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Five FM iPod Transmitters Reviewed

Posted by CowboyNeal on 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."

6 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. Non iPod transmitters... by alyawn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I like that they at least threw a bone to us non-iPod-ers. But still, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to find accessories for non-iPod mp3 players. I thought the idea of everything uses a standard headphone jack would be good enough. But, I was wrong.

    1. Re:Non iPod transmitters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That's one of the main reasons I bought an iPod instead of an ogg vorbis player. I wanted the extensibility that all of these iPod compatible accessories allows.

      My iPod is my first ever Apple product. Have had it five months, and I love it. Works great - no complaints yet.

    2. Re:Non iPod transmitters... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's the so-called "eco-system", something to consider when you buy any electronic device, including computers. That said, I share your pain. I've got a 2nd Gen iPod, i.e., no dock and it's increasingly hard to find other accessories for it. For an music player manufacturer, it's a chicken and egg thing. Without a large enough eco-system of accessories for your platform it is hard to sell a lot of players. If you're not selling a lot of players, it's going to be hard to build an eco-system, unless you do it all yourself.

      This is why Creative made the deal with Apple that they did. Creative realized that they could make a huge amount of money by climbing on the iPod bandwagon, instead of fighting it. Smart move, and they can always try a serious challenge to the iPod again if the opportunity presents itself.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  2. Bikes aren't for everyone by tepples · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How about you step into the 21st century and move to a real city, one where you're free to travel without dragging two tons of steel with you? If you're talking about bicycling, then what's the best way to carry small children and groceries? And what's the best way to afford real estate within biking distance of the office?
    1. Re:Bikes aren't for everyone by dutchmonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      it's off-topic a bit, but for the record:

      groceries are easy. especially in a true metro area. you can find a nice bag (see baileyworks http://www.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 practice, riding upwards of 15 miles is really not a big deal and would take no more than an hour or so for someone of average fitness who knows how to properly use their bicycle.

      now that said, the more important point is that this is appearing in a thread about ipod FM transmitters. riding in a city with music is a bad idea. not to mention that carrying an extra radio for the transmitter to play with is probably sort of cumbersome...

  3. Re:Belkin by timeOday · · Score: 2, Insightful
    FWIW, I live in a mid-size city and find the $20 Belkin model from WalMart to be usable. After plugging the 6" lead into my mp3 player, I hang the assemblage on my rearview mirror. I find the sound quality OK for voice (All Things Considered, mostly) and movies (on a laptop, when parked of course!) but subpar for music.

    But why, oh why, don't all car stereos come with an aux jack?