First Look: i-Kit, iPod FM transmitter

View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/08/14/i.kit.ipod.fm.transmitter/

Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 11:55pm

First Look: i-Kit, iPod FM transmitter

If you have a portable digital music player like an iPod or iPhone, you can take your music everywhere you go. Unfortunately, the only place where you often can’t listen to your music on these players is in your own car, where earphones can be a safety hazard. While some of the newer cars offer built-in ports for plugging in an iPod or cellular phone, many older cars lack this feature, requiring a new car stereo to link directly to the sound system. For these older cars, you can still listen to your iPod music with the help of the i-Kit from MediaGate.

This accessory plugs into any car’s cigarette lighter while the other end plugs directly into any digital music player. If you have an iPod, you can plug it directly into its built-in cable, but if you have a non-iPod device, such as a Zune or cellular phone, you’ll need to use the included audio cable to connect it through its headphone jack.

Once plugged in, the device lets you select a frequency from 88.1 to 107.9MHz, essentially transmitting the music stored on your digital music player into the FM air waves where your car radio can pick it up and play it.

The drawback with this approach is that you may need to experiment with choosing different frequencies until you find an unused one in your area. Sometimes radio signals from FM radio stations can interfere with your iPod music broadcast. As a result of this interference, the audio quality can range from crackling with static to crystal clear through no fault of the product itself.

Many similar FM transmitters also provide a flexible goose-pipe that holds your iPod in the air. By twisting this goose-pipe, you can position the iPod for the most convenient location for you.