So I have the iPod. I love the iPod. The iPod is good. When I'm walking around, or sitting at work, and I have a set of headphones handy, life is good.
When I'm in my car, however, life is not so good.
First of all: I have a new car. It’s a Saturn LS. My old car, which was stolen, had a factory tape deck/radio in it. So I had one of those crappy cassette-on-a-wire adapters that got the sound across, with a horrible hiss in the background and a repetitive clicking noise as the deck heads turned. I was never satisfied with that thing and was sure that a more expensive option would solve my problems.
Well, the new car has a CD player, so the cassette adapter does me no good. I went out and bought the Griffin iTrip doohickey, which hooks into the bottom of the iPod and broadcasts its output over an FM channel of your designation. That alone cost me $50. Then I neeed a length of USB cord to go from the iTrip’s Mini-USB port to the cigarette-lighter power adapter I already had. That was another $20.
So seventy dollars and one new car later, I finally tried out the iTrip last night. Over the course of my twenty-five minute drive I didn’t stop fiddling once, and didn’t get a tolerable sound ever. Not only is it impossible to find a “completely clear” channel as they recommend in the instructions (unless, of course, you live in the middle of Wyoming), but the only audio I was ever able to actually make out was buried under three levels of horrible static.
Anybody have any other suggestions (and will the Apple store let me return it)?
We’ve had mild success and frustrations with our iTrip. Mostly we use it for thruway driving and in cow country there’s not as much interference to worry about so it works OK. A useful tip we’ve found is to place the iPod as close to your car antenna as possible (ie, probably the back seat) after you’ve set up your playlist… and finally, crank the volume on the iPod all the way up to boost the signal amplitude then just control the overall volume using your car radio.
—Art
I have the iTrip. I have good luck with 87.9. I haven’t had to retune it through drives to DC, NYC, Pittsburgh, or Toronto. I have the one that plugs in on top. It was only $30-40, I think.
Congrats on the new car!
I’m really pleased with the DLO transpod. No wires and it has convenient buttons to switch the channel. The LED background also lights up for easy viewing. I had it set on 87.9 from Pittsburgh to Rochester this weekend, and didn’t lose the signal once.
Check it out at:
www.dlo.com