Slashdot Log In
Five FM iPod Transmitters Reviewed
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Sat May 26, 2007 09:53 AM
from the for-the-soundtrack-of-your-life dept.
from the for-the-soundtrack-of-your-life dept.
An anonymous reader writes "If you want to listen to your iPod or other audio player in your car, but you don't have a cassette deck or a swanky I.C.E. system, then the answer is to transmit the music over FM to the car's radio. HEXUS.lifestyle reviews five FM transmitters for the iPod and friends, investigating how well these devices cope with broadcasting music over a 2 meter-or-so radius. Some readers will be aware that it's been less than a year since these became legal in the UK, so the majority of iPodding Brits have only recently discovered that they can tune into their MP3 collection on the road."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Mr_Microphone.mp3 (Score:5, Funny)
Nice (Score:5, Informative)
Very nice! (seriously)
I bought a unit that did NOT turn off after the audio signal stopped and I frequently forgot to turn it off manually...which resulted in the batteries being dead 90% of the time. Whatever unit that you buy, I suggest looking for one that has this critical feature.
Also, if you live in a populated area, make sure that you get one that has a broadcast frequency is FULLY tunable...not just selectable between a handful of discrete values. I live in DC and you are hard pressed to find an unoccupied slice of frequency.
Bikes aren't for everyone (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
groceries are easy. especially in a true metro area. you can find a nice bag (see baileyworks http://www.baileyworks.com/ [baileyworks.com]) or set up your bicycle for panniers (http://www.gaerlan.com/bikeparts/acc/bag/bag.html ) of some sort. i live in providence, ri, and cycling is pretty common. i have a young daughter and clearly wouldn't ride with her, but it really does make sense for folks without children. real estate "within cycling distance" is a relative thing. after some p
Re: (Score:2)
The country life may not be for you, not everyone wants to live with the population density your dream word requires. That and your dream world makes farmers both honored providers and second-class citizens at
Non iPod transmitters... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ipod+connect
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Belkin (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
On the other hand, my friend drives a Prius which has a 1/8th inch jack for plugging external devices directly into the radio. He gets a crystal clear signal all the time fr
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If anyone is considering buying a transmitter, consider doing as I did. Just replace the stereo, Besides the higher quality so
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
But why, oh why, don't all car stereos come with an aux jack?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
My wife used to use an iTrip (one of the ones that you had to tune by playing special audio files on the iPod). When she got a Nano, we got her a Belkin one that came with a car charger. It was awful. It broke pretty quickly, so when I was at an Apple store, I picked up a Monster iCarPlay, which combines a charger with the transmitter. It also has an autoscan feature to find an unoccupied frequency.
I was hesitant about it, because I always hear that Monster products are overpriced. This was pricey (~
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Not in major cities (Score:5, Informative)
I used to use these devices (of all brands), but in the last 2 years or so they have become completely, absolutely, 100% useless in NYC, and I'm sure it's the same in other major cities.
And when I finally broke down and hardwired it, I was amazed at the difference in sound quality, and to this day wonder why I didn't do this years ago.
Re:Not in major cities (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
I realized that I can't stand listening to radio, what with its 8 songs total intermixed with annoying ads. My solution was to wire an RCA cable from t
Re:Not in major cities (Score:4, Informative)
At least they should have sold you a hard wired FM modulator. They disconnect your antenna, install this box in line and give you a headphone jack and switch, turn the unit on and it blasts your stereo's antenna input with 100mw at 88.5Mhz FM stereo goodness that can not be overridden by the strongest FM station because it disconnects the antenna when turned on. These things are incredibly cheap and common. companies like Scoshe and MEtra, the companies that make 95% of all car stereo install accessories, make them and recommend them. Any car stereo shop that has even 1/10th competent installers would have told you about that option right away.
I strongly suggest finding a competent stereo shop (Note it's the one without the ricer cars in front) and talk to them about getting a good modulator installed. they work fantastic and you dont havet o screw with changing the channel every 5 miles because a station starts coming in stronger.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
This goes for the NYC area too. I'm in north Jersey, about 30mins outside of the city. If a station isn't outright being used, the signal from a neighboring station leaks into it. 92.3 can be heard on 92.1 and 92.5, for example.
As a last-ditch attempt, I found a website that shows you how to pry open a Griffin iTrip and pull the antenna (a 2 inch copper wire) outside the casing in hopes of boosting the signal output. By the time I was done with it, the iTrip looked about as good as it worked.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
but maybe not legal of course (Score:2)
That spectrum is occupied by TV channels 5 and 6, BTW.
Re: (Score:2)
Not too useful if you're going to use it in the car though... if you're going to buy a new radio you might as well buy a system that has an 1/8th inch in... Probably easier to find that a Japanese radio and transmitter too.
I thought the whole idea of these transmitters is to play your devices through your EXISTING equipment.
Yeah... (Score:3, Interesting)
Then my friend gave me another transmitter that worked better than the iTrip, but after a while it broke and the sound only came out of one speaker in my car.
Now I just burn CDs. They aren't as convenient as an iPod, but they sure do make everything easier (not to mention cheaper).
