Update 12/11/05- About a year after my last update, in July of 2005, my Belkin TuneCast II died completely. It never got heavy use, so I'm lowering my rating from four stars to two. There's just no excuse for such poor durability.
Update 7/2/04- After nearly a week on the road, I'm changing my 2 star rating to 4 stars. The reception in our rented Dodge Caravan was significantly better than it was in our own car, presumably because the antenna in our car is embedded in the rear window. The Caravan had a standard external antenna. We used the TuneCast II for most of the 2,488 miles we drove, and only went through two sets of batteries. It seems that we got much better battery life with continual play than I did with stop-and-start play while running errands.
Fumbling with the transmitter's (and radio's) frequency can be difficult (or even dangerous) if you're the driver. In rural areas, we were able to go hours without finding a new frequency. In the San Francisco bay area, it seemed we had to adjust it every 5 minutes. This task is best left to the passenger.
One more thing. Despite Belkin's advice to keep the iPod's volume down, and to turn the car stereo's volume up, I found that as long as I had very good reception, I got the best sound by keeping my iPod's volume at maximum.
I'm leaving my original review untouched, in its entirety. For city driving, I'm still not sold on the Belkin TuneCast II. Adjusting the stations often, as I've had to, is distracting and annoying. I'll never again take a road trip without it, though.
Original Review
Summer’s here, and it’s time for the big family road trip. By July 4th, we’ll put at least 2,500 miles on our rented minivan. With four kids in the car, the rules of the road are simple: whatever keeps them happy and quiet is a good thing. Xanax or Vallium would be ideal, but since they have side effects, we’re packing a portable TV/VCR thing, a dozen movies, books, card games, toys, Game Boys, and a plethora of partially-hydrogenated snacks that we’d never allow them to eat at home. We usually burn a few CDs before embarking on a long car ride, but that seems sort of tedious. When I saw the Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter ($35) at the Apple Store, it seemed like the perfect solution.
The Belkin TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter is a tiny device that plugs into an iPod’s (or other MP3 Player’s) headphone jack and then broadcasts whatever the iPod is playing over the radio. You simply select an FM frequency, and tune both the Belkin Transmitter and your radio to that frequency. Unlike the original Belkin Transmitter, which only transmitted at four frequencies in the 88 Mhz range, TuneCast II can use any FM frequency. You can program up to four frequencies into the Transmitter’s memory if you use it in different places.
Using the Transmitter is simple. It takes two AAA batteries, but it only turns on when connected to your iPod. When it detects a signal from your iPod, it will power up and automatically tune itself to the last frequency you selected. If you pause your iPod or stop playing it for about a minute, the transmitter will power down to improve battery life.
Selecting the right frequency is very important. Ideally, you want a frequency that’s not transmitting at all— no music, no voice, no static—nothing. If the frequency you select does receive faint broadcasts, then those sounds will be audible over the music you play. This can be terrifying when you’re listening to a song that’s abruptly interrupted by the intermittent snaps, crackles, and pops of some distant radio station.
The sound quality is somewhat disappointing. Even when you find a good frequency, you’re essentially listening to the radio, not a CD. It’s not terrible, but if you’re a major audiophile and you want CD quality sound, you’ll hate the Belkin Transmitter. One way to improve the sound is to turn the iPod’s volume down, and your radio’s volume up. I’m not sure why it matters, but it’s what Belkin recommends, and it makes a big difference.
Battery Life-- two AAA batteries should last about 10 hours. If you listen to music in the car a lot, you’ll have to replace batteries frequently.
The iTrip, by Griffin Technologies, draws its power directly from the iPod, so you never have to buy batteries. Another advantage of iTrip is that unlike the Belkin Transmitter, it sits directly on top on the iPod as a perfectly integrated attachment. This is great if the iPod is your onwly MP3 player, but if your family has other ones, too, iTrip won’t work with them.
Even though iTrip (also $35) seems slightly more sophisticated than TuneCast II, it’s still limited by the sound quality of FM radio. There’s got to be a better way to play your iPod in the car.
If you happen to have a 2002, 2003, 2004, or 2005 BMW, you can get an adapter kit for $149 that will let you play your iPod directly through your car’s stereo with perfect, CD quality sound. Hopefully, Apple will collaborate with other car makers in the near future. I mean, not only aggressive self-important marketing types want to listen to their iPods through their car stereos, right? We go through all the effort of buying CDs, ripping them on to our computers, burning mixes, and buying MP3 players because we want CD quality sound at our fingertips. Why go through all of that just to go back to listening to the radio?
As I see it, the only advantage the Belkin TuneCast II Transmitter offers is that you can play your entire MP3 collection without the intermediate step of burning CDs. This is not trivial; if your iPod is filled to capacity, you’d need to burn hundreds of CDs. So before you buy a radio transmitter, ask yourself this question: are you willing to give up sound quality to have access to all of your songs?
I already have my answer. I’m off to burn some CDs before the big road trip.
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