between your stereo and your Bluetooth enabled phone. Bluetooth car stereos equipped with A2DP will additionally support Bluetooth audio streaming.

HD Radio is great when you live in urban or metropolitan areas with lots of radio signal. An HD Radio stereo will receive high definition digital AM/FM audio signals, resulting in very clear music. Many times, an HD receiver will allow you to tag songs that you like to later view in iTunes for download.

GPS Navigation is important for those daily drivers and commuters who do a lot of traveling. There are many different types of map databases in receivers. Some include helpful details like traffic tuning or points of interest searching. Navigation is also useful for finding the most economical routes to your destinations.

Pandora Internet Radio integration has quickly become huge in car stereos. If the receiver supports it, simply start up the Pandora app on your smart phone and plug it in through a USB connection. The stereo will typically be able to skip tracks, and sometimes it will support the use of ‘Thumbs Up’ and ‘Thumbs Down’ buttons.

iPod and iPhone Support are becoming a must in today’s industry. A good majority of people in the United States now own an Apple device to store their music, so why not utilize the iPod to bring your whole music library into the car.

These are some common features to look for when shopping for your new stereo. We hope this guide helps you track down that perfect receiver that does everything you need. If you have any suggestions of other popular features, please let us know in the comments field below!