Modulator or AUX input (Score:2, Informative)
Nothing is going to beat a direct AUX input or an FM modulator. Using Pioneer as an example, accessories for the Pioneer p-bus range from $20 to $60 to add RCA inputs on units that don't have a factory AUX input. An FM modulator can be had for under $40. You'll need a power cord for your MP3 player, but the sound quality makes up for it.
Your also not limited to just an iPod. I can hook up my Nomad
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
So it's still going the FM route only it's cutting off all other incoming signals.
Listening to neighboring cars (Score:5, Interesting)
Mostly it seems to be people listening to Howard Stern on Sirius Satellite Radio, but you also get a sampling of other satellite stations and (most likely) iPods.
The signal will usually be audible for the better part of a minute. Oddly enough, I've never managed to identify the car doing the transmission. You'd think you could tell from the positions of the cars around you and the strength of the signal, but I can't.
I discovered this because I have an iPod FM transmitter, set for 87.9 myself (after much experimentation I was never able to find any less-used channel).
What seems perverse that the signals from other cars' transmitters are not only strong enough to hear when my transmitter is off, they are strong enough to produce annoying an audible interference when my own transmitter, inside the car, is on. You'd think a transmitter two feet from the radio would totally overpower that must be at least forty feet away with two car body's worth of shielding in between, but no.
Re:Listening to neighboring cars (Score:5, Informative)
Here are a couple things I believe are relevant. You car is an electrically noisy place, especially the front of the car. This is why, I believe, most modern cars have antennas at the back of the car, away from the electrically noisy engine. The radio is at the front of the car, and encased in a metal grounded cage, most often refereed to a faraday cage. This keeps the electrically noisy engine, and other signals, out of the car. In any case, the FM transmitter has an antenna on it, the length of which is likely around 1 wave length of the 100 MHZ wave, as do all the cars around you. Each of the waves must leave the car, make it to the antenna, so that radio can decode and play the wave. It may be that there are three or more cars around you may have transmitting antennas nearly as close to your receiving antennas, especially if the transmitting antenna is laid across the dashboard rather facing toward the back.
Parent
AM transmitter? (Score:2)
I have the iTrip and it works well enough, though it is really only a backup solution. I prefered solution is cabeled:
- In my living room I have my stereo system next to my TV, with an AUX cable going under the carpet to where my sofa is,
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
sound quality is lower and it will only deliver mono audio
Not exactly true. You can get AM Stereo. Its just that FM took off before AM Stereo became widespread. But it's a standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-QUAM [wikipedia.org]
I don't know about quality, as I never used AM Stereo. But some people claim AM stereo gives better stereo separation than FM. Plus at a distance of 1m I don't think interference will be a huge problem (AM actually sounds quite good when you don't have interference. Its just that AM is more prone to interference than FM).
iPods in cars are dangerous (Score:2)
Has anyone had luck with more integrated iPod-in-the-car options? Perhaps one with buttons?
Belkin is handy with a laptop (Score:2)
I ahve the non iPod Kessington (Score:2)
I purchased the kensington to use in rental cars over the summer, and with the first trip out of the way I was impressed, traveling from Tulsa, OK though Rogers AR to Branson Mo, and then down trough
having trouble finding a vacant frequency? (Score:4, Informative)
plan you trip with some presets!
Waste of money (Score:2)
I then looked into an expensive iPod compatible stereo, but finally went for a 16 euro faux cassett type adapter. Works perfectly. I've only had to replace it once when the wire broke
Depends on your car too (Score:2)
Athermic Windscreens (Score:2)
When I tried using one of these FM transmitters with my music player (I don't use an iPod) I had problems, as the radio aerial is on the outside of the car. So I bought a Sony head unit, with a USB socket on the front, for £100. Now I can plug in any USB mass storage device or USB music pla
One word: Alpine (Score:3, Informative)
Like this one (9883, $200) [crutchfield.com] or this one (9885, $300) [crutchfield.com] and then drop in their dedicated $30 ipod adapter [crutchfield.com]. That's what - $230...about 40 pounds, nowadays, right? (I kid! and no, I don't know how to put the symbol in slashcode)
Best audio connection, browsing by all the ways you can browse the iPod text interface, and song info on the screen. I'm certain the UK versions are similar (Alpine shows the same adapter for Alpine-Europe). Yes, it's more money than a cheap FM transmitter , but the difference is pretty phenominal, and there's no worries about getting tramped on by a commercial station or someone else's adapter. And no looking down, fiddling with the ipod on the passenger seat (you can ignroe the road while you look at the head unit
I actually purchased the head unit first, then the ipod to go with it. For $70 I picked up an old gen 4, 20 gig ipod off ebay. Scratched, battery only takes about 1/2 a charge, but who cares - it's in the glove box with all my tunes (Thanks to foobar and Nero AAC) and powered off the head unit. Cheaper than a disc changer - and much more useful. I never really figured to get an iPod, but for the application, it turns out to be a good item at the right price.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's easy. Type "£".
Alpine? (Score:2)
Wait, I thought iPod+ iTunes was evil? (Score:2)
Let me check the calendar... April1... nope. Sadie Hawkins Day... nope.
Hmmm... WX report for Hell... ah! There it is!
Not in US - iStuff iCast (Score:2)
Doesn't anyone else use a cassette adapter? (Score:2)