Worth giving it a try.
Written: Mar 23 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Elegant companion to iPod, no extra batteries, easy to use.
Cons: Quality of sound is average. Not sure if there are negative long term health hazards.
The Bottom Line: Do try it out.
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| rahuljain's Full Review: Griffin Technology ITRIP FM TRANSMITTER FOR NEW (4... |
Let me get this out of the way. Wonder why iTrip is under the Keyboard category. I would never have looked for it had I traversed my way through the category hierarchy. Search engine is really critical for navigating the Epinions site.
Ok, lets focus on the iTrip.
I love the idea. Its a very nice solution to the problem of exporting sound from the iPod as FM signals. I drive a car which just has a radio. So no way to play audio CDs, MP3s. I had no control over what I could listen in the car. Now with iPod and iTrip, I have this control.
I love the iPod. It allows me to consolidate all the music I own, in one compact, and portable device. It allows me to personalize it in just the way I wanted to via playlists, and very importantly take my collection with me, where ever I go. I was missing this ability to hear sounds of my choice in the car, and iTrip elegantly solved this need. In addition, it enables me to share the music with other passengers in the car.
I love the form factor of the iTrip, and the way it integrates with the iPod. When coupled its hard to guess that they are made by two different companies. It fits so well.
iTrip also resulted in increased usage of the radios in my house. Every room as some form of a radio in it. I simply take iPod + iTrip with me to the room I am going to, and listen on the radio. Headphones and ear plugs are nice, but sometimes they come in the way. Being able to listen on external speakers is a nice option to have, specially when listening to long audio books.
iTrip's frequency options for broadcasting are plentiful. Range extends from 87.9 to 107.9. The way to specify which frequency to use is easy enough and similar to how one would play a song on the iPod.
I like the fact that I do not have to worry about batteries. iTrip uses iPod's battery. The longest I have run the iPod with iTrip on battery is about 2 hours of continuous use. Don't have an estimate of how long it can go on a full charge.
The price for me was acceptable. I paid $20 for a open box piece at my local Apple store, with the option of getting a full refund. I did not want to pay any restocking fee, if it did not meet my needs.
So does iTrip have my complete endorsement? No. There are few things I don't like about this solution.
First, as others have said, this solution is dependent on finding a frequency in the above range which is not being used by any radio station. This can be a challenge in most metro areas in the US. Do note, this is not specific to iTrip, but a limitation of this technique.
How's the quality of sound?
Best way to describe it would be to compare it. Consider a scale of 1 to 10. Map the quality of sound you hear on the radio from your local commercial FM station at 10. In other words thats the best the radio signals are going to sound. In reference to this scale, I would rank the quality of sound from the iTrip as 6.
The orientation and location of iTrip, relative to where the radio antenna is placed, has a significant impact on the quality of sound that is heard. I did try numerous locations and orientations, but would still rate the best sound as a 7 on the same scale. I just could not eliminate the hissing , or sometimes the never ending sound of a whistle.
Other relevant questions that come up are:
- How does the sound from iPod + iTrip compare to the sound if the iPod was directly connected to the same set of speakers?
- How much further does the quality degrade as the data gets transmitted as FM signals?
- Are there any negative long term health related issues of broadcasting FM signals so close to us?
I don't know enough to answer these questions.
Lastly, I have not tried other FM solutions. I know there is a similar solution from Belkin, which does require its own battery. Also the Belkin product does not integrate with iPod as elegantly as the iTrip. You may want to research the Belkin solution too, if you have the time and energy. :-)
My concluding remarks are:
iTrip works for me. I was looking for a way to listen to stuff on my iPod without using headphones in my car. There were occasions when I wanted to share the sounds with the passengers. I like to listen to audio books. iTrip meets these needs well. Its not the perfect solution, but a good one. If you are willing to take the risk of assuming there are no longer term health hazards here, iTrip is worth a try.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 20
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Epinions.com ID:
rahuljain
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Reviews written: 4
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