iPods, iBooks and iTrips

Charles Pearce charlesp at ksu.edu
Tue Jul 13 08:06:37 PDT 2004


On Jul 12, 2004, at 12:10 PM, Scott Warren wrote:

> I am interested in the range of the FM transmitter... let us know how 
> far it will go!  While you are dancing around your house in glee,  
> grab a tape measure for at least the 1st lap...

It's a fairly strong signal in all directions. I generally put the iPod 
with iTrip attached on the main level of a two-story house. The signal 
is strong enough to be picked up by even cheap radios on the second 
story and the basement. I once backed the car out of the garage while 
tuned to the iTrip in the house and got down the street about 50 feet 
before the signal crapped out. I tried the Belkin FM transmitter before 
the iTrip, but I like the iTrip because it's powered by the iPod. That 
drains the iPod battery faster, of course, but when I'm in the car, I 
have an adapter powering it and when I'm in the house, I generally 
leave it plugged in. The Belkin went through AAA batteries like crazy. 
Whenever the batteries would start to weaken, then so would the signal. 
Also, I got the low-end Belkin that only had four preset transmitting 
frequencies. Unfortunately, one of the towns I frequently drive through 
is "blessed" with an abundance of religious radio stations that crowd 
that end of the spectrum. Those radio stations would interfere with the 
iPod signal to the point of annoyance. The iTrip uses software to 
"tune" the signal. It comes with a CD that is used to download the FM 
frequencies to the iPod. They come in the form of a playlist, so you 
first have to import them to iTunes. To tune a different signal, you 
have to go to playlists, find the iTrip "playlist" and select the 
frequency you desire. Then hit "play" and "stop" while some lights on 
the iTrip flash. It usually takes me a couple of attempts to do it. 
That's one of the things I don't like about the iTrip. If you want to 
change frequencies while driving, then you're probably going to have a 
wreck and die. This necessitates pulling over and fiddling with it. 
Also, you have to stop whatever you're playing at the time and navigate 
back to the playlists.

A friend has the high-end Belkin that has all of the FM frequencies and 
it has a button that you push that cycles UP through the spectrum in 
increments of two/tenths (89.3, 89.5, 89.7, etc.). He tells me that the 
problem with it, is that it only goes up until it gets to the end and 
then it starts at the bottom. And, it also uses AAA batteries like 
crazy.

That's a fairly lengthy review of the FM adapters for iPods. Oh, by the 
way, lest anyone criticize this for being off topic--all but the iTrip 
may be used with an iBook to do the same thing. In fact, before I got 
my iPod, I traveled with my iBook and broadcast it to my car radio. I 
bought a DC to AC converter at Wal-Mart to power it on long trips. 
Since it plugs into the headphone jack on the iBook, if someone in the 
backseat is watching a DVD, you can "broadcast" the audio portion 
through the car radio.



